Opening Day: The Making of a Presidential Photo-Op
Opening Day: The Making of a Presidential Photo-Op
This afternoon, President Bush was on hand to throw out the first pitch in Cincinnati as the hometown Reds took on the visiting Chicago Cubs. Before the game, President Bush had an encounter with Cubs manager Dusty Baker that was described by Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post in the White House pool report:
He greeted Cubs manager Dusty Baker with a handshake. “This is the year, right?” Bush said, in what some in the pool thought as sarcasm directed at the team’s perennial pennant futility.
“Dusty Baker, good to know you,” POTUS continued, turning to the cameras. He held the grip and grinned as the cameras snapped away. “Smile,” POTUS encouraged, and Baker complied, saying: “I’ll do what I got to do.”
And with a little cajoling, Bush got the photo-op he wanted:
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Pres. Bush, showing what a good luck charm he is, was immediately followed by the Cubs putting up 5 runs in the top of the first and 16 for the game, handing the hometown Reds their worst Opening Day loss since ‘77. . . 1877. Maybe an albatross precursor to the ‘06 elections.
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:10 pmhe can have all the photo-ops he want,s he can shake all the hands he wants, he can throw our all the baseballs he wants, but bushco’s agenda is laid bare by chomsky…
Visit my blog: And, yes, I DO take it personally
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:13 pmI’m a Cubbies fan. Now they’re cursed this year for sure! :(
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:17 pmSounds like Dusty dissed Big-boy!! Love it!!
Styve
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:42 pmThink he was making a steroids run?
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:42 pmKenny,
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:55 pmSteve Goodman is turning in his grave for sure…
Slow news day Faiz??? Why don’t you do something constructive and take a look at the ugly underbelly of the “illegal immigration problem. Visit a very enlightening website http://aztlan.net. For what it’s worth, those of you sending snail mail to California should know that the proper term for our state is Alta California, Aztlan. (PS. – They moved the capital from Sacramento to the more conveniently located Los Angeles.)
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:59 pmDear Prof Marcus – Noam Chomsky of MIT???? He’s still alive? Why do I always confuse that one with another flaming radical, William Kunstler?
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:09 pmThe Bush administration and the Cubs… two winning clubs
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:10 pmA loser visting another perennial loser. How apropos.
Anyway, some of you may remember a really stupid comment that I’d gotten on my blog to my post of a week ago (”Walk the Line”). I’d made that comment the heart of a spin-off post and lampooned the hell out of him/her.
But sometimes I get a really nice private email that deserves as much of a toot, although for entirely different reasons. Last night, I got such an email and I’d like to share it with everyone else.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:21 pm#8: Noam Chomsky of MIT???? He’s still alive? Why do I always confuse that one with another flaming radical, William Kunstler?
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:22 pm- – Because you’re delusional.
Someone should ask Bush why he did NOT throw the first ball last night at the White Sox game in Chicago – after all the Sox won the series last year.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:26 pmCould it be because it was cold and rainy in Chicago? Could it be becuse Ozzie Guillen did not show up at the White House last October? Could it be because Bushie is close friends (going back to Texas) with the owner of the Reds? Could it be because Bushie wanted a photo op in Ohio?
Its Nice to see the Commander In Chief takinghis Job on the “War on Terrorism” So Seriously…
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:29 pmBaker should thank the heavens W never pursued his REAL passion – to become the next Bud Selig!
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:30 pmI wonder if that Soldier Lying in the Hospital Bed, His thrwoing arm blown off due to lack of Body Armor, thinks as he watches Bush Laughing, Enjoying Baseball, and Leading a “good” life thinks about this Photo-op?
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:31 pmDusty Baker for President! All you gotta do is what you gotta do. Hang in there Dusty, there will be more than one World Series this year. One in October and one on the second Tuesday of November. We all can have a team in the secpnd one.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:31 pmDusty should have taken his clue from Cheney and greeted Queen George the Dumb with the new National chant. “Go —- Yourself!” Newt says it should be “Had Enough?” I suggest both would be appropriate-one for the intellegent voter and one for the Repugs.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:37 pmBaseball is more Important than National Security to Mr Bush.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:39 pmBaseball is more Important than Dead Soldiers RIGHT Mr BUSH?
Baseball is more important than WAR?
Baseball is more Important than Life?
Really Pathetic Mr Bush. Sickenly So.
HE……MAKES…….ME………SICK. ILL. The harm he has caused + his shit eating grin are more than a decent person should have to handle. He deserves prison, not a fun day with the team.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:41 pmI love the description given to the photo by the AP.
Like they would need to point out that Bush is the guy on the left.
I don’t think there is a person on this planet (okay, deep in the Amazon) that doesn’t know what this moron looks like.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:45 pm#
Slow news day Faiz??? Why don’t you do something constructive and take a look at the ugly underbelly of the “illegal immigration problem. Visit a very enlightening website http://aztlan.net. For what it’s worth, those of you sending snail mail to California should know that the proper term for our state is Alta California, Aztlan. (PS. – They moved the capital from Sacramento to the more conveniently located Los Angeles.)
