When All Else Fails, Blame the Advance Staff
When All Else Fails, Blame the Advance Staff
White House rule: When faced with a public relations debacle, blame the advance staff. Apparently, they have no bosses.
White House reaction to the soldiers’ silence at Ft. Bragg speech:
Capt. Tom Earnhardt, a public affairs officer at Fort Bragg who participated in the planning for the president’s trip, said that from the first meetings with White House officials there was agreement that a hall full of wildly cheering troops would not create the right atmosphere for a speech devoted to policy and strategy.
“The guy from White House advance, during the initial meetings, said, ‘Be careful not to let this become a pep rally,’” Captain Earnhardt recalled in a telephone interview. Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, confirmed that account.
Bush’s reaction to Mission Accomplished uproar:
Attention turned Tuesday to a giant “Mission Accomplished” sign that stood behind Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln when he gave the speech May 1. The president told reporters the sign was put up by the Navy, not the White House. “I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious advance man from my staff — they weren’t that ingenious, by the way,” the president said Tuesday.
After it was discovered that 42 people were put on a black list and not allowed to attend a Bush event:
The White House later said that the list was a mistake and may have been generated by its advance team — a mix of White House staffers and state and local volunteers.
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They can never be wrong, and they take no responsibility for their actions. Yep everybody, it’s the Bush team. Isn’t it about time for another round of promotions and medals?
June 30th, 2005 at 12:29 pmI agree that it’s wrong to blame the advance staff. But I appreciated that there were no hoo-haas during the speech.
June 30th, 2005 at 12:29 pmWhen the camera was on the crowd of soldiers I saw that many of them were not applauding. I worked at the studios for 30 years and found it difficult to get an actor to cry on cue, he’s good.
June 30th, 2005 at 1:35 pmDuring the speech, there were crowd shots in which I noticed soldiers turning towards each other making comments. Wish I could read lips better. I gave it up after Bush Sr.
June 30th, 2005 at 1:46 pmThe advance team in Iraq must really be in trouble.
June 30th, 2005 at 2:28 pmThe advance team this month; overzealous volunteers last month (many examples but including the fake Secret Service member or was he an overzelous volunteer advance team member?).
Good thing no one’s accountable.
June 30th, 2005 at 2:50 pmREUTERS : BIN LADEN IN PRIME TIME APPEARANCE
Fort Bragg, June 28 2005 : Americans saw Bin Laden on stage in Ft. Bragg during the President’s major speech on Iraq. The president after a few opening remarks turned the floor over to the terrorist leader. Bin Laden, grabbing a mike went on to say “This Third World War … is raging in Iraq. The whole world is watching this war. It will end in victory and glory or misery and humiliation.�
Listeners wondered whether quoting Bin Laden as a driver of U.S. policy is tantamount to yielding the future of the world to men like Bin Laden, but the president quickly said, “The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11 … if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi … and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden.�
Later backstage, Bin Laden told reporters that he thanks Bush for the first prime time opportunity since two days before the 2004 US elections. Before reporters could ask too many questions, Porter Goss shuffled him away into a limo waiting outside.
June 30th, 2005 at 2:52 pmAre the paranoid irrationals focused on images rather than content? Yes.
From the speech announcing the end of major combat opertions (Gen Tommy Franks explains the reason for that message in his book)…
“In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. (Applause.) And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country.”
“We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We’re bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We’re pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We’ve begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated. We’re helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people.”
“The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq.”
“The war on terror is not over; yet it is not endless. We do not know the day of final victory, but we have seen the turning of the tide. No act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter their fate. Their cause is lost. Free nations will press on to victory.”
“Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle, want nothing more than to return home. And that is your direction tonight. After service in the Afghan — and Iraqi theaters of war — after 100,000 miles, on the longest carrier deployment in recent history, you are homeward bound.”
Hence, “mission accomplished” for the men and women serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
June 30th, 2005 at 2:57 pmSombody has to be blamed, after all GWB has NEVER made a mistake. Not since Christ has any man been so perfect.
June 30th, 2005 at 3:11 pmFor more on Bush’s overzealous staffers, look here/.
