News Bush caught staging meeting with troops

[faust9]

"Master Sergeant Lombardo, when you are talking about the president coming to see you in New York, take a little breath before that so you can be talking directly to him. You got a real message there, ok?"
great advice to someone who doesn't normally make their living by being on t.v...sorry..don't see a problem with this one in particular.

So, how about this being a "spontaneous back-and forth". How do account for that. It was neither spontaneous (a lie from the WH) nor a back-and-forth. It was the president saying his lines and the soldiers saying theirs (they may have written them but once rehersed they bacome lines in a play). How about that Kat? Why are you tring to move the conversation from the lie? Why? The lie was this was a spontaneous exchange--the true was it was a play using US soldiers to give the president some sort of credibility. He used them like he used Armstrong Williams.

 

[kat]

Faust..please show me a link to a spokesperson from the white house saying this is a "spontaneous back and forth" ...I must have missed this somewhere.
Where does it say that the President had "lines" all I've read is that if he didn't ask the questions they've scripted...that would seem to imply that his weren't scripted..
I'm still looking for the lie..where is the lie? and how is someone "caught" if you've invited the media and they are sitting there watching it all happen?

 

[kat]

FYI..I really don't watch tv except by accident.. So, I'm probably not in a position to feel outrage or insult about this...as in general I feel that anyone who is gullible enough to get their info from the TV deserves every bit of misinformation they get. *shrug*

 

[Ivan Seeking]

This is so pathetic. Why bother with the news conference at all? The WH should just release the scripts instead of bothering with the interview.

Does anyone remember the fake turkey dinner diddi - the one that showed Bush eating dinner with soldiers when in fact he was never there?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

FYI..I really don't watch tv except by accident.. So, I'm probably not in a position to feel outrage or insult about this...as in general I feel that anyone who is gullible enough to get their info from the TV deserves every bit of misinformation they get. *shrug*

That depends entirely on the source. But then since most people do get their news from the TV, you should still be outraged at how this administration has abused and mislead the US through its use of the media.

 

[kat]

oh yes, of course Ivan..well, thank you very much for letting me know what I "should" feel. *snarf*

 

[russ_watters]

It plays rather sporadically?

It doesn't play at all - must be a plugin problem, and I couldn't fix it. Anyway...

The soldiers are not holding scripts. I don't think that the soldiers would have gone along with that.

I agree. So what's the problem here?

 

[russ_watters]

The WH should just release the scripts instead of bothering with the interview.

It sounds like you are implying that there was a script for the soldiers. Do you have any evidence of that?

 

[russ_watters]

There are a number of clicklable videos and transcripts in the link below. You have to watch some ads before most of them play. Even the one below may show a "Dell window" which must be closed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html

Ok, there is one in that bunch that is worthy of more attention:

Here's Shepard Smith: "At least one senior military official tells Fox News that he is livid over the handling of U.S. troops in Iraq before their talk by satellite live with the president. . . .

"As the White House tries to prop up support for an increasingly unpopular war, today -- to hear it from military brass -- it used soldiers as props on stage.

"One commander tells Fox it was scripted and rehearsed -- the troops were told what to say to the president and how to say it. And that, says another senior officer today, is outrageous.

Ok, I assume "Shepard Smith" is a reporter (again, there's a link to the Fox video, which doesn't work for me)? Do we have the words this unnamed commander actually said and not just a reporter's interpretation of those words? Do any of the soldiers in the panel say the words they spoke were not their own? I've read quotes from soldiers who say explicitly that the words they spoke were their own.

This is the only report I've seen so far that says the words the soldiers spoke were not their own. I'd like to see some confirmation of that.

 

[kat]

This is the only report I've seen so far that says the words the soldiers spoke were not their own. I'd like to see some confirmation of that.

Surely there must be a soldier signaling his disagreement by giving a signal as another soldier did in this situation:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/crossed.asp"

 

[edward]

Surely there must be a soldier signaling his disagreement by giving a signal as another soldier did in this situation:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/crossed.asp"

In the close ups the hands of the soldiers did not show. In the long shots all of the soldiers hand their right hand covering their left hand.

