Posted on 10/13/2005 4:14:50 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
The White House found itself at the centre of another public relations disaster yesterday after a Pentagon official was seen coaching a group of handpicked US troops before a live teleconference with President George Bush.
In a cringingly wooden exchange the group of soldiers stationed in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit told the president exactly what he wanted to hear - that Iraqis were eager to vote on a new constitution this weekend and the country's fledgling security forces were ready to meet the challenge.
But before Mr Bush entered the room Alison Barber, a senior defence department official, went through a list of topics the president would later ask them about. At her prompting, the soldiers, who were displayed on a large video screen in a room of the Eisenhower Building next to the White House, raised their hands when the topic they were to answer came up.
At one point, she said, Mr Bush would ask them specifically, "In the last 10 months, what kind of progress have we seen?" before asking who was prepared to answer the question. "Master Sgt Lombardo," one of the soldiers replied.
Minutes later Mr Bush asked the same question and Master Sgt Corine Lombardo responded: "Over the past 10 months, the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces are improving ... They continue to develop and grow into a sustainable force." Mr Bush then asked: "Do the Iraqis want to fight, and are they capable of fighting?" He was told they were.
Ms Barber insisted later the questions were not rehearsed. The military had been told ahead of time only about topics the president might want to talk about, not specific questions. "We just knew broad themes," she said. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said: "All they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect."
But Democrats dismissed the event as a sham. The Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, said: "The American people and our brave troops deserve better than a photo-op for the president and a pep-rally about Iraq. They deserve a plan. Unfortunately, today's event only served to highlight the fact that the president refuses to engage in a frank conversation about the realities on the ground."
Rats! He's 3 years older than my son and lives on the other side of Houston. Well, at one time I was a member of Yahoo personals. I don't know if my profile is still around or not but I think I'll go poking around.
If I do find him the least I can do is let him know how much we admire the manner in which he shook hands with Hillary.
Check back later!
Got him!
The picture of me and Hillary Clinton was taken when she came to visit Iraq. The helicopter that she rode on in Iraq was called "Broomstick One" behind her back (we thought it was pretty funny). Anyway, I am out of the Army now and will not be called back up for duty.
Thanks for helping.
"The problem was that the soldiers contradicted the unstaged MSM reporting. Oh the horror!!!!"
ROFLMAO! Dead on.
I might disagree with the President on Miers, but this was no more 'staged' than any of Billary's events, and a damn sight less. But whatever. Anything the MSM can do to try to bring the man low in order to lose the war and run down the republic, gotta get those Marxists back in power, donchaknow!?!?!
I sent him an icebreaker and I also updated my profile. The update won't take affect for 24 hours so hopefully he'll see it.
Here's what I added.
I adore the picture of you shaking hands with Ms. Clinton! There are a number of us who would love to shake your hand (in the traditional way, of course!)
I added FR to my RSS feed but I don't know if he'll be able to find it that way. I couldn't reference FR in my profile or I would have.
I doubt they put words in their mouths. The President is just off stride right now -- he's trying to choose words so carefully everything sounds scripted. And he doesn't read scripts well. I wish they'd bring Karen Hughes back in. It was a well oiled machine before she left. She's poised to come back, but she's not back yet.
There is a fundamental problem in trying to get the word from the troops on live TV. First, "the troops" are individuals and don't all think alike in the first place.Second, military personnel are not supposed to engage in politics as military personnel. You do not, after all, want your son in the military to have to go on TV and tell president clinton what his political opinion is. And you don't want president clinton ordering the troops to contribute to political campaigns or to go door to door canvasing for the Democratic Party.
Huh? What is wrong with a photo op and a pep rally for the troops? Coaches and players do it all the time before a big game.
The only thing missing was the Pres telling them to get out there and win one for "The Gipper." That would have made it a truelly beautiful thing.
Thanks again.
No, and we on FR were rightly furious about it.
This is a tricky situation as "everybody does it". The bad part is that having questions planted in an audience is just dishonest. If an administration wants to make certain points then they should make a speech, not plant questions.
This has been going on for a long time, so it is hard to blame Bush for doing it. This is one of those things that you have be very discreet about if you're going to do it - otherwise it makes you look like a jackass.
I disagree. I'm not condoning "staging" but this doesn't really sound like staging if you read what they did. It's my understanding the questions and statements were actually compiled by the troops themselves--the only "staging" was in helping them deliver them on camera. If I understood this correctly, they were not told what to say, just how to say it.
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