Bush’s Photo Op
Tweet
I don’t know how the mainstream press can, with a straight face, call Bush’s trip to Iraq “risky”. They shut down the entire country for him to visit for five hours, come on.
27 Responses to “Bush’s Photo Op”
GOP Rep. Spencer Bachus Facing House Ethics Probe For Insider Trading
Jennifer Aniston Reportedly Pregnant With Twins
PHOTOS: Tamara Ecclestone At The Langham Hotel
Red Front? “Center For American Freedom” Logo Echoes Communist Style
Romney Calls For Defunding Planned Parenthood, Wife Was A Donor
GOP Fundraising Email Asks Supporters To “Knock Out” Obama
Romney Comes Up Limp In Nevada
Obama Opens Lead On Romney In New Poll
Latest Entries
Why Do Liberals Support Drone Strikes?
Weekly Standard Rolls Out The Iraq Argument For Iran
Equal Polarization, My Ass
Some Crazy Stuff That Happened In World War II
Maryland Republican Campaign Funds Used To Defend Voter Suppression
The Obama Jobs Record In One Graph
Martin O’Malley All In For Marriage Equality
Newt Gingrich, Filled With More Excrement Than Your Average Politician
New Year, Powerline Still Stupid
Thanks Again
Meta
Blogroll
Disclaimer
The views on this site are mine and mine alone, and do not reflect the views of my employer, Media Matters for America
© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
Nobody called eating pretzels and watching TV risky before bush came along, or riding a Segway. With bush, the media sets new thresholds for describing lots of things.
They have to shut down the entire country so Bush can fly in and take pictures… but it’s “safe”?
This is pretty hard to square with your mantra of “Iraq is a deathtrap / Our boys are in the killing fields / We’re losing”.
Iraq is a mess. It is unsafe. It is a risk to just leave your own home. The insurgency is out of control. The war is unwinnable.
But it’s a safely staged photo-op when Bush meets with their elected officials. Sure, not risky at all to fly over Baghdad in a blackhawk.
Uhhhhhhhhh……..
Doesn’t exactly fit with how you’ve characterized Iraq previously.
Stephen Colbert really nailed it: Visits like this send “a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.”
Isn’t it interesting how we never have notice of these things beforehand? Never a “Bush Plans Major State Visit to Iraq” news, as would be de rigeur for any other country. He has to pop in, get the surprisie “Woo! Bush in Iraq! Take Photos Now!” and pop out.
Of course, if such notice were given we’d have the entire insurgency gunning for him. But that would kinda belie the whole “turned a corner” narrative.
Rheinhard…
Never a Bush Plans Major State Visit to Iraq news, as would be de rigeur for any other country.
Um, that’s not de rigeur for any other country in which we are waging a war.
Three years after mission accomplished, George has to sneak in to Baghdad in a highly secret trip.
Sounds safe to me! I hope he had an armored codpiece and a fresh diaper!
We aren’t “waging a war” in Iraq, we’re attempting to “establish the peace.”
It’s unfortunate how similar those two have become in this venture.
“They have to shut down the entire country so Bush can fly in and take pictures& but it s safe ?”
How extremely silly. We have “lost” the war. It is and was “unwinnable”. But we are able to shut down the whole country in a day.
Dugger
I can’t stop laughing!!! Boy bands and movie stars need photo ops. What an embarassment( the media especially!)
Do you remember when Roosevelt went to Italy? Or Truman went to South Korea? Or Wilson went France? Or McKinley went to the Philippines? Remember Clinton bringing a Thanksgiving turkey to the Balkans?
Me, neither.
Know why?
It never happened.
I remember when Truman went to the Potsdam conference (in Germany). 2 1/2 months after VE day.
It’s been three years since Mission Accomplished day.
Wait! Don’t you mean a plastic turkey? Let’t not pretend everything was authentic on that trip.
Wait… didn’t Wilson go to the Versailles meeting? Wouldn’t that be in France?
cypher: And the security situation in in the unconditionally surrendered Germany was?
LB: Yes, he did; about three months after the Armistice.
In other words, there were no hostilities.
And liberals’ calling it a “photo op”, doesn’t make it one.
Oh brother, talk about 100% pure trolling.
Oh yeah, securing an entire country is precisely the same as projecting enough force to protect one man for 5 hours as he pretty much squats in the center of the safest part of Iraq.
The Rove free-pass must have conservatives doing double shots of kool-aid.
Frank,
I think people are saying that if this was dangerous then it only proves Iraq is in shambles. So if Bush is being so brave by going into Iraq then it means we’ve failed to accomplish a secure and peaceful democracy there.
or
If it’s not dangerous then why was it done in super duper secrecy?
