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No different than any other president. Heck, I suspect U.S. troops had to be given barf bags before any meeting with Clinton. |
There's nothing to see here folks, just move on...
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."
McClellan comes from a very important family in Texas that has worked closely with George W. Bush for many years.
Where is a misstep? You seem confused by the lying media or you are simply a troll..
-and some of those are trolls...
And one more thing. Even if this was not staged, it is still propaganda. Propaganda has negative connotations, but the media is a place where warfare is being conducted. The letter recently from the terrorists in Iraq highlights well the fact that they understand it all too well. We ignore this facet of warfare at our own peril.
We could be more skillful at it, and should be. But we cannot and should not ignore it, neglect it or view it as beneath us. Propaganda is practiced in many ways, and not all of them have to be wrong or misleading. Propaganda can be as straightforward as doing good things for the native population, highlighting it and making sure it gets lots of publicity.
Allowing the rehearsal to be broadcast was a misstep. Are you arguing otherwise?
Agreed, but not all.
I used to listen to Jay Severin, a conservative talk show host up here in the Boston area. But not anymore.
Jay was one of those people who panicked with about .5% of the vote counted in the 2004 presidential election.
He panicked then, and is panicking regarding Iraq, and as anyone knows, panic is contagious.
People need to take the approach that our POW's took in Hanoi. Keep a steady strain. Not too high. Not too low.
I am not arguing anything. I sure do not in my wildest dreams assume that the events are orchestrated dance -as such, there can be no misstep -your premise is flawed...
I do not buy into your premise nor care about the spin and I think the only people who do care about such nonsense are liberal fools that parrot the same general meme...
Perhaps this is the liberal media's way of creating a story to use this weekend to bury coverage of the voting in Iraq. They'd WAY rather bash Bush than champion the victory of the Iraqi people.
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No different than any other president. Heck, I suspect U.S. troops had to be given barf bags before any meeting with Clinton. |
There's nothing to see here folks, just move on...
I don't like this.
"yet Bush lives on and on and on."
After daddy Bush's "read my lips" tax flip-flop, he lived on and on until the end of his term. Then Clinton defeated him.
"I don't understand why the WH even tolerates this kind of disrespect from reporters"
Since they want stand up to liberal MSM reporters, it's no wonder they want challenge the Gang of 14 and other RINOs. Stupid is as stupid does.
Uhhhh....the only thing the democrats could ever come up with was the oval sink, and its emporer (sp) and a chick named Monica, was that staged,?
Even if they were coached, so what? Personally I'm not going to lose sleep over it, as I expect this kind of garbage from the media these days. They're the minority voice of this country, nobody buys into their spin, they cater to the party that survives on conjecture and right-wing conspiracies. We should stop acting like they're an unstoppable force that cannot be reckoned with, and stop getting our dander up over nothing.
The WH is stupid to have the preparation tape released, and dunass McClellan should have stated that it is protocol to brief ANYONE who is going on LIVE TV in a conversation with the President.
(from his Yahoo personals ad....I think I saw somewhere that he teaches golf)
Looking, but not desperate
Age: 32; Clear Lake City, TX
Active during the last 3 days
About Me
Gender: Man seeking a Woman
Marital Status: Single - never married
Body Type: Athletic
Height: 6' 1"
Eyes: Green
Hair: I'll tell you later
Ethnicity: Caucasian (white)
Sense of Humor: Friendly, Dry / Sarcastic
Social Setting: Shy at first, but warm up quickly
TV Watching: Sports Nut, Documentaries, Channel Hopper
Smoking: Doesn't smoke
Drinking: Drinks socially
Living Situation: With roommate(s)
Have Kids: No
Want (more) kids: Yes
Education: I'll tell you later
Employment Status: Full-time
Occupation: Politics / Government / Military
Income: $75,000 to $99,999
Religion: Spiritual but not religious
Attend Services: Rarely
Political Views: Conservative
Astrology: Pisces
Languages: English, Spanish
Interests: Outdoor Activities, Cooking
In my own words
Wow. Scary stuff, trying to describe myself. Well, for starters I was recently discharged from the Army and moved back to Houston. I am looking for new, interesting people to meet but to describe my perfect match would be difficult. I have no perfect picture in my head, but I will know it when I see or find it. Hopefully my match will have similar interests and can actually have a smart and real conversation about current events. The picture of me and Hillary Clinton was taken when she came to visit Iraq. I was actually ordered to shake her hand, and I never figured that my friends would circulate it all over the net. I AM NOT a Hillary fan by any stretch.
Thanks for the ping!
well the male troops probably were but ithink they had to give the female troops chastity belts before any meeting with clinton(either clinton).
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