Comment by mighty aphrodite — April 3, 2006 @ 7:59 pm
LOL.
DID NO ONE SAY SOMETHING?
NO, NO ONE SAID NOTHING.
But Yes MaD the Drug Border War has waged in Texas For Quite A while Now, Any help From Bush and His pioneers?
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:45 pmNope. See Mr Bush doesn’t CARE about Border Security.
In Case you Have Forgotten BUSH didn’t even want to Fingerprint the ILLEGAL Aliens, REMEMBER THAT?
Sure You do, but Facts are messy things to BUSH Wackos, so they Get Ignored. Yet Bush learned to speak “Spanish” [LOL] from these Same illegals?
Wooo Weeee
You better do much better than this pathetic Weak Trollling MaD. Cause you are Losing “IT”
MAD= KING QUEEN OF THE PHALLIC WORSHIPPERS!
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:48 pmSay MaD are you a Khazar Roman Phallacist? Or a Turko Finn Penile Pursuer?
I dont care Where Osama Is, and well I dont Care About Illegals, they are Cheap Labor for Halliburton -GWB
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:51 pmThis should wipe that smug grin off his face:
State Dems may push resolution to impeach president
MONTPELIER — The Democratic state committee will decide in a special meeting April 8 whether to urge Vermont lawmakers to use a little-known provision in U.S. House rules to petition for President Bush’s impeachment.
“What I can tell you is it’s generated a lot of energy at the grass roots. It’s genuinely bubbling up from the grass roots,” Jon Copans, the state party’s executive director, said Tuesday.
Copans said Democratic committees in at least seven of Vermont’s 14 counties had passed resolutions calling on Vermont lawmakers to use a rule contained in “Jefferson’s Manual,” a book of parliamentary philosophy and procedural guidelines that was written by Thomas Jefferson and is used as a supplement to U.S. House rules.
He said not all the county resolutions were worded the same, but in general, they accuse the Bush administration of lying about the causes for war in Iraq, illegally engaging in electronic surveillance of Americans, and other offenses.
“Jefferson’s Manual” lays out several procedures under which the U.S. House can start the impeachment process. Under the Constitution, the House drafts articles of impeachment, which are similar to a set of criminal charges, and the impeachment case is tried in the Senate.
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060329/NEWS/603290360
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:10 pmBush cutting back visits to Crawford ranch amid protests, paper to report
RAW STORY
Published: Sunday April 2, 2006
Since last summer President Bush’s visits to Crawford, Texas have been “less visible,” which some experts link to demonstrations of antiwar protesters held nearby his ranch, according to an article set for the Waco Tribune-Herald in Monday editions.
According to the Tribune-Herald, the police chief of Waco has said President Bush will not be celebrating Easter there with his family, as he has done in the past.
Not everyone agrees that the protesters have kept the President away. Some just point to his busy schedule.
The report, by Dan Genz, points out that since protesters have staked out what Bush used to call his “little slice of heaven,” the president has not hosted foreign officials or even held a news conference there.
Excerpts from the forthcoming article:
“That used to be his sanctuary, out in the middle of rural Texas where he could get his mind off his troubles,” said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of political science at the University of Texas who specializes in presidents. “And now his troubles are right down the street.”
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Texas_paper_Some_say_protestors_make_0402.html
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 pmMaD
I am supportive of illegal immigrant rights…. a very unpopular view. even among many progressives. i won’t go into my reasons why because i don’t have the time.
i went to that Aztlan website and I have a question: why are they so anti-jew? that makes no sense to me at all. if these people support islamic misogynists then they have lost me as a supporter.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:19 pmA survey has named singer Michael Jackson as the “most foolish person” in the US for the fourth successive year.
Of 1,000 people polled, 69% said Jackson had “done something foolish” in the past 12 months.
US Vice President Dick Cheney, who shot a man while hunting, tied for second place with socialite Paris Hilton.
President George W Bush came next, followed by actor Tom Cruise, in the random phone survey by New York-based public relations consultants.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4867874.stm
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:23 pmThis may be offtopic, but I think there are posts missing from here. What happened to the post about Parsons that was up this morning?
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:25 pmYeah, now he goes to Cancun.
Bush, plus Fox, plus Stephen Harper, equals party time in Cancun!
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:32 pmWhat a douche. Bush cares more about photo-ops than about getting real work done. You know, like the stuff presidents are elected to do? I actually don’t have a problem with him throwing the ball on opening day. But manipulating the manager like that to get his photo is just shitty.
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:57 pmTOM DELAY JUST WITHDREW FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL RACE!
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:11 pmYour forgot the bit in the photo op, where he showed up with two Iraqi war veterans, and one father of a soldier killed in Afganistan. Anyone besides me think this is a shameless photo op even for him? Suprised their was no filght suit, or helicopter repelling into the stadium.
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:15 pmi found a photo-op of him jogging alongside an afghanistan war vet who was getting used to his new prosthetic after having his leg blown off.