Brian Williams NBC news

"It was billed as a chance for the president to hear directly from the troops in Iraq. The White House called it a 'back and forth,' a 'give and take,' and so reporters who cover the White House were summoned this morning to witness a live video link between the commander in chief and the U.S. soldiers in the field, as the elections approach in Iraq.

"The problem was, before the event was broadcast live on cable TV, the satellite picture from Iraq was being beamed back to television newsrooms here in the U.S. It showed a full-blown rehearsal of the president's questions, in advance, along with the soldiers' answers and coaching from the administration.

"While we should quickly point out this was hardly the first staged political event we have covered -- and we've seen a lot of them in the past -- today's encounter was billed as spontaneous. Instead, it appeared to follow a script."

 

[solutions in a box]

This thread is a great example of "people seeing what they want to see" and "believing what they want to believe"

Every major news media outlet had articles and video segments on this story. They were all remarkedly smiliar in that they all used the term "scripted", even FOX.

BTW the video clips from news sources are dissapearing or not working because they are not news any more.

When my neice returned from Iraq minus the lower half of her left arm, she was, dspite her injury, given an extensive debriefing as to what to say and what not to say when she got home. If they would do that to a young mother, they would definitely tell soldiers in Iraq, what to say and what not to say to the freaking president.
Are you geniuses really that out of touch with the real world? Do you really expect to be presented with emperical evidence about happenings in politics and world affairs? That will never happen and you know it. This is not a lab experiment and you know that. But you continuously use it as an excuse for not seeing what is quite evident to others.

 

[SOS2008]

This thread is a great example of "people seeing what they want to see" and "believing what they want to believe"
Every major news media outlet had articles and video segments on this story. They were all remarkedly smiliar in that they all used the term "scripted", even FOX.

BTW the video clips from news sources are dissapearing or not working because they are not news any more.

When my neice returned from Iraq minus the lower half of her left arm, she was, dspite her injury, given an extensive debriefing as to what to say and what not to say when she got home. If they would do that to a young mother, they would definitely tell soldiers in Iraq, what to say and what not to say to the freaking president.

Are you geniuses really that out of touch with the real world? Do you really expect to be presented with emperical evidence about happenings in politics and world affairs? That will never happen and you know it. This is not a lab experiment and you know that. But you continuously use it as an excuse for not seeing what is quite evident to others.

When these people are presented with empirical evidence they still don't accept it. These people believe there were WMD and Saddam was linked to terrorists. I started an entire thread about Dubious Dubya, and still these people won't admit the man is a liar. The man lies--staging is small time to a big time liar.

 

[russ_watters]

I agree with both of you. There are a lot of people in this thread that are just plain seeing things that aren't there. For example:

Every major news media outlet had articles and video segments on this story. They were all remarkedly smiliar in that they all used the term "scripted", even FOX.

The word "scripted" appears twice in the link in the OP. Here are the quotes:

"The truth is that everything that was said was meant to be said, though it may have sounded scripted in some places," Sergeant David Barry-Smith told Logan.

Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt."

So you have one of the soldiers who participated saying it was not scripted and you have a left-wing political activist who wasn't there saying it was. For a liberal ideologue, the choice of who to believe is, of course, obvious.

 

[edward]

So you have one of the soldiers who participated saying it was not scripted and you have a left-wing political activist who wasn't there saying it was. For a liberal ideologue, the choice of who to believe is, of course, obvious.

It is very convient how you pick the sources you want to use out of the many available. You are forgetting or didn't bother to read that Allison Barber also used the term "what we have scripted" as she was rehearsing with the soldiers.

The Fox news link works OK for me. It was getting bombarded with hits over the week end.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player05.html?101305/fr_pentagon_101305&FOX_Report&Meeting%20Rehearsed&acc&U.S.%20%26%20World&-1&col

 

[edward]

This thread is a great example of "people seeing what they want to see" and "believing what they want to believe"
Every major news media outlet had articles and video segments on this story. They were all remarkedly smiliar in that they all used the term "scripted", evven FOX.

