Posted on 08/10/2005 5:30:08 AM PDT by OESY
Sweltering in August and swarming with grasshoppers, the Prairie Chapel ranch in Crawford, Texas, isn't everyone's idea of paradise. But a captive press corps and a slow summer news cycle are allowing President Bush to use the Crawford backdrop to push his agenda....
Operating from... the "Western White House," Mr. Bush devoted last week to touting his legislative success in pushing a Central American trade agreement through Congress as well as a bankruptcy overhaul bill. On Monday, Mr. Bush extolled the administration-backed energy bill. Yesterday he praised highlights of the economy, and today he will speak about the recently passed highway bill. Tomorrow, with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at his side, Mr. Bush will talk up what he views as progress in Iraq....
The president's critics frequently seize on his vacations as fodder for portraying him as an absentee White House resident. He has taken more than 300 days of vacation (not all of it in Crawford) during five years in office, eclipsing workaholics such as Jimmy Carter (79 vacation days in one term) and Bill Clinton (152 vacation days during two terms).
But Mr. Bush's August holidays also demonstrate how the administration adroitly times and airs its message. With Congress out of session, many Washington agencies on a vacation schedule and a traveling contingent of White House reporters cooling their heels in Crawford, Mr. Bush can count on dictating news coverage with a series of events that rely heavily on rhetoric and skimp on audience participation....
Using Crawford as a base for getting his word out has served Mr. Bush well in the past..., allowing Mr. Bush to burnish his image as a tough ranch hand who approaches the world's problems with a chain saw and a pair of sturdy work boots....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Note to media: Welcome to Texas A**holes!
That's what happens to people who spend their entire adult lives in public housing. They had to get a rich pal to back their home loan.
"I'm mellllllting!"
Also, I always wondered why Clinton was out of the country on July 4 holidays.
-PJ
Not only do they abhor rural America, but Crawford forces them out of their usual habitat which is comfortable lounges in air-conditioned hotels.
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