Bush Busted On Pre-scripted Battle Banter (Video)

[mr.Curmudgeon]

TODAY (10/13/05): Bush has 'impromptu' teleconference with troops in Iraq. This event is subsequently exposed as the blatant pre-scripted PR event that it is, then, when asked about it, the WH press secretary lies, to cover it up.




mrC

[Crazy Cooter]

I knew you'd love this one  .

They say it's going to be spontaneous, then it's completely rehearsed in advance  .  You can't believe anything that comes out of the White House.

MSN has a video too (dunno if it's the same):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9686462/ -
"What was billed as a conversation between President Bush and U.S. soldiers turns out to have been choreographed to match the president's goals for the war in Iraq."

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Anybody with half a brain knew this stuff has been staged for years.

The 'Mission Accomplished' banner, his and Cheney's phony "town hall meetings" before and after the election, where all the people are screened, asked to sign loyalty oaths to even get in, then pre-scripted "questions" are fielded from the crowd. This is the Potemkin Administration.

It's just nice to finally see the media decide they've had enough. They've known about this crap for years, but couldn't be bothered to report it. It'd be funny if it wasn't so damn sad and pathetic. Using our troops like props in some sick game of death and destruction.


mrC

[quarterback]

This administration has no interest in doing any 'media event' that isn't scripted or 'rigged'.   

They fully understand the power of the media and how to manipulate it more than any presidential administration before them.   It's never about truth or reality, it's all a big show to these folks and how to get their message out.   They talk about the "media filter" but, in reality, what they're describing as a "filter" is know to most people as "honesty".  The "media filter" is what happens when the truth is spoken.  As far as they're concerned, the only "truth" is what they want people to say and what they want the public to hear.

It's stunning to me that anybody believes anything that comes out of their mouths.  How many times does somebody have to lie before they're recognized as liars?

==

[DrewKaree]

Anybody with half a brain knew this stuff has been staged for years.

Thank heavens you posted this.  I was starting to think Russ Feingold actually CARED about what his constituents have to say in his "Town Hall meetings".

It's as if you believe there actually IS a politician out there who doesn't use this tactic.

[cdbrown]

Go to google
type in failure and select "I'm Feeling Lucky" to see what you get directly linked to
Or you could just do a normal google search of failure to see what tops the list

[ChadTower]

It's as if you believe there actually IS a politician out there who doesn't use this tactic.

Ding.  It's not just Bush, all politicians do it.  It's annoying but you can't pin this on one guy.

[Stingray]

It's as if you believe there actually IS a politician out there who doesn't use this tactic.

Ding.  It's not just Bush, all politicians do it.  It's annoying but you can't pin this on one guy.

I can if I want.

-S

[JackTucky]

Thanks for posting this.  I didn't know politicians stage photo-ops.

Oh, BTW, you want scripted, or unscripted?



Art

[ChadTower]

Be careful, even on foot, he's dangerous on a bridge.

[Dexter]

This stinks of the worst kind of 'rovian' manipulation. I'm glad they were nailed for it and that its getting some coverage. Then again, awol boy was never one for facing soldiers, man to man, was he.

Plastic turkey anyone??

[ChadTower]

If this is the worst thing you can manage to pin on Rove, he has gotten a lot better at hiding his tracks than he used to be.

[Dexter]

If this is the worst thing you can manage to pin on Rove, he has gotten a lot better at hiding his tracks than he used to be.

Nah, that donkey is having enough tails pinned on him as we speak. Good times.....

[Stingray]

If this is the worst thing you can manage to pin on Rove, he has gotten a lot better at hiding his tracks than he used to be.

Nah, that donkey is having enough tails pinned on him as we speak. Good times.....

He's in front of a grand jury at this very moment I believe. Good times.

-S

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Thank heavens you posted this.  I was starting to think Russ Feingold actually CARED about what his constituents have to say in his "Town Hall meetings".

This is what bothers me most about you Drew. You're so flippant because 1) You refuse to admit it's wrong, even though you know it is, or 2) You just don't care as much as you want everyone to believe. When backed into a corner, forced to justify your support of what should be a criminal act, you just throw unsubstantiated charges at the other side. What proof do you have that Feingold's "Town Hall meetings" are staged, with pre-scripted questions?

I'm perfectly willing to accept the possibility, but I've NEVER seen anything to make me assume it to be the case.

Once again, put up or shut up. Where's the proof? Or are you just so incapable of defending the actions of this administration that they only thing you can do is say, "I bet the Dems do it too"?

Right here, before your eyes and ears, is incontrovertible evidence that Bush partook in a scripted event that was billed as 'spontaneous' both before and after the event took place, and all you can do is sneer at Feingold. Worse yet, it uses men from our armed forces as props to continue to sell and unjust and immoral war. What's up with that? Where's the intellectual honesty?  Are you saying we're all just supposed to accept this kind of blatant propaganda, be it Dem or Republican creating it?

