العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolTHE PET GOAT
"'The Pet Goat'" (erroneously known as "'My Pet Goat'") is a children's story contained in the book ''Reading Mastery II: Storybook 1'', by Siegfried Engelmann and Elaine C. Bruner (ISBN 0-02-686355-3). The book is part of the thirty-one volume Reading Mastery series published by the SRA Macmillan early-childhood education division of McGraw-Hill. It uses the direct instruction teaching style.
The story gained notoriety when U.S. President George W. Bush read it to a group of schoolchildren at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, as then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed him of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"The Pet Goat" is the story of a girl's pet goat which eats everything in its path. The girl's parents want to get rid of the goat, but she defends it. In the end, the goat becomes a hero when it butts a car robber into submission. A sample passage:
Bush's critics, notably Michael Moore in his film ''Fahrenheit 9/11'', have argued that the fact that Bush continued to read the book after being notified of the attacks shows that he was indecisive. His supporters, on the other hand, contend that he was able to project calm in a crisis, and not disturb the schoolchildren by interrupting his visit. At 9:05 a.m. Andrew Card whispered in Bush's ear that "America is under attack" and immediately left without waiting for any kind of response from the President. Critics have asked if this is all the information Bush needed to fully comprehend the situation. After spending about 20 minutes with the children, Bush was scheduled to give a short press conference at about 9:30. At the press conference inside the same school, Bush made his first speech about the attacks, and was never evacuated by the Secret Service.[1]
Bush's then-Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was in the back of the classroom holding a pad on which he had written "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET."[2]
On the evening of 9/11 Bush stated: [3]
In Orlando Florida on December 4, 2001, Bush explained: [4]
Again at a town meeting in Ontario in January 2002: [5]
Both statements, however, have been criticized as impossible. The first plane to hit the tower was not shown live.
Shortly after Moore's movie opened in theaters, Amazon.com sold out of all copies of the book, with a one-month backorder, and users posted satirical reviews of the book, for example: ''"Presidential material, through and through! [...] The tempo, the choice of words, and the layout on each page captured my imagination so much that it took me about seven minutes to recover my bearings."'' Amazon has since deleted these reviews, though new ones continue to appear.[6]
Osama bin Laden made reference to the story in a videotaped speech released just prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election (see 2004 Osama bin Laden video)[7]:
★ When Andrew Card resigned from the White House staff, Jon Stewart mocked the fact that he had informed the president of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He claimed (satirically) that ''The Daily Show'' had audio as well as video wherein Card rushes over to the president and says, "We're under attack, but keep reading, I must know what happens to the goat!"
★ In the 2006 parody film ''Scary Movie 4'', the President, played by Leslie Nielsen, is notified by one of his secretaries that aliens have attacked America, in a similar classroom setting to where President Bush was reading ''The Pet Goat'' to the children. Nielsen's character, reading ''The Little Duck'' to the children, says to his secretary "Hang on a second, I just want to see what happens to the duck".
★ In the Eminem animated video "Mosh", a presidential-looking figure reads to children in a schoolroom from an upside-down book entitled 'My Pet Goat'.
★ In ''Family Guy'' episode "Airport '07", Mayor Adam West was reading the book to a classroom of students upon hearing that a plane piloted by Glen Quagmire had crashed. Like in Eminem's video, the book is also called "My Pet Goat".
★ In an episode of Lil' Bush, when God suggests to the protagonist Lil' George (George W. Bush) to read The Bible, he responds by saying, "I don't read anything unless it got a pet goat in it!"
★ Reading Mastery II: Storybook 1, , Siegfried, Engelmann, SRA Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, 1995, ISBN 0-574-10128-4
1. The drama in Sarasota
2. Suddenly, a time to lead Bill Sammon
3.
4. President Bush Holds Town Hall Meeting Wolf Blitzer
5.
6. Several websites have kept copies of some of the fake reviews; see for example http://www.sadlyno.com/uploads/sadlynogoats.htm
7. Full Transcript of Bin Ladin's Speech
★ The full 5 minute video of George Bush's reaction during the reading on September 11th
★ A Google Answers discussion of the issue
★ A video of Bush reading 'The Pet Goat' (with context)
★ An Interesting Day: President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11
★
Reading The Pictures: Beyond The Pet Goat by Michael Shaw, posted August 15, 2007
The story gained notoriety when U.S. President George W. Bush read it to a group of schoolchildren at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, as then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed him of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
| Contents |
| Plot |
| Bush's 2001 reading of the book |
| Popular culture |
| References |
| Notes |
| External links |
Plot
"The Pet Goat" is the story of a girl's pet goat which eats everything in its path. The girl's parents want to get rid of the goat, but she defends it. In the end, the goat becomes a hero when it butts a car robber into submission. A sample passage:
''"A girl got a pet goat. She liked to go running with her pet goat. She played with her goat in her house. She played with her goat in her yard. But the goat did some things that made the girl's dad mad. The goat ate things. He ate cans and he ate canes. He ate pans and he ate panes. He even ate capes and caps."''
