Stuffed by a plastic turkey (Euro-sneer)

The Guardian (U.K.) ^ | 12/06/03 | Mark Lawson

[Pokey78]

Bush's gesture politics suggest a man seriously worried about his career

The 1980s movie The Ploughman's Lunch took its title from an early example of what we have now come to know as spin. Ian McEwan's script took its central image from the fact that the bread-and-cheese snack that claimed to link yuppies in pubs to their ancestors who toiled on the soil was an invention of the contemporary advertising and catering trades. In Richard Eyre's film, this fraudulent food became a metaphor for political lying and pretence at the time of the Falklands war.

If anyone makes a similar film about the attack on Iraq, the title would now have to be The Plastic Turkey. In a revelation certain to be taught at schools of democracy and journalism for years to come, it has been revealed that the apparently appetising turkey that President Bush carried towards beaming troops last week in Baghdad had been genetically modified to a degree that would lead even the most profit-hungry farmers to protest. The bird was the kind of model used by butchers and Hollywood set-dressers.

Following this disclosure, the president is, unlike his political prop, stuffed: with a gap in the storyboards for his re-election commercials. A picture intended to say to viewers "The Eagle Has Landed", in fact spelled out: "This Bird Never Flew."

The fakery went further. The hoax roast in the president's hands cannot even be claimed as a symbolic stand-in for the steaming birds that were actually served. Reports say that the US troops were given airline-style meals of pre-packaged meat. And the pretend chef had flown to Baghdad in an Air Force One that filed a fake flight-plan, pretending to be a small corporate jet.

The latter act - though embarrassing for a politician who promised to end the easy lying of the Clinton years - can probably just about be excused as security. But the affair of the plastic turkey can only be attributed to insecurity.

Although the image of George Bush, until recently, was of a man who could do whatever he wanted in both America and the world, recent events have suggested a man seriously worried about both his image and his career. The president seems to have entered a phase of gesture politics, and the gestures are those of a man who, while still swimming vigorously, has suddenly come to accept the possibility of drowning.

Apart from risking his life to deliver a stunt turkey to the Baghdad mess, the president is now set to revive the US space programme: it's rumoured that Nasa will, this month, announce new missions to the moon. And a man accused of imperial arrogance has even made a significant concession to the rival powerbase of Europe by abandoning protectionist steel tariffs. It can be argued that this is a cosmetic move - because Bush had already lost the votes of the steel states in the US - but the move indicates a politician much less happy than he once was to be seen as isolationist.

Even during an American election cycle, the apparent decision to aim for the moon is surprising. The original lunar programme grew out of the bipolar political world of the cold war. Kennedy was only interested in landing in the Sea of Tranquillity because of the fear that the Russians might splash down first. Now, with only one superpower, it will be not a space race but a space lap-of-honour or training run for America.

It's a measure of Bush's reputation that environmentalists have already accused him of planning to rob the moon of mineral deposits or light. But there's another possibility. A pattern is emerging in which the Bush White House - like a child hiding its face at a bad memory - seeks to replace a negative image with a positive one.

The original Gulf war photo-op planned for use in the 2004 election campaign was the commander-in-chief landing a jet on an aircraft carrier that flew the banner: Mission Accomplished. Now that Mission Impossible might be a more fitting message to fly from US ships, a substitute image was needed for the militaristic bits of the ads. This was provided by Dubya as carver-in-chief on Thanksgiving Day. The mooted new moonshots are calculated to wipe from the collective memory the images of the Challenger disaster.

If the president were to use the plastic turkey of Baghdad in commercials now, his opponents would make a real meal of it, so Bush 2004 needs some other photo-ops. Perhaps the new Nasa plans indicate that he intends to disguise Air Force One as a rocket and stage a photo-shoot on the moon.

Whatever the details, the message is clear. Though he still lacks anything as pesky as a plausible Democrat opponent, Dubya is starting to fear that his administration may become the second one-term turkey served up by the Bush dynasty.

comment@guardian.co.uk

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[ErnBatavia]

Boy, those friggin Brits have got us nailed and figgered out, eh?