Look, I'm not naive enough to think that there isn't some element of PR in absolutely everything a politician does. But, the levels to which this administration has taken it goes well beyond any normal PR effort, and into something wholly sinister and unAmerican.

mrC

[Stingray]

Worse yet, it uses men from our armed forces as props to continue to sell and unjust and immoral war.

Honestly this is the part that bothers me the most.

-S

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Thanks for posting this.  I didn't know politicians stage photo-ops.

Oh boy, more flippant apathetic sarcasm! Good on ya'!

Are you saying a televised, pre-scripted event, choreographed along with U.S. troops, to match Bush's goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution, and using those troops to sell that very war, is akin to a politician simply standing with them in front of the camera?

I would have thought they were entirely different animals, but thanks for removing that distinction. Back to work...Big Brother is watching!

mrC

EDIT: Spelling.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

If this is the worst thing you can manage to pin on Rove, he has gotten a lot better at hiding his tracks than he used to be.

Actually, I don't think Rove had anything to do with this, hence the sloppiness. He's a pro at this stuff. But it's perfectly understandable that he'd be slightly out of the picture, what, with facing possible indictments and all.

Rove would *never* have allowed the pre-event rehearsal "feed" to make it out to the media.


mrC

[AtomSmasher]

Everyone knows CNN is a liberal news site who most likely has been looking for anything to make Pres. Bush look bad and this is the worst they came up with?

[ChadTower]

Anyone ever notice that PR stands for Public Relations, and their job is to make everything look positive in their favor?

Just noting.

[Stingray]

It's not like he lied under oath

Only because he's never been under oath.

-S

[ChadTower]

Only because he's never been under oath.

That's not an assumption that can be safely made.

I cannot say I have never knocked up your wife only because I have never met your wife.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Everyone knows CNN is a liberal news site...

You haven't watched CNN much in the last three years, have you? It is not a liberal news organization.

who most likely has been looking for anything to make Pres. Bush look bad and this is the worst they came up with?

Uh, this is newsworthy. Simple as that. CNN didn't get the original news feed, so I'm not sure why you're attributing this as an attack by CNN on Bush. MSNBC got the feed that featured the rehearsal and the rest of the media is reporting on it because it is an important story. Or, to be more specific, the "cover-up" is the story.

QUESTION: How were they selected, and are their comments to the president pre-screened, any questions or anything...

MCCLELLAN: No.

QUESTION: Not at all?

MCCLELLAN: This is a back-and-forth.



mrC

[ChadTower]

Doesn't matter what outlet it is, if the outlet gets a hold of a story like this, they're going to put it out there in their own self interests.  Liberal or right wing outlet, this story would go out.  The difference would be the amount of venom in the reporting of it.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

The difference would be the amount of venom in the reporting of it.

So far, with this story...it seems that it's being handle fairly objectively. I haven't seen any venom. I guess the thing that bothers me most about this whole ordeal is that things like this even happen in America.

I want purely objective reporting. Not liberal, not conservative.
I want purely transparent politics.

Am I stupid and naive enough to think that'll ever happen? No. So what's the next best thing? Hoping that every time it DOES happen, someone will expose it. After enough exposures, the public will become more aware. Then, maybe, just maybe, it'll be so detrimental to either party (media or politicians) that they'll move away from this sort of behavior.

We are the watchdogs. The politicians are supposed to work for us, not themselves. The media is supposed to help us, not them.


mrC

[Crazy Cooter]

The difference between this and other televised events:

They said it wouldn't be scripted.  Then it was.  And they were busted in the lie.  That's like false advertising or something.

Picture cheech in a dress...

Why should we shrug off lies because "other people did it too"?  I think we should start frying all the idiots in office, repub & dems alike.  Catch them in a lie... let them fry.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

  I think we should start frying all the idiots in office, repub & dems alike.  Catch them in a lie... let them fry.

A-men.
mrC

[Stingray]

I'll drink to that, and pretty much anything else.

-S

[ChadTower]

I want purely objective reporting.

We actually used to have something resembling this.

[Crazy Cooter]

You forgot the conspiracy angle.  The major news outlets are owned by a few select individuals.  They're part of the Bilderberg group:

2005 "Media" Attendees (known so-far):
Donald Graham, chairman of The Washington Post
Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief, Time
Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International

FWIW:
If their crystal ball is right:
Gov. Mark R. Warner -> Democratic Presidential Candidate 2008 (or he'll fall to VP like Edwards did last time - Edwards attended before his Presidential run)

[DrewKaree]

This is what bothers me most about you Drew. You're so flippant because 1) You refuse to admit it's wrong, even though you know it is, or 2) You just don't care as much as you want everyone to believe.

