Posted on 02/14/2006 5:31:24 PM PST by jmc1969
Fleischer, who was Bush's first press secretary - from 2001 to 2003 - told E&P that Cheney's accidental shooting of Texas attorney Harry Whittington on Saturday during a hunting trip should not have taken nearly a day to be reported.
"It would have been better if the vice president and/or his staff had come out last Saturday night or first thing Sunday morning and announced it," he said during a phone interview Tuesday. "It could have and should have been handled differently."
But Fleischer also took a jab at the reporting frenzy surrounding the story, saying most Americans are not as focused on it as the White House press corps. "The press is largely right on the issue--but it can be right and go too far," he added.
He also said that if he were still in the White House, he would urge the vice president's office to take some of the heat off Bush's staff: "I think you go to the vice president and say, 'you need to be handling this.'"
Fleischer's comments came just hours after Marlin Fitzwater, who served as press secretary to Bush's father and Ronald Reagan, also criticized Cheney, telling E&P he was "appalled" at the response to the incident.
(Excerpt) Read more at editorandpublisher.com ...
I'm firmly in the Bush camp ... however, when it comes to PR the Bushies are clueless ... McClellan, their press secretary is the sorriest excuse imaginable. It started with Katrina and now this ... the Bush gang just don't get it. The Clintonistas were scum but they knew how to spin ...
Then he could issue a statement to that affect and the WH press office could just respond, 'you've got the statement. No additional comment'.
Frankly, I think it is absolutely ridiculous that Fleischer and Fitzwater felt compelled to offer their opinions. I note they haven't (until now) offered their opinions on the MANY infractions of the press corps. I don't seem to remember seeing Fleischer's comment about Dan Rather, for example.
I am getting very cynical. I sometimes feel it's going to be you, me, Howlin, and a few others down in Crawford, fending off the howling left with shotguns and stink bombs.
And how much you want to bet the media would have been all over that hospital trying to get pictures of Mr. Whittington
The reality is .. the media doesn't give a damn about Mr. Whittington
It's all about getting Cheney
the truth can win out right now, but we need a messenger. and McClellan can't be that messenger.
and when Whittington does gets out of the hospital and recovers, 2-3 weeks from now, any press statement he makes will be on page 32.
What does that have to do with how the WH is handling this?
WHO. CARES. This was a hunting accident, for crying out loud, and the man is alive. It's not like Cheney committed a crime and was hiding some wrongdoing from the nation. He wasn't even running and hiding he was taking care of the problem he created. The only mistake they can find about this is that he didn't let them know soon enough, and they're milking that for all it's worth. In reality it's a non-issue and they know it and yet they're still trying to make it an issue.
It's as though this administration has to handle everything exactly perfectly from the left's POV, which has no rhyme nor reason BTW, or else they're in the dog house. The result is that they're ALWAYS in the dog house no matter WHAT they do.
It's very tiresome.
Have you ever worked in PR? I've heard this lesson repeated at least since the 1970s.
Sad as it seems ,the democrats seem to stick together and the Republicans jump ship time and time again.
Ahem. He DID issue a statement this morning. I heard it read on the radio. It included the statement that he stood ready to do anything he could to assist Mr. Whittington and his family and that he is keeping them in his prayers.
LOL!
I was never a Fitzwater fan, but I'm hoping that E & P might have fabricated a quote. I wouldn't trust anything I read from that rag.
In fact, I have. And I had never heard of it, before Lanny Davis.
I believe there are even some books on this topic, citing the way Johnson and Johnson handled the Tylenol tampering incident - saving the brand and the company.
a textbook case, its taught in some colleges on the subject:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/tylenol/crisis.html
The reporters are just covering that they were too lazy to go the the VP's vacation. It's actually an embarassment that none of them was there.
I think if you you actually read what he says, He says that sure, in hindsight it could have been handled differently.
And then he blasts the press.
Of course, the headline is all about gratuitous backside covering for the press.
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