[Bogey78O]

I remember under Clinton when we had real lies from the president. You know, like rape, fraud, and murder.

Ifd all the left has is a banner and a turkey then they'll have a dud in November.

[prairiebreeze]

Man oh man, these photo shots of the Pres on aircraft carriers and visiting the troops while clearly being adored and respected by them really gets the left media's knickers in a knot! LOL

Prairie

[dano1]

Here´s an idea to quiet down these annoying anti-Bush Brits. Why don´t we spread the rumor the Germans seem to be building a lot of airplanes?

[SunStar]

It's a measure of Bush's reputation that environmentalists have already accused him of planning to rob the moon of mineral deposits or light.

Wow. The whiners at the Guardian must really be smoking some good ganja.

[glock rocks]

Why, oh why couldn't W do something real, you know, like clinton did when the camera spotted him sobbing at Ron Brown's funeral...

[SBprone]

"The mooted new moonshots are calculated to wipe from the collective memory the images of the Challenger disaster."

This guy is clueless about Americans. Nobody wants wipe Challenger from the collective memory. We're proud of our heroes, even when they catch a bad break.

[section9]

Jesus, where do these people come up with this bullshit?

I'm sorry, there's no other word for it. Bush picks up a decorative turkey and the left wing press goes f&$king nuts! A BA pilot sees AF1 and next thing you know, the White House Press Corps is acting like there is a scandal afoot.

You'd think they'd report on something important, like the war. I tell you, most of the press rates spying on licensce plates at the Neverland Ranch.

The depth of their hatred for this man and his family is beyond measure. This is a good thing, however, as it will be their undoing.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Lokibob]

If I had a bet, I'd bet on President Bush being in Hawaii Sunday, 7 Dec.

[JoJo Gunn]

" In a revelation certain to be taught at schools of democracy and journalism for years to come...."

In other words, this moron hopes it's words stick with the highly suggestive idiots that haunt the DU and the various indymedias, as well as with university professors.

[Savage Beast]

These pathetic people are trapped in a delusional prison of their own making, and the more truth confronts them, the more furiously they gnash their teeth and spew forth their venom.

[luvbach1]

Nothing but snide schadenfreude

[optimistically_conservative]

Well, I don't know how it plays in lefty London, but in Peoria the "plastic turkey" story does more damage to the credibility of the "reporter" than it does harm to the President.

[weegee]

I think this clymer is wrong in his reference. He probably meant to say the memory of the space shuttle Columbia (which broke up on re-entry this February).

Then again the facts don't seem to matter in this piece of fishwrap anyway. Fish and chips anyone???

[weegee]

The press focused a whole lot of effort shielding the American public from the truth about Bill Clinton and it killed them inside. They didn't want to admit their business relationship, they didn't want to concede any points to conservative critics...

Now that they have a president that they didn't vote for (and therefore despise) they get out their frustrations about the past 8 years by trying to tear down this president. Well I'm sorry but President Bush is a busy man and has work to do. If he critics have nothing of substance to bitch about then stop obstructing his administration (let him present his judicial nominees and quit hindering the economic recovery).

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!

[AuntB]

Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed sending them my comment:

Your article about Pres. Bush's plastic turkey...YOU people don't have enough to worry about if this is what concerns you. Do you recall Bill Clinton, being in ENGLAND some years ago, walking on a beach, where his people placed a stone cross in the sand...and tried to convince us that it magically appeared by divine guidance? Pres. Bush and this country are the ONLY friends your country has. Fix your own country...we'll take care of ours...as we ALWAYS have.

[Steve_Seattle]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but several reports said this was a real turkey, not a fake one, but that it was intended for display rather than consumption, in order to create a "homey" atmosphere for the soldiers. The film of the event showed the president serving the soldiers the military-issue turkey from the steam bins, not slicing turkey from a freshly roasted bird. So there was no deception intended or implied. Now, are we to accuse this reporter of "lying" because he incorrectly describes this as a plastic turkey?