No, the biggest thing you fail to see is that you've never seen me touting his photo-ops as ANYTHING, much less pointing out how cool or uncool they are.  If I didn't care enough to point out his super-sweet photo-ops that drive you to the brink of insanity, how on earth did it ever get into your head that I cared if they were staged? 

When backed into a corner, forced to justify your support of what should be a criminal act, you just throw unsubstantiated charges at the other side.

Backed into a corner?  I'd have had to have actually SHOWN support of what you feel is a criminal act to be backed into a corner.  I merely pointed out that you sound as if you believe there to be NON-staged photo-ops, and used my local communist as an example.  Give you proof?  Playing the naive little waif doesn't suit you well, as even you couldn't be so stupid as to think the "town meetings" that are all the rage in politics lately AREN'T staged.  Does it help you if I say "BY EITHER SIDE".

Or are you just so incapable of defending the actions of this administration that they only thing you can do is say, "I bet the Dems do it too"?

Are you so incapable of common sense that you believe both sides DON'T do it?  What is it you expect me to say?  How about this.  When John McCain and Russ Feingold hold their travashamockery they call a "town meeting", it's ALL a staged photo-op designed to produce some sort of sound bite, news snippet, picture of them glad-handing some sap, or some other "destined to make the news" item.  Does it help you to see me throw a Republican in there, or are you so close-minded as to think I believe ONLY Dems do it or it's some effort to "cover up" what Bush did?

Please, for the love of Pete, show me the mouthful of words you seem hell-bent on shoving down my throat as if I said them. 

Look, I'm not naive enough to think that there isn't some element of PR in absolutely everything a politician does. But, the levels to which this administration has taken it goes well beyond any normal PR effort, and into something wholly sinister and unAmerican.

mrC

But you're willing to act naive and pretend for your argument about why I should be working to cut Bush's heart out with a dull spoon, and then turn around and tell me I need to give you some proof, when you JUST ADMITTED I'M RIGHT?

I don't feel the need to defend ANYTHING Bush has done.  It's not going to matter to YOU one way or another.  "Sinister" and "unAmerican" are words that can't even begin to be taken seriously, and the level of your rhetoric is what makes you someone to be looked at askance, and shake our heads while we walk away.  Hyperbole isn't a tool you like to leave sitting in the toolbox.  We've all just seen it far too often for it to be effective anymore.  You'll just keep sitting in front of your drum set, banging first one, then another as the story of the week changes.  Meanwhile, the rest of us are willing to invest our time when something meaningful happens, instead of paying much attention to the "OMG TEH STORY OF DA WEEK IS HERE" you provide us. 

[ChadTower]

You forgot the conspiracy angle.  The major news outlets are owned by a few select individuals.  They're part of the Bilderberg group:

2005 "Media" Attendees (known so-far):
Donald Graham, chairman of The Washington Post
Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief, Time
Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International

The problem with what you're saying is that it is a theory.  What I have said is proven, historical fact.  I have trouble believing that a small group of individuals is manipulating the entire American media.

[shmokes]

While I think that the staged interview with the troops here is lame, what concerns me is that they said before it that it was not staged.  Then, after it was, in fact, staged and Scott McClellan (spelling) was asked why it was staged he got all kinds of self-righteous with the reporter, asking, "Are you suggesting [that we would be so low as to stage this sort of thing]?"  completely denying it.  I consider the staging itself to be severe spin, which sucks, but I can deal with it.  The claims made about the spin, both before and after, go beyond spin to just plain lying.  I'm not okay with that.

By the way, Drew, why a spoon?

[DrewKaree]

By the way, Drew, why a spoon?

I'd think MrC would want it to hurt as much as possible, so a dull rounded object would seem appropos.

The better question would be "why not a spoon"?

[shmokes]

I know 

I was making a reference to the Sheriff of Nottingham.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I'd think MrC would want it to hurt as much as possible, so a dull rounded object would seem appropos.

Add some salt poured on the open wound and you've got it just about right!

mrC

[Tailgunner]

Look, I'm not naive enough to think that there isn't some element of PR in absolutely everything a politician does. But, the levels to which this administration has taken it goes well beyond any normal PR effort, and into something wholly sinister and unAmerican.

mrC

I don't believe this administration has ever timed a cruise missile strike on a pharmaceutical factory to divert the media's attention from a headline story that painted a sitting president in a bad light.

Not that Bush is much better, but the last politician who worked without a net was Dan Quayle. Look where it got him.

[DrewKaree]

Add some salt poured on the open wound and you've got it just about right!

mrC

I'm guessing we still need to add lemon juice and battery acid.

[ChadTower]

I'm surprised he's not salivating and trying to rub his genitals in the wound.

[DrewKaree]

I'm surprised he's not salivating and trying to rub his genitals in the wound.

He's a terrible reader.  He couldn't see any positive outcome from rubbing his Gentiles in the open wound