June 30th, 2005 at 3:39 pmIt’s odd that as the speech was going on, the National Review Corner crowd were trying pre-empt the critique that it would be a pep rally:
JUST FOR GRINS [Cliff May]
Who wants to guess — right here, right now — what his opponents will say later tonight?
…
June 30th, 2005 at 4:01 pmThat it was too much of a pep rally because the audience was in uniform?
Steed
June 30th, 2005 at 5:01 pmYou really believe it was just happenstance that the president flew in on a fighter jet instead of a helicopter after the carrier was turned around to get a better backdrop for the cameras and appeared in fighter pilot gear then proceeded to give a planned televised address … you really think it was happenstance that after all that they forgot he was standing directly under a banner (in the camera lens)that only referred to that specific carrier’s tour of duty? The president’s speech that day was specifically planned for the American people (that’s why the brought the props and cameras) so to justify the banner as one just for the carrier’s crew is either amazingly naive or amazingly dishonest.
Where in my post did I say the this wasn’t a planned televised speech for the American people? For you to misrepresent the main content of my post and ignore the what the president, the Navy and Tommy Franks actually said is dishonest on your part. But you did provide a perfect of example of an irrational thinker.
June 30th, 2005 at 6:05 pmSteed,
It took you this long to come up with an excuse for the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED theatrics? If the message is so good, why go over the top?
June 30th, 2005 at 6:58 pmDuring Thursday’s hearings of the Armed Services Committee, several Republican Senators blamed the usual suspects for the shortfalls in Army and Marine recruiting. James Inhofe (R-OK) lambasted unnamed Senate colleagues, adding the potential recruits are being discouraged “because of all the negative media that’s out there.” Kansan Pat Roberts chimed in, “with the deluge of negative news that we get daily, it’s just amazing to me that anybody would want to sign up.”
But while these conservative Senators predictably pointed fingers for partisan gain, our military recruiting problem is not one of media or marketing. Instead, the military’s recruiting woes can better explained in ways these conservatives should know well. Welcome to the theories of free markets and public goods…
For more, see:
“Markets, Public Goods and Military Recruiting”
June 30th, 2005 at 10:30 pmYou’re absolutely right, Steed. “Paranoid irrationals” are no doubt “focused on images rather than content”. That is exactly why it has been so easy for Corporate Imperialists to win elections in all the low IQ precincts across the country.
July 1st, 2005 at 10:05 amSteed
July 1st, 2005 at 11:02 amYou are very imaginative but I do believe you wrote:
“Hence, “mission accomplishedâ€? for the men and women serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln.”
at the end of your post. So which is it? The president portraying a message for the American people? Or, the president portraying a message for the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln that just happened to be right over his head as he turned his attention to a planned message for the American people and said, “”In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment,” and then said, “”The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror…”
Let’s see, “accomplishment,” “battle of Iraq” and “victory” …Hmmm, doesn’t sound like he’s there to address the crew at that point with the words he used.
Our fine military progressed to Baghdad in record time and in part was aided by the hard working crew of the USS Lincoln but ‘taking’ Baghdad is a lot different than “victory” in Iraq as we have since learned.
All of your (and Franks’) retroactive excuses can’t remove or redefine the historical record.
Steed, you left out the part where he announced the end of major combat operations.
Or did that also just apply to that one aircraft carrier?