Careful, maikuru
Frank_D, the site’s soon-to-be divorced marital therapist (yup), has a temper when anyone dares question his arguments. He’ll call you names and if you really get his panties in a twist, he’ll challenge you to visit him in Rochelle, New York, so he can beat you up.
Frank, it’s been three years since the war ended. The situation improves everyday in ways that the MSM refuses to show. Right now the average Iraqi has eight computers, four cars, and four hoverboards. Every house has central air, and the refrigerators are filled with lamb and beef. Democracy flourishes and Iraq has just been admitted to NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, and the EU. The best and the brightest students around the world flock to Baghdad as that is where the scene is, especially during Spring Break.
Frankly Frank, I don’t understand why George isn’t driving to Firdos Square in a convertible on a street filled with flowers.
Sorry to hear about your marriage ending up in shit.
cypher, don’t forget the free ponies. Never forget free ponies
maikuru and cypher: No one (with a brain) ever said the war ended…
The conflict you describe exists only between your ears. How long are you going to compare the display of a banner on a ship to someone’s actual declaration that “the war has ended”?
It’s like saying World War I ‘ended’ on the day of the “Christmas Truce.”
It should have come to your attention that people are still planting explosive devices, as well as wearing them.
This would tend to suggest to me that President Bush was in extreme danger during his visit to Iraq, given, as President Coolidge once pointed out, that “Any man in a business suit, who is willing to die, can assassinate the President.”
Next time you comment, cypher, turn your brain on before your computer.
Incidentally, your approach to the comment and thread is typical for a liberal, and neither shocks nor amuses.
While I appreciate the irony of a divorced marital therapist, everyone needs to lay off Frank’s marriage, whatever its status. If you feel compelled to argue conservative vs liberal values vis-a-vis marriage, do it in another thread, this is supposed to be about Bush’s Iraq photo-op.
As for the “any man in a suit” argument, I presume that “man” needs to actually know the President’s itinerary, too. It doesn’t help your cause if you try to assassinate a president by blowing up where he was. Considering even the Iraqi government didn’t know Bush was coming, I doubt anyone was in a position to do more than spit in his general direction. It’s even harder when the President is flown in under cover of night with a full military escort to the green zone to give the usual “stay the course” speech, shake some hands, and high tail it home to bask in a free day of unfiltered media fellatio. Can IEDs hop 100 feet in the air and take out helicopters?
Just read the transcript of Biden’s interview on Fox about Bush’s visit.
What a gutless, self serving, DNC triangulating jackass (as usual).
Thank you for the note of civility, Bill. You know as well as I do, it won’t accomplish much, but it is appreciated.
Incidentally, for the barbarous among you, 1) I started my studies before the divorce was an issue; 2) I didn’t, nor do I, plan on being my own therapist (do you find it “ironic” when doctors get sick, or teachers abuse children?); and 3) Do you really think therapists, of any stripe, don’t have personal problems?
As for the “any man in a suit” idea, of course Coolidge was implying that the President was relatively unprotected in public, which is why the Secret Service likes those appearances ro be as “supervised” (read “controlled”) as possible.
I’m sure President Bush wouldn’t even suggest and advance announcement of his trip, knowing what the Secret Service’s reaction would be.
Incidentally, that thing about “choking on a pretzel, and fainting”, happened to me a few weeks before it happened to Bush. It’s called a “vasovagal attack.” It is not fatal, but I can assure you, it is quite frightening to be coughing as you choke on a Frito (my case) or a pretzel (Bush’s case), and then suddenly finding yourself face down on the floor.
On a historical note, Franz Princip assassinated the ArchDuke Ferdinand, while he was on the way to his assigned location. He came across the ArchDuke, only because he had changed direction.
So, anyone with a bomb in their backpack could have blown themselves up, if they had merely crossed paths with the President, as Princip did.
Frank_D Says:
June 14th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Thank you for the note of civility, Bill. You know as well as I do, it won t accomplish much, but it is appreciated.
LOOOOOL … you are thoroughly entertaining, Frank. If you extended an iota of the respect you demand from others moments before you enthusiastically hurl ‘UNcivility’ and insults at them, perhaps you would receive the same in return. You have taken ample opportunity to manipulate personal information revealed by posters and be insulting and barbaric in response.
Your modus operandi: do as I say, not as I do.
You have taken ample opportunity to manipulate personal information revealed by posters
I can’t resist. Go find the evidence to support that outrageous lie.
Run, rabbit, run.
How’s your sister Maca, and your brother, Beefa?