TURKEY PICTURES
The weakness of the Democrats and the supposedly "liberal"media at critical times never ceases to amaze me. In recent weeks, it has often seemed that the daily torrent of bad news in Iraq and the strong voice of the Dems running for president finally had Bush and his cronies against the ropes. But, whenever the Bushies swing the presidential mantle for their own selfish purposes, the Dems and the press cower in a corner, afraid, for some reason, to call a spade a spade. They politely assume that Bush acts in good faith, when his every move is cynically calculated.
On Thanksgiving Day, the Bushies lead their Man onto a plane and took a risky, dangerous trip to Baghdad. All photo-op and no substance, the cloak-and-dagger mission showed how far the Bushies will go to save Junior’s dwindling poll numbers and also how desperate they have become to put any positive spin on the horrible situation they created in Iraq. The hand-picked members of the media (Fox, of course, not CNN) played right along, scheming with the Bushies to keep secrets about a supposedly "important" foreign escapade by the president before the trip, playing Bush’s typically strained remarks to the troops all day as if it were some sort of triumph, and, after the fact, expressing amazement at the creativity of the Bush Machine in creating the right images for his ‘04 campaign.
Some even threw the trip in the Dems face, saying that this is the sort of thing (cynically using the perks of the office, etc.) that they would be unable to do. But event he Dems wouldn’t want to do it if the press would simply point out the obvious political use of the troops as pawns in an election campaign. By the Clinton Rules, this kind of cheap stunt would have been squawked about for weeks, until it was included as grounds for the ump-teenth article of impeachment.
Most surprising was the silence and acquiescence of the Dems, who not only failed to protest, but also said it was the "right thing to do". Once again, Bush benefits by the Dems’ misplaced unity-in-purpose shtick. Bush spent an hour with our vulnerable troops, met with several of our hand-picked puppets and then sped back to the safety of Washington, leaving all those people in Iraq right where he left them. Any spirits that were lifted by his visit to the troops were certainly dashed the next day when they all woke up in the shithole Bush created for them.
Air Force One was barely off the ground on the way home when another soldier died on the ground in Iraq, for no good reason. I wonder if the "reporters" who facilitated this Bush campaign trip have a list of the troops who shared dinner with the First Turkey. If they do, they can refer to it with the list of the Future Dead that will continue to pile up. While Bush will fly a half-a-world away to get troops cheering in a photo-op – honoring him just for getting on a plane, reading a familiar script and picking up a fork – don’t look for Bush to honor them if they happen to fall, even if the funerals are mere blocks away from the White House.
With the Bushies, it’s never about substance or honest sentiment. It’s about the pictures.
4:15:54 PM 
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