How true:


American Chronicle Doh! Sure, I'll Believe That! -- Bush's Scripted Conference with ...
American Chronicle, CA - Oct 16, 2005
... The other day President George W. Bush got to thinking how ... thousand that he’s placed in harms way in Iraq. ... he set up a teleconference with the troops to ask ...
Bush Has A Rehearsed Tele-conference With US Troops In Iraq World Forum
First the rehearsal, then the president Barre Montpelier Times Argus
Iraqis ready to vote, US troops tell Bush Leading The Charge
all 10 related »

Administration Coached Troops On What To Say To Bush, Then Lied ...
Blogcritics.org, OH - 11 hours ago
... here in the US, it's clear the Bush Administration only ... about the questions in the highly-scripted event. ... that the President talked to this morning in Iraq? ...

Bush's teleconference with troops in Iraq a bad publicity stunt
Kennebec Journal, ME - 17 hours ago
President Bush's "spontaneous" and "impromptu" teleconference with US ... was propaganda in its most scripted, choreographed and ... positive spin on the war in Iraq. ...

Iraq war: Responses to "Bush chats with troops in well-scripted ...
Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription), GA - 17 hours ago
... mistake in his videoconference with 10 soldiers in Iraq. ... it is --- the untainted truth, not the scripted version. ... a big PR ploy to make President Bush look good ...

OUR SOLDIERS JUST PROPS FOR BUSH
Niagarafallsreporter.com, NY - 6 hours ago
... Bush's thoroughly rehearsed teleconferenced "conversation" with troops in ... we get a completely scripted and transparently ... the futile war and occupation of Iraq. ...

Wash. Times editorial not convinced that soldiers appearing in ...
Media Matters for America, DC - 5 hours ago
... the October 13 teleconference in which President Bush spoke with soldiers stationed in Iraq. ... that the president's questions had been "scripted" in advance ...

Progressive Broadcaster Squelched
People For the American Way, DC - 6 hours ago
... Assistant Secretary of Defense Allison Barber, the “coach” of the now-infamous staged, scripted satellite feed featuring President Bush and troops in Iraq. ...

Sham puts President on display
Albany Times Union, NY - 11 minutes ago
... fixed smiles on their faces and scripted responses on ... revealed last week said that the Bush administration before ... agency that a post-invasion Iraq would lead ...

Person to Person' comes up short
NorthJersey.com, NJ - 13 hours ago
... Thursday's event - " a conversation with US troops" - was anything but a ... It was a scripted event - a poorly scripted event at that. ... Bush worked from a script. ...

Monday's Our View Watching inflation
Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, IA - 3 hours ago
... before a grand jury, further hurricane-relief scandals and his video op with troops in Iraq dismissed as scripted and artificial, President Bush really didn't ...

 

[TRCSF]

So you have one of the soldiers who participated saying it was not scripted and you have a left-wing political activist who wasn't there saying it was. For a liberal ideologue, the choice of who to believe is, of course, obvious.

Well, there is the actual live video feed of white house staff going over the script, telling what the troops exactly what to say and when, down to the chat and small talk. And how if the president goes off the script they should defer to their C.O.

But hey, maybe it's a left-wing media conspiracy from Hollywood liberals who use their special effects technology to just make it look like there's actual video of the troops going over the script.

Of course for a conservative ideologue, the choice is between their own eyes and ears, or the WH spin machine. Got to choose the WH spin machine.

Are you familiar with the fairy tale about the Emperor and his new suit? Did you go over the moral of that story in Kindergarten?

 

[Manchot]

So you have one of the soldiers who participated saying it was not scripted and you have a left-wing political activist who wasn't there saying it was. For a liberal ideologue, the choice of who to believe is, of course, obvious.

Do you really believe that the soldiers were picked at random? The people who were picked would willingly say exactly what the president wanted to hear. I guarantee you they would never allow somebody who had any qualms against the war to participate. Just because the soldiers themselves believe it doesn't make it any more real.

 

[SOS2008]

Maybe we should stop trying to convince Bush supporters that everything he has done has been a scam and to the determent of our country. I think we should let these people continue on with their denial. One day they will wake up and cry "OMG what happened?"

