Bush Q&A with US soldiers this morning was staged?

[ASLANSPAL]

LINK
Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged

WASHINGTON - It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions
President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution.

Snippetaul 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." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."


NPR AUDIO

AUDIO

If anyone can get the CNN VIDEO Rehersal I would be greatly obliged when it becomes available.

Sincerely Aslanspal

 

[Bro. Curtis]

So 50% of the soldiers were actually non-coms. Big deal.

I liked the Iraqi dude who thanked Bush repeatedly. "Booosh, I like you!!!!"

How dare our president tell people he's gonna ask some questions.

Besides, you can always get your America hating leftist pabulum from the Huffington Post and the New York Times, so waddya complaining about ? That ain't enough ?

 

[Bro. Curtis]

One of those soldiers was Captain Brent Kennedy from Maple Valley. Captain Kennedy brought the president up to speed via satellite from Tