What is wrong with these pictures?
They will never understand. Too bad.
To Ron Reagan's hearty affirmation, MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked if the hug during the State of the Union, between an Iraqi woman who voted on Sunday and the mother of a Marine who was killed in Iraq, was engineered by President Bush in order "to push his numbers on Social Security reform, just to get his general appeal up a bit, a couple of points?" Matthews proceeded to suggest that Bush's "PR guys around the White House did this to promote the President's agenda" Reagan enthusiastically agreed:
"Well, of course they did. Oh, sure they did."
Joe Scarborough soon dismissed that theory as "just the height of cynicism." Even after NBC's Norah O'Donnell called the hug "very spontaneous," Matthews wouldn't let go: "The only question is whether that Iraqi woman was prompted to go up and hug" the Marine's mother "by some staffer." Newsweek Managing Editor, Jon Meacham, rejected the notion: "I think the idea that that moment was about Social Security poll numbers is absurd."
Before the State of the Union, CNN's Paula Zahn Now pointed it out repeatedly and, after the address, NBC focused on it. Zahn asked a guest: "This President comes into the State of the Union address with a 50 percent approval rating. What challenge does that present?" She soon pointed out how "the President is under a lot of pressure tonight to deliver this speech at a time when his approval rating rests at 50 percent" and CNN's John King echoed that "this is a President at a historic low in terms of delivering a State of the Union, a 50 percent approval rating."
ABC's Terry Moran saw it as "the kind of moment that can crystallize for a President what he's trying to do on the world stage." Cokie Roberts, also on ABC, described the "spontaneous hug" as "something that leaves you with goose bumps. And I think will have more resonance than any words he [Bush] said."
CBS's Dan Rather wrapped up his prime time coverage by suggesting nothing "said more about America in this 229th year of our freedom than this picture" of the two woman hugging.
"In the most poignant moment of any State of the Union night we can remember," Rather related, "a grateful Iraqi said, 'we thank you.'"
When posted will be readable at: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2005/cyb20050203.asp
What is wrong with these pictures?
They will never understand. Too bad.
Janeane my love, go to hell.