Oh dang, that won’t work because we have to suffer the consequences along with them. Okay, we’ll just provide punch at the next Republican convention.

 

[kat]

Maybe we should stop trying to convince Bush supporters that everything he has done has been a scam and to the determent of our country. I think we should let these people continue on with their denial. One day they will wake up and cry "OMG what happened?"
Oh dang, that won’t work because we have to suffer the consequences along with them. Okay, we’ll just provide punch at the next Republican convention.

Or maybe you should try supporting your case without the propoganda, hyperbole, rhetoric and deceit.

 

[kat]

Do you really believe that the soldiers were picked at random?

Please...give me a direct quote from the person on this forum who has said that. Deceit, rhetoric and hyperbole!

 

[faust9]

Or maybe you should try supporting your case without the propoganda, hyperbole, rhetoric and deceit.

The case has been supported Kat. We have shown video proof that the president's comments were scripted. We have linked to all major news sources who tell us the event was billed as a spontaneous back and forth. The event was scripted. The event billing was a lie. The event used the troops to bolster Bush's lagging numbers and dropping support for the Iraq war. The troops were a propoganda tool.

Did you miss the 895798473 links in this thread to news sources as well as the WH press conference transcript site?

PS, the transcript for the spontaneous back and forth is still missing---the one reporters were asking about in one of the video links.

Also, one of these "Average troops" was a military spokesman. Hmmm I spent a lot of time overseas and never once saw or met a spokesman myself meaning this position is far from typical or average.

 

[TRCSF]

Or maybe you should try supporting your case without the propoganda, hyperbole, rhetoric and deceit.

Wouldn't it be great if the President tried that?

 

[DaveC426913]

OK, now that we've got some venom and some opinions out there, what, exactly, is the crux of the discussion here?

I have seen the video** where the PR woman runs the soldiers through the script, and she does indeed, tell them where to pause, etc. (though there's no question that Bush's speech was scripted, I did not see explicit evidence that the actual words of the soldiers were scripted.)

**Forget CNN, watch Jon Stewart for your news!

I suspect no one here is really *surprised* at this latest manipulation attempt, but being 'mostly sure all by yourself' is very different from 'having recorded footage that can be re-broadcast until the strongest Bush supporters can't sweep it away' and is casue for being it jumped all over.

I'm not taking sides here, I'm just looking for *what* the sides are.

 

[faust9]

On one side you have a group of people bring the WH's use of propaganda and lies to the fore.

On the other you have a group of people who refuse to see the facts (scripted scripted scripted) and instead focus in on minutiae to subvert the real discussion.

One side favors following Bush's 2000 pledge to restore the WH's integrity while the other side blindly follows the Bush party line with a complete disregard for the office which was "supposed" to be restored.

On side rejects the lies of the war and the pseudo links to 9-11 and Bin Laden while the other side accepts the rhetoric as truth and berates those who ask "Well Mr. Bush show us some REAL proof!"

The side searching for the truth is growing and in the majority right now BTW.

 

[faust9]

TDS coverage: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/TDS-Teleconference.mov

 

[SOS2008]

Or maybe you should try supporting your case without the propoganda, hyperbole, rhetoric and deceit.

I know you don’t like my positions, and if you did, I would begin to worry about myself.

Wouldn't it be great if the President tried that?

She thinks Bush is the most brilliant man she’s ever met.

I have seen the video** where the PR woman runs the soldiers through the script, and she does indeed, tell them where to pause, etc. (though there's no question that Bush's speech was scripted, I did not see explicit evidence that the actual words of the soldiers were scripted.)

Now, you have a point there. The soldiers were not using a prompter (at least that could be seen). However: 1) the soldiers were especially selected; 2) they were coached; and 3) they were told to hand off the microphone if unable to respond appropriately. That means very little is spontaneous (not controlled for) and contrary to how the WH was presenting this.

This is such a small bit of propaganda on the spectrum of what this administration has done, that I don’t care too much about this particular incident. The important thing is that the American people are getting increasingly fed up with it. This is one reason Bush’s approval ratings have dropped, and rightfully so.