Bush's 2001 reading of the book
George W. Bush reads "The Pet Goat" to school children on September 11, 2001
Bush's critics, notably Michael Moore in his film ''Fahrenheit 9/11'', have argued that the fact that Bush continued to read the book after being notified of the attacks shows that he was indecisive. His supporters, on the other hand, contend that he was able to project calm in a crisis, and not disturb the schoolchildren by interrupting his visit. At 9:05 a.m. Andrew Card whispered in Bush's ear that "America is under attack" and immediately left without waiting for any kind of response from the President. Critics have asked if this is all the information Bush needed to fully comprehend the situation. After spending about 20 minutes with the children, Bush was scheduled to give a short press conference at about 9:30. At the press conference inside the same school, Bush made his first speech about the attacks, and was never evacuated by the Secret Service.[1]
Bush's then-Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was in the back of the classroom holding a pad on which he had written "DON'T SAY ANYTHING YET."[2]
On the evening of 9/11 Bush stated: [3]
''"Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C. to help with local rescue efforts."''
In Orlando Florida on December 4, 2001, Bush explained: [4]
''"Actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I used to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident." But I was whisked off there - I didn't have much time to think about it."''
Again at a town meeting in Ontario in January 2002: [5]
''"first of all, when we walked into the classroom, I had seen this plane fly into the first building. There was a TV set on. And you know, I thought it was pilot error and I was amazed that anybody could make such a terrible mistake. And something was wrong with the plane"''
Both statements, however, have been criticized as impossible. The first plane to hit the tower was not shown live.
Shortly after Moore's movie opened in theaters, Amazon.com sold out of all copies of the book, with a one-month backorder, and users posted satirical reviews of the book, for example: ''"Presidential material, through and through! [...] The tempo, the choice of words, and the layout on each page captured my imagination so much that it took me about seven minutes to recover my bearings."'' Amazon has since deleted these reviews, though new ones continue to appear.[6]
Osama bin Laden made reference to the story in a videotaped speech released just prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election (see 2004 Osama bin Laden video)[7]:
''"We had agreed with the (Sept. 11) overall commander Mohamed Atta, may God rest his soul, to carry out all operations in 20 minutes -- before Bush and his administration could take notice. It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the American forces would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone at a time when they most needed him because he thought listening to a child discussing her goat and its ramming was more important than the planes and their ramming of the skyscrapers. This gave us three times the time needed to carry out the operations, thanks be to God."''
Popular culture
★ When Andrew Card resigned from the White House staff, Jon Stewart mocked the fact that he had informed the president of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He claimed (satirically) that ''The Daily Show'' had audio as well as video wherein Card rushes over to the president and says, "We're under attack, but keep reading, I must know what happens to the goat!"
★ In the 2006 parody film ''Scary Movie 4'', the President, played by Leslie Nielsen, is notified by one of his secretaries that aliens have attacked America, in a similar classroom setting to where President Bush was reading ''The Pet Goat'' to the children. Nielsen's character, reading ''The Little Duck'' to the children, says to his secretary "Hang on a second, I just want to see what happens to the duck".
★ In the Eminem animated video "Mosh", a presidential-looking figure reads to children in a schoolroom from an upside-down book entitled 'My Pet Goat'.
★ In ''Family Guy'' episode "Airport '07", Mayor Adam West was reading the book to a classroom of students upon hearing that a plane piloted by Glen Quagmire had crashed. Like in Eminem's video, the book is also called "My Pet Goat".
★ In an episode of Lil' Bush, when God suggests to the protagonist Lil' George (George W. Bush) to read The Bible, he responds by saying, "I don't read anything unless it got a pet goat in it!"
References
★ Reading Mastery II: Storybook 1, , Siegfried, Engelmann, SRA Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, 1995, ISBN 0-574-10128-4
Notes
1. The drama in Sarasota
2. Suddenly, a time to lead Bill Sammon
3.
4. President Bush Holds Town Hall Meeting Wolf Blitzer
5.
6. Several websites have kept copies of some of the fake reviews; see for example http://www.sadlyno.com/uploads/sadlynogoats.htm
7. Full Transcript of Bin Ladin's Speech
External links
★ The full 5 minute video of George Bush's reaction during the reading on September 11th
★ A Google Answers discussion of the issue
★ A video of Bush reading 'The Pet Goat' (with context)
★ An Interesting Day: President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11
★
Reading The Pictures: Beyond The Pet Goat by Michael Shaw, posted August 15, 2007
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
