This pop-in trip was a tactical nuke to the campaign, and will be hereafter considered to be the opening salvo in his campaign.
I figured it was his landing on an aircraft carrier under a banner saying "Mission Accomplished."
We'll know when the campaign is seriously underway when he finally attends a soldier's funeral. Of course, at this point, he doesn't really have to do anything. He can just sit back, not respond to any criticism, and let the news cycle focus on the democrats tearing one another to shreds. He's got a couple of wars to keep him on the front page.
When a President pulls a publicity stunt like this... what else can the Press do but fawn over it. And of course the Dems can't criticize it... big deal.
But they can talk about how much money was spent on the trip... and how soldiers don't have body armor... or that there's no real viable plan to bring democracy to Iraq.
The story was run in the Friday, November 29 print edition of the Post, on the Post's web site, and by the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post wire service. Soon, the 5 am arrival time was being carried in print editions and on the web around the world and the United States in such papers as the Buffalo News, Tacoma News Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age, and The Telegraph of Calcutta. The "Untold Story" that the plane landed at 5:20 am and not pm, as now seems to be the case, was the first record of events hundreds of thousands of Americans and those abroad would initially read.
Imagine you're a soldier in Iraq and your commander kicks you out of bed and says to get up and go eat your Thanksgiving dinner...at 5:30AM in the morning. Mmmm. Turkey and dressing for breakfast.
9:31 a.m. Washington time (5:32 p.m. local): Touched down [at Baghdad International Airport] in swift abrupt landing, but not the emergency spiral that had been prepared for. Press walked down dark stairs onto Tarmac.
10:50 a.m.: I had taken off my body armor to type, then saw a soldier I wanted to interview. I came back and my vest is gone. The laptop is still there.
British Airways said yesterday that none of its pilots made contact with President Bush's plane during its secret flight to Baghdad on Thanksgiving, contradicting White House reports of a midair exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip. Honor Verrier, a spokeswoman for British Airways in North America, said two British Airways aircraft were in the area at the time and neither radioed the president's plane to ask if it was Air Force One.
"We have spoken to the British Airways captains who were in the area at the time and neither made comments to Air Force One nor did they hear any other aircraft make the statement over the radio," Verrier said.
The White House had no immediate comment on the discrepancy.
Looks like I'm not alone in my sentiments. Counterpunch's Wayne Madsen summed it up brilliantly:
Quote:
Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the movie "Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that the president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I contend are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge boost.
I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active duty, but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at 6:00 AM. Air Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under cover of darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for two and a half hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM. Considering that it likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark from Air Force One and travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar where the troops were assembled, that means our military men and women were downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits, home fries, and toast.
But there on national television, when most Americans were preparing to sit down to their own traditional Thanksgiving dinners, we saw a tape of President Bush serving mashed potatoes and corn to American troops at a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal in the early hours of the morning. What's more, when a clearly exhausted Bush strode around a curtain -- after a "What's My Line" mystery guest routine by Iraq proconsul L. Paul Bremer -- 600 American troops were said to be "shocked and awed" by Bush's surprise appearance. I would have thought most of the troops, many of whom are support personnel who work relatively normal working hours, would have been more surprised when they were ordered to get up before sunrise to eat Thanksgiving dinner between 6:00 and 7:30 A.M.
Bush wasn´t in Baghdad in the morning but in the afternoon! There is enough dirt on him not to make up stuff like taht.
I'm still having trouble wrapping my brain around it. He allegedly left at 3:45 am, stopped in DC to pick up people, then flew to Baghdad, which is something like 8 hours ahead. That would seem to put him there in the late afternoon/early evening Iraq time.
But then how did live footage make it in the US in time for dinner?
The point of the Counterpunch article seems to be that because of the intense secrecy and general weirdness of the trip, there were errors in the transmission of the stories. But then why all the discrepancies in terms of the BA flight, which the WaPO is covering via Reuters?
Comments
Originally posted by drewprops
This pop-in trip was a tactical nuke to the campaign, and will be hereafter considered to be the opening salvo in his campaign.