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:19 pmbut….
my favorite photo-op was bush kissing the hands of those saudi guys.
i would like to know what dusty baker is muttering under his gritting teeth?
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:21 pmha ha ha .
Woo hoo! Just heard on Faux news that Delay dropped out of the race!! I couldn’t be more pleased. Except for when the indictment is handed out.
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:21 pmOops, sorry…MSNBC Scarborough Country
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:30 pmMarie — April 3, 2006 @ 8:26 pm saw a lot of things:
Isn’t Oz from Venezuela? (He is a recently naturalized U.S. citizen, according to the Trib. Still, I wouldn’t blame him if he just decided he’d be more ill-used by Bush than by Chavez.)
And furthermore, the Cubs are owned by republican paper Chicago Tribune, which probably explains both Dusty Baker’s remark and how he got, er, bushwhacked into the photo with El Mufacito. In fact, scroll down in that article linked above for Ozzie Guillen, and you’ll wonder what it is about Chicago sports figures and Bushes.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:15 pmDusty insinuated in a postgame interview that he wasnt a Bush fan…I respect that….He coulda sucked up cause he just got to meed the president but instead hinted his political disagreements
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:44 pmOzzie Guillen and Hugo Chavez are friends so at least Chicago isnt filled with wingnuts…Thats probably why Ozzie didnt go to the white house with the team
However i’m no Chavez fan either
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:46 pmI foresee a surprisingly large number of Cub’s players testing “Positive” for steroid usage…
April 4th, 2006 at 12:12 amI find it strange that any black person would want to shake Bush’s hand for any reason, or to be seen in a pic with him either? Shame on Bush fot that photo and shame on the black guy smiling with him like a fool!
April 4th, 2006 at 12:23 amHey, Chavez handed lower priced gasoline too poorer neighborhoods in New York, if I remember. So you know he’s more into pissing off Bubble Boy as much as Dusty, Ozzie, you, me and more than 65-70% of the the country.
April 4th, 2006 at 1:35 am#31 – TOM DELAY JUST WITHDREW FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL RACE! – cris.
April 4th, 2006 at 3:03 amI’m not surprised, he had two chances of winning – little or none Could he be settling in VA in order to avoid prison time in TX?
Ryan T #39,
Illinois is a Blue state due to the fact that Chicago is OVERWHELMINGLY a Blue City. The rest of the state is largely conservative (whatever that means). White Sox fans would almost certainly have a higher % of Democrats than Cub fans.
April 4th, 2006 at 8:39 am#7 No, not slow at all. You do understand you post that same message every other thread. Nice try but we are all on to you guys now. HA! America is coming out of its slumber and getting back into politics, as it should.
For too long folks like Delay, Frist and Hastert have hijacked your party. Moderate, CONSERVATIVE (which you clearly are not) repubs like Whitman, Guiliani and Pataki have been quieted by the zealots. I heard recently that most people are not blue or red, but purple. I tend to agree and when you elect such far right atrocities with no intelligence, only brute, to office, you have shunned most of America.
We are tired of religion in our politics. And not just religion, but Evangelical Christians, which leaves out a large number of Americans. They are to be separate and you know it. I don’t care what our money says, our hearts are not to be played with by trying to make folks feel guilty. We have jokes like Scalia who is humiliating our highest court by gesturing obscenities in church. He is not religious at all just another mean fool.
Times up and you have had your go at all branches but it doesn’t work. Your system obviously is a failure. Using God, Jesus and religion and war to win is evil and just smells of classlessness and desperation. Desperate, thy name is republican.
Now, if only the real republicans would come out of their hole and stop letting the zealots win their races for them on lies and fear, we can get back to the way America was meant to work, warts and all. So the Constitution says.
April 4th, 2006 at 9:38 am#45
April 4th, 2006 at 12:18 pmYou do realize that you’re an idiot don’t you? Your world view is completely warped–where does one even begin to straighten you out? It could take years to reach you–you may even be a hopeless case.
I wonder how long old Dusty was hunched over the toilet throwing up after that photo op.
April 4th, 2006 at 1:28 pmI didn’t watch the game–just saw the score. How many innings did Bush pitch?
April 4th, 2006 at 1:38 pm#37 prostrate dragon
April 4th, 2006 at 2:28 pmAaah!
Thanks for the additional information.
Coming in 2007!!! BENCHWARMERS II, starring David Spade, the guy from Napoleon Dynamite, and in his first major motion picture, George W. Bush!!!
April 4th, 2006 at 5:12 pmWhat everybody likes to leave out of this is he was still in front of a select crowd. There were over 40 Thousand people that were still OUTSIDE the stadium when he made his appearance for the main photo-op. most seats were empty but, they made sure the section in line with the press shots were full.
April 4th, 2006 at 6:44 pm…and then Dusty rolled his eyes thinking that yet one more person had the gall to ask if the Cubs could win a World Series. And so in a fit of angst, he decided to shake the President’s hand just to be rid of the photo-op-seeking pest.
April 4th, 2006 at 8:37 pm