My Propagandist, My Pentagon Spokesperson

11:09 pm EST September 26th, 2005 | Politics | 5 Comments

WaPo: “The White House announced this week that Dorrance Smith, former executive producer of ABC’s This Week, assistant to former President Bush for media affairs, and former media adviser for the Coalition Provision Authority in Baghdad would become the new Pentagon spokesperson.”

American Prospect: “Similarly, This Week boasted not just Kristol–a top adviser to Dan Quayle in Bush’s day, and the first person during Clinton’s to mention Lewinsky’s stained dress–but also Dorrance Smith, a talk show veteran and pioneer of the genre, who was let go from the show in September. Smith served in the Bush administration from 1991 to 1993 as a senior media adviser, and worked closely with Snow–prior to that an editorial writer for The Washington Times–to craft a sharper ideological image for the then-president. (At the Bush White House, Smith also became friends with a mid-level functionary named Linda Tripp.) After two years of running his own production company with fellow Bush Diasporite C. Boyden Gray, Smith rejoined This Week in 1995. He was eventually placed in charge of political coverage for ABC–coverage that, by most reckonings, became among the most scandalobsessed on network television.”

Slate: “Dorrance Smith, the Coalition Provisional Authority’s media maven, views C-SPAN Baghdad as a means to “get our message out without having to create an event and have it be covered by somebody and be seen through their filter,”"

Dorrance Smith 1976 campaign memo: “In the eyes of the American public, the image of the President is derived from a kaleidoscope of different sources. The most important image-making sources are the video and stories that emanate from the White House and from the travels of the President. … cows soil President’s suit”


The Clinton Wars: ” If Vlasto was an apolitical scandalmonger at ABC News, Dorrance Smith, producer of “This Week,” was ultimately political. Smith had been President Bush’s communications director, and his secretary in the White House had been Linda Tripp. “The Washington bureau was like an outpost of the American Spectator,” an ABC News correspondent told me. “Dorrance was in constant touch with Tripp. He was calling the shots. He kept opposing views off the air and put views supportive of Starr on the air.”"

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5 Responses to “My Propagandist, My Pentagon Spokesperson”

  1. Semanticleo says:
    September 27, 2005 at 1:09 am

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/politics/27lobby.html?ei=5094&en=a5d08a01f4f3fb4e&hp=&ex=1127880000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

    This will not go away.

  2. SaveFarris says:
    September 27, 2005 at 8:09 am

    She needs to be fired! Along with …

    Tim Russert
    George Stephanapolis
    Diane Sawyer
    And every AP reporter who’s donated to the DNC (plus the 4 or so who donated to the RNC)

  3. dugger1 says:
    September 27, 2005 at 8:09 am

    Propagandist? Every President then has had a propagandist. This is nothing.

    Dugger

  4. buma says:
    September 27, 2005 at 1:09 pm

    Farris, who is “she” who needs to be fired?

  5. buma says:
    September 27, 2005 at 1:09 pm

    Of course, ABC’s This Week was always fair and balanced. No question about that. Interesting how one of the wingers who post here somehow thinks Russert is not a Bush groupie. Re-read the transcript of Russert’s pathetic interview of Bush some months back.