I figured it was his landing on an aircraft carrier under a banner saying "Mission Accomplished."
We'll know when the campaign is seriously underway when he finally attends a soldier's funeral. Of course, at this point, he doesn't really have to do anything. He can just sit back, not respond to any criticism, and let the news cycle focus on the democrats tearing one another to shreds. He's got a couple of wars to keep him on the front page.
Well, two wars and his brother Neil.
Cheers
Scott
Kick in the nuts? A flick of the ear MAYBE.
When a President pulls a publicity stunt like this... what else can the Press do but fawn over it. And of course the Dems can't criticize it... big deal.
But they can talk about how much money was spent on the trip... and how soldiers don't have body armor... or that there's no real viable plan to bring democracy to Iraq.
The story was run in the Friday, November 29 print edition of the Post, on the Post's web site, and by the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post wire service. Soon, the 5 am arrival time was being carried in print editions and on the web around the world and the United States in such papers as the Buffalo News, Tacoma News Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age, and The Telegraph of Calcutta. The "Untold Story" that the plane landed at 5:20 am and not pm, as now seems to be the case, was the first record of events hundreds of thousands of Americans and those abroad would initially read.
From Counterpunch.
Hrm. I had wondered where I got AM from.
Originally posted by midwinter
From Counterpunch.
Hrm. I had wondered where I got AM from.
Imagine you're a soldier in Iraq and your commander kicks you out of bed and says to get up and go eat your Thanksgiving dinner...at 5:30AM in the morning. Mmmm. Turkey and dressing for breakfast.
9:31 a.m. Washington time (5:32 p.m. local): Touched down [at Baghdad International Airport] in swift abrupt landing, but not the emergency spiral that had been prepared for. Press walked down dark stairs onto Tarmac.
10:50 a.m.: I had taken off my body armor to type, then saw a soldier I wanted to interview. I came back and my vest is gone. The laptop is still there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2003Dec1.html
British Airways said yesterday that none of its pilots made contact with President Bush's plane during its secret flight to Baghdad on Thanksgiving, contradicting White House reports of a midair exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip. Honor Verrier, a spokeswoman for British Airways in North America, said two British Airways aircraft were in the area at the time and neither radioed the president's plane to ask if it was Air Force One.
"We have spoken to the British Airways captains who were in the area at the time and neither made comments to Air Force One nor did they hear any other aircraft make the statement over the radio," Verrier said.
The White House had no immediate comment on the discrepancy.
Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the movie "Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that the president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I contend are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge boost.
I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active duty, but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at 6:00 AM. Air Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under cover of darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for two and a half hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM. Considering that it likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark from Air Force One and travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar where the troops were assembled, that means our military men and women were downing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and non-alcoholic beer at a time when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits, home fries, and toast.
But there on national television, when most Americans were preparing to sit down to their own traditional Thanksgiving dinners, we saw a tape of President Bush serving mashed potatoes and corn to American troops at a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal in the early hours of the morning. What's more, when a clearly exhausted Bush strode around a curtain -- after a "What's My Line" mystery guest routine by Iraq proconsul L. Paul Bremer -- 600 American troops were said to be "shocked and awed" by Bush's surprise appearance. I would have thought most of the troops, many of whom are support personnel who work relatively normal working hours, would have been more surprised when they were ordered to get up before sunrise to eat Thanksgiving dinner between 6:00 and 7:30 A.M.
Originally posted by Anders
Bush wasn´t in Baghdad in the morning but in the afternoon! There is enough dirt on him not to make up stuff like taht.
I'm still having trouble wrapping my brain around it. He allegedly left at 3:45 am, stopped in DC to pick up people, then flew to Baghdad, which is something like 8 hours ahead. That would seem to put him there in the late afternoon/early evening Iraq time.
But then how did live footage make it in the US in time for dinner?
The point of the Counterpunch article seems to be that because of the intense secrecy and general weirdness of the trip, there were errors in the transmission of the stories. But then why all the discrepancies in terms of the BA flight, which the WaPO is covering via Reuters?
This is weird.