July 1st, 2005 at 1:28 pmhttp://www.aliberaldose.blogspot.com
July 1st, 2005 at 9:12 pmSpeech, Speech
Suppressing an overwhelming urge to kick him in the face, even if only through the proxy of a cathode ray tube, I watched a Bush speech in its entirety for the first time today.It was both eerie and pathetic.Everything about the man spoke of vanity, from his initial imperious “please be seated” to the carefully memorized content; from the calculated, empty smiles at the audience to the oddly fleeting eyebrow furrow of concern, the lofty height of his head and slow, regular body turns.The personal conviction, the emotional investment, was incongruently missing; it was glaringly obvious the man operates on vanity and blinkered ideology; there was no sincere passion, no real empathy. Most telling was his irritated, dismissive shoulder twitch at the mention of his policy’s critics.Overall, the content of Bush’s speech seems completely at odds with his facial expressions as he happily talks about death; this isn’t a man delivering sobering news; look at his face — it’s the face of a man having fun at his job.He began speaking to Fort Bragg ’s airborne and special forces by referring to himself in the third person as their “Commander in Chief” with a marked sense of entitlement untouched by irony (considering his Viet Nam-era absenteeism). Nor did he seem to appreciate the hypocrisy in his appeal to “those considering a military career”. From there, his sales pitch sank into television-commercial hyperbole when he lathered on the “there is no higher calling than service in our armed forces” and “freedom and greatness” rhetoric.I even felt a wash of embarrassment for Bush as he plunged into his “We’ll fight them…” patter; to his immediate audience members, who face a 1 in 100 chance of violent death within days in Iraq, it must have been surprising news indeed that he intended to participate in combat for the first time in his life — of the sort that doesn’t involve sucker-punching opponents in a game or drunkenly mowing down shrubbery.But say what you will about their career choice, most American soldiers are pretty damned savvy and have sharp instincts. His speech was met with an eerie, dead silence, and it began to unnerve him, as you could see from the display of the whites of his eyes and the rise in his shoulders as the talk progressed. Bush isn’t used to his calculated “Yankee Doodle Dandy” song-and-dance routine not eliciting thunderous applause, and it rattled him. I couldn’t help but wonder how many in the audience were thinking resentfully about his campaign’s smear of real war heroes like John Kerry, Max Cleland and John McCain.But as ABC chief White House correspondent Terry Moran reported, White House staffers rescued his ego yet again, playing the part of clappeurs, finally goading the soldiers into the first smattering of applause 20 minutes into Bush’s speech. Right wing talking heads dutifully interpreted the lack of enthusiasm as soldiers simply obeying prior orders to show restraint, but such an explanation presumes a rather insulting lack of even elementary judgement on the part of the audience.Bush’s emotional disconnect became most glaringly, scarily obvious when he used such words as “the war on terror” or “our enemies are brutal” with a happy grin. It was what poker experts call a “tell”, a visual signal (like a protruding tongue after a lie), that reveals an opponent’s inner reality. This war, indeed this OFFICE, is like a game of cowboys and indians to a boy who never grew up. Tragically and fittingly, the day he must grow up is rapidly approaching.Throughout the speech, you can see Bush’s belief in his superiority, his sense of entitlement. It underscores how, centuries past the inception of the Magna Carta, British common law and the Constitution, we still haven’t evolved significantly in the arena of social enlightenment: as always, there are those born believing — or being told to believe — it is their role to serve their “betters” by tending the lawns, cleaning the bed linens, mopping the floors and dying in agony and fear in strange, hostile lands, while others are born believing it is their God-given destiny to live lives of leisure and ease while sending members of the underclass to their deaths.But there was desperation too:”We are prevailing,” he lied baldly. And: “the best way to honor the lives that have been given in this struggle is to complete the mission”, which of course is just the simple utilitarian rationalization that “since we’ve already killed so many, it would be a waste if we didn’t win.” This was followed up with “there is no higher calling than service in our armed forces.” Which is, of course why so MANY in his cabinet served.”The liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq will be remembered as great turning points in the story of freedom,” he continued. At this point, such an outcome looks delusionally unlikely; odds are this period will be remembered as the dark time when America lost its course.There was, however, one pitiful, damning glimpse of humanity at the very end of his speech, when Bush finally broke down, declaring that, “dammit, they CAIN’T beat our team”. His face crumpled and he held back tears, but was rescued at last by glorious, redemptive applause. This is a man who desperately needs America to prevail in Iraq. The consequences of defeat would be horrible for him — an eternal, unremitting destruction of pride that would follow him to his grave. For a man like Bush, the Christian vision of roasting in Hell would be a comparative picnic.Quote of the Day: The surest cure for vanity is loneliness. ~Thomas Wolfe
posted by New American Patriot @ 1:16 AM
July 2nd, 2005 at 11:35 amBlame the media, blame the liberals, hell if it comes down to it BLAME YOUR OWN STAFF OR ARMED SERVICES!
Never own up to anything…
July 2nd, 2005 at 12:53 pmAnd when not being blamed, here’s what the Bush advance team is up to:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/329083335/329099131bhkJKb
http://community.webshots.com/photo/329083335/329104057pbhLyH
http://community.webshots.com/photo/329083335/329052445YMPxRT
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