Posted on 11/28/2003 6:33:22 PM PST by Salem
Hillary's Afghan photo op: a medialess turkey
Bush Stuns Nation With Surprise Visit to Baghdad...Liberals Respond To Bush's Trip With Criticism
By Jon Christian Ryter
www.jonchristianryter.com
Once again George W. Bush's political detractors have been upstaged by the man that none of them thought was smart enough to occupy the White House. This time, Bush outfoxed the fox who has been secretly sniffing around outside the chicken coop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
As the liberal media proudly announced that Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY] would be dining with American troops in a relatively secure area in Afghanistan (filing video tape footage for her own presidential campaign commercials), they prominently covered the Thanksgiving Day menu that would be served at President Bush's compound in Crawford, Texas. The media noted, also, that Bush's presidential parents would join their son and his wife in Crawford.
Only, when Daddy Bush showed up he learned that his presidential son had flown the coop. He was already in Baghdad serving mashed potatoes and turkey to the troops at Baghdad International Airport. And, because he was, Senator Hillary Clinton, who had every reason to believe it would be her face plastered on the front pages of the nation's newspapers, got the bird instead.
While the media treated one of the most secretive presidential trips in American history in a positive light because it was a major morale booster for about 600 stunned and very pleased soldiers from the First Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne, the poison pen columnists for the New York Times and the Washington Post decided to Bush's trip a political campaign event instead of the morale booster it was intended, by the President, to be. And, the liberals' reaction is understandable since this was one of those news events that the liberals knew they could not top.
Hillary shoulda gone to a homeless shelter in da Bronx.
The cruelest remark made by the left came from the lips of former White House Press Secretary who is now a Democratic consultant with very close ties to Hillary (since Joe expects to be her Press Secretary when she takes the White House next year). But, I think Joe just fell on his sword. His only role in a future Clinton Administration will be that of a paid talk show guest spinmeister. When Lockhart heard about the Bush visit to Baghdad, he said: "My problem with this is not that he misled the press. This is a president who has been unwilling to provide his presence to the families who have suffered but thinks nothing of flying to Baghdad to use the troops there as a prop."
Excuse me?
First, isn't that exactly what Bill Clinton did countless times during his presidency? Except that Bill would never go into harms way. And, when Clinton went anywhere where "armed" troops were billeted, all weapons were emptied before Clinton showed up. Say what you will about our 42nd President, he wasn't a stupid man.
Second, what does Lockhart think Hillary's trip to Afghanistan was all about? Was Joe mad because the speech he had prepared to talk about Hillary's heroic, morale building trip to Afghanistan was suddenly just so much scrap paper?
Third, Bush has met with the families of many of those who lost their lives in Iraq, and he will continue to do so. Of course, to Lockhart and the Clinton's, you always knew when those photo ops happened because they met with the bereaved before the media so they always got the full voter impact. That fact that Bush chooses to meet with the families privately and without the press corp does not mean those visits didn't happen. What it means is that Bush is caring enough that these visits are sincere expressions of his condolences to those whose loved ones made the supreme sacrifice for their country.
Tom Rosentiel criticized the White House correspondences who made the trip with Bush for not confiding their secret with their peers before they left. "That's just not kosher," Rosenthiel said, "Reporters are in the business of telling the truth (except, perhaps the New York Times which now has an earned reputation of making up some of their news stories). They can't decide its okay to lie sometimes because it serves a larger truth or good cause."
Bush's people wisely dismissed two CNN reporters from the White House pool on Wednesday. They were told there would no further news of interest to report. The Bush people knew that CNN could not be trusted. Vladimir Putin would have known about the trip before the American troops. Kathryn Ross, CNN's Washington bureau chief was upset that CNN was excluded. "We're all for the President boosting the troops however the White House feels is appropriate. But apparently the White House put together its own group of people to accompany the president on this trip, and we're real interested to learn their reason for doing that."
It's quite simple, Kathryn—you people at CNN can't keep your mouth shut.
The reaction from the Democratic midgets who want to fill Bush's king-sized Texas boots was expected. "It's nice that he made it over there today," Jay Carson, a spokesman for Howard Dean said. "But this visit won't change the fact that those brave men and women should never have been fighting in Iraq in the first place."
John Kerry, who was every bit as stunned by the news as Hillary, who wasted her trip to Afghanistan (but who will nevertheless use the file footage in her own presidential commercials next year), said that Bush did the right thing for our country..."But," he added, "when Thanksgiving is over, I hope the president will take the time to correct his failed policy in Iraq that has placed our soldiers in a shooting gallery." Kerry and the other mental midgets who are trying to dethrone Bush by making Iraq a campaign issue don't seem to realize there is a shooting gallery in Iraq largely because they have chosen to make Iraq a political football and Saddam, from his hiding place in the sewers of Baghdad, has been led to believe that if his terrorists kill enough soldiers and Marines in bomb and sniper attacks, that the American Congress and the voters will force Bush to withdraw and Saddam's Fedayeen can take the nation back. So we can personally thank Dean, Dick Gephart, 'Wesley Clark, non-candidate-candidate Hillary Clinton, Kerry, John Edwards, Carol Moseley Braun, Joe Lieberman, Dennis Kucinch, and Al Sharpton for the loss of life since war action ceased in Iraq since their spiteful rhetoric has helped fuel the terrorist activity in Iraq.
Only Clark and Gephart did not have a negative "but," added to the end of their praise of the president for going to Baghdad to celebrate Thanksgiving with the troops.
But its a safe bet that if they were the commander-in-chief, none of the mental midgets running for the Democratic nomination would have done what Bush did. None of them would have placed themselves in harm's way to raise the morale of the troops—not even war "hero" John Kerry, or former NATO commander Wesley Clark. And most certainly not Howard Dean who sought and received a medical deferment for a back injury—and then went skiing in the mountains of Vermont to celebrate his reprieve from being drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War.
Jon Christian Ryter
Author of:
THE BAFFLED CHRISTIAN'S HANDBOOK
PRINCE ALBERT: PROPHET OF UTOPIA
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AMERICA?
COMING SOON: DESTINY DENIED
website: www.jonchristianryter.com
Jon Christian Ryter
I swear, these people are nothing more than something you step in walking through the park and scrap off your shoe at the curb before moving on. I knew their bitter, hateful venom was coming, but it's still incredible.
The elitist Left who derided Reagan's intellect all those years ago had their clocks cleaned, too.
What did the homeless do to deserve this?
Yesterday was a wonderful day! Heehee! 
1. To: TLBSHOW; OKCSubmariner (#0)Say 'hello' to the DU ratty rats there for us...
This is sweeping across America. Bush is toast. I wonder if his handlers know yet?
Uncle Bill posted on 2003-11-25 03:55:19 ET Reply Trace
13. To: Uncle Bill (1)
This is sweeping across America. Bush is toast. I wonder if his handlers know yet?They are clueless what is going to happen in 2004.....
TLBSHOW posted on 2003-11-25 09:28:59 ET Reply Trace
19. To: Uncle Bill
This is sweeping across America. Bush is toast. I wonder if his handlers know yet.In a Floriduh poll released today, Bush was 20 points ahead of any Democrat for Prez.
jazzfan posted on 2003-11-25 12:58:02 ET Reply Trace
20. To: jazzfan (#19)
20 points ahead of any Democrat for Prezwe will have to do something about that won't we.
TLBSHOW posted on 2003-11-25 13:06:04 ET Reply Trace
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