I only wish the press gave a third of this amount of coverage to Rummy's unscripted town meetings with soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere. Guess the press isn't interested in what the soldiers are saying because it contradicts their quagmire meme.
Dan Beaird
Critical Thinker
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Is this really a story? These are people talking to the president in front of cameras, they are going to be nervous. So the folks in charge of things let them know what's going to happen and what's expected of them. Everybody does it. Every television news network, every talk show host (I can tell you a story about Jerry Springer needing three takes to get a spontaneous scene right) even every politician. When they filmed Clinton walking on Omaha beach during the 50th anniversary of D-Day, he paused and made a little cross out of some stones on the beach. Those stones were brought from American and placed on the beach to make that "spontaneous" moment happen in front of the cameras as planned.
The only difference is that someone with access to direct feeds decided that they could make someone look foolish by running things that were not intended to be aired.
The only difference is that someone with access to direct feeds decided that they could make someone look foolish by running things that were not intended to be aired.
What kills me is that in their zeal to toe the line every single producer and every single broadcaster knew the extent of this particular farce. It's astounding to see it exposed like that, and I'm not trying to be hyperbolic.
a_unique_person
Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning
Have you heard him at open press conferences where unexpected questions are asked? He is just as bad. The only reason he is Pres is that he had the right connections. Like I said, the woman organising the press conference displayed more brains than him.
I find it helps to remember that Republicans will excuse, literally anything this man does. And I really do mean anything.
Anti_Hypeman
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Dont forget they also defaced a grave so Billy could fix it on camera.
Leif Roar
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Good grief what a clumsy, amateurish Charlie-Foxtrot.
That transcript reminds me of what a Norwegian stand-up comic said many years ago about Clinton's "I didn't inhale" statement:
"The real news isn't that the USA has a president that's smoked marijuana. The real news is that the USA has a president that's too stupid to understand how to smoke marijuana!"
Cain
Straussian
For those who didn't bother clicking on the link to read McClellan:
All Bush events are strictly scripted affairs, especially his "town hall" meetings.
All Bush events are strictly scripted affairs, especially his "town hall" meetings.
TragicMonkey
Poisoned Waffles
He had some trouble understanding cigars, too.
The difference is that if Bush had done that the Republicans would start attacking the person in the grave.
Anti_Hypeman
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"are you suggesting that what our troops were saying was not sincere"
Its like Stalin asking his generals what they think of him can you guess the answer? When your only choice is to kiss butt or go to jail how could you think its sincere.
Its like Stalin asking his generals what they think of him can you guess the answer? When your only choice is to kiss butt or go to jail how could you think its sincere.
The issue is that presenting something like this as an off-the-cuff dialogue is a blatant lie.
I don't like my government lying to me...and I don't care if it is a Democrat or Republican doing it. That's the difference...Republicans will keep excusing this stuff because it's a Republican doing it. Party first, country second.
TragicMonkey
Poisoned Waffles
My thought was that McClellan set up a false dichotomy, that if it were scripted it could not be sincere. It could be both.
Cain
Straussian
Presenting a highly scripted affair to the American public as a "conversation" is dishonest. Of course one could be sincere when reading scripted remarks, but it's not as sincere as a real, unplanned conversation. The worst part in the exchange posted above is McCellan has to invocation of "the troops" with the classic subtext "What, you don't support the troops?"
Well, it would be pretty easy for me to have a "conversation with Americans" after I prescreened candidates walking down the street, and then helped them work out their answers.
Does anyone recall how conservatives were upset when a soldier asked Rumsfeld a pointed question? They screamed that it was pre-planned, planted by an evil reporter, and not at all authentic. I suppose the resounding applause immedately following the question was also plotted in advance. THe working script called on Rumsfeld to improvise the "stupidest f*cking answer imaginable."
Here's a painful audio clip. It's mindboggling how Bush is President. He was even elected the second time around.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4957379
"but if he gives us a question that's not something that we've scripted..."
Leif Roar
Master Poster
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Yes, but I would say that if something is scripted(*), then there's little reason to assume it is sincere.
(*) Note that with "scripted" I understand an interview where questions and answers are read from an existing script. I'm not sure that is actually what happened in this interview. It is possible that it was merely a tightly coordinated process, but that the answers given were genuinely made by the soldiers who answered the questions.
True. But that's not what happened. Only the questions were "scripted", which makes perfect sense. When I'm seeking information from my guys, I often let them know what I'm going to ask about beforehand. The answers the soldiers prepared were not scripted. Additionally, it wasn't presented as a "conversation," it was presented as an "address" (cite) Finally, the whole thing was done right in front of the entire press corps. It's not like they tried to hide anything here.
Leif Roar
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Why are you so certain of that? McClellan wasn't:
Q But I also asked this morning, were they being told by their commanders what to say or what to do, and you indicated, no. Was there any prescreening of --
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not aware of any such -- any such activities that were being undertaken. We coordinated closely with the Department of Defense. You can ask if there was any additional things that they did.
THE PRESIDENT: I didn't want to give you -- I didn't want to throw you a hardball there, Captain.
Considering the questions and who were to answer them had been determined in advance, that's a very strange thing to say unless you want to present it as a more spontaneous conversation and less of a rigged event.
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