Posted on 05/08/2004 1:48:22 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
DUBUQUE, Iowa, May 7 — Tears were flowing on "Live With Regis & Kelly" on Friday as a woman was introduced to the man whose life her dead son's heart had saved.
But the emotional moment was abruptly halted on Channel 9 here by breaking news. It was not for Donald H. Rumsfeld's Congressional appearance (that would come later) or the severe storms brewing to the southwest.
It was, rather, for Air Force One's approach, which the news camera followed as if it was that of the space shuttle.
"You can see a smooth landing at the Dubuque Regional Airport," the anchorman, Scott Sanborn, said in a slightly hushed tone. "There is a lot of anticipation in Dubuque for the president's visit today."
That was putting it mildly. On local television and radio and in the main newspaper here, Mr. Bush's stop in this Mississippi River town, part of his three-day bus tour, has scored blanket coverage for days, much of it downright giddy.
It was a happy welcome for Mr. Bush's campaign team, particularly at a time when his administration was under siege over abuses of American-held prisoners in Iraq. True, he had to address Iraq, but it was hardly the center of attention. And that was, of course, largely what the president's "Yes, America Can" bus tour was meant to do.
The bus tour, which began in Michigan on Monday, is Mr. Bush's latest effort to do an end-run around the Washington press corps that covers him daily, and which he derisively calls "the filter," to find potentially warmer coverage in parts of the country that rarely glimpse celebrities, let alone sitting presidents, while galvanizing the faithful in person.
It is a strategy that has won him very localized and fairly favorable coverage across the nation for weeks, out of the general eye of the national news media based in Washington and New York that has been acutely focused on, in the words of one Bush campaign aide, Scott Stanzel, "the back and forth that we see in Washington."
When the president visits towns like Naples, Fla., and Niles, Mich., readers and viewers are treated to a reality different from the news out of Washington.
While the national network newscasts and newspapers were overwhelmingly focused on Mr. Rumsfeld's appearances on Capitol Hill on Friday, the news media here were far more consumed by Mr. Bush's scheduled local appearance.
"Historic Visit" was the large-type headline in the Telegraph Herald of Dubuque on Friday morning; "A pretty spectacular day," proclaimed Ron Steele, the KWWL-TV anchor. Almost all of the major local stations showed Mr. Bush's nearly hourlong campaign speech at the Grand River Center, in which he lampooned Senator John Kerry and promoted his own record, live. Even on Thursday, news of Mr. Bush's visit overwhelmed news about the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.
The Telegraph Herald carried only a 50-word teaser to the Iraqi abuse story on the front page, half of which was occupied by three articles about Mr. Bush's visit. One carried a headline that said in part, "no food will be allowed at president's speech." Another was about the hopes of nearby Cuba City, Wis., that the president's motorcade would swing through.
Mr. Bush is not the first to use a bus tour to try to rack up good will in the heartland. Senator John McCain of Arizona did it in 2000. Bill Clinton did it in 1992, just as President Jimmy Carter did it in 1979, only by riverboat down the Mississippi River. Mr. Carter's visit was the last and only other time a sitting president has swung through Dubuque.
News directors and editors said they were wise to what the campaign was trying to accomplish, drawing positive press in a market likely to be wowed by the rare presence of a president. But, several said in interviews, that they had few choices but to cover his visit as an event.
"How often do you get a president of the United States not only in your state but in your backyard?" said Becky Lutgen Gardner, news director of KCRG-TV.
Brian Cooper, the executive editor of the Telegraph Herald, the major newspaper in town, said of Mr. Bush, "There are a lot of people who disagree with his policies and still think it's pretty neat we've got him coming to town."
Still, news directors and editors said they did what they could to counter Mr. Bush's campaign spin. Mr. Cooper pointed to a front-page article on Tuesday in which a 77-year-old World War II veteran complained he was refused a ticket to Mr. Bush's speech because he admitted to local organizers he would not support Mr. Bush. The newspaper tempered its coverage on Friday with an editorial referring to his claims that said, "It is disappointing that Americans had to pass a political litmus test to see their commander in chief."
On television, correspondents at all the major stations covering Mr. Bush's speech at the Grand River Center, on the banks of the Mississippi River here, took pains to remind viewers, "This is a very staged setting," as Mr. Steele of Channel 7 did. The later editions of the newscasts included reports about protests.
And for all the good that came of the trip for the president, there was only so much it could do to combat the tough climate. His speech ended just as the major stations switched over to the feed from their national networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — of Mr. Rumsfeld's testimony. Gordon Fisher, the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, said he was confident that all the positive press the president was receiving would wear off.
"The Rumsfeld story, the abuse — perhaps even torture — of the Iraqi prisoners, it's going to be there," Mr. Fisher said.
But for now, Mr. Bush's aides said, they will happily take what they can get. Mr. Stanzel said, "We will continue to talk to the people of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio about the very important choice that exists in this election."
It's interesting how much detail this article gives to how the media tries to tone down Bush's trips. I don't believe I ever saw such head hanging about covering a presidential trip when a democrat came to town.
Nobody has ever been able to answer that question. You might as well ask "how high is up?"
Good grief! I think you need to check deeper.
LOL. Perfect observation.
To the Left, it will be a welcome chapter in anti-American public school instruction.
Mark
What it tells us is that the Times is trying to manage the national news, Bush knows it and has figured out a way around them, and there is not a darn thing they can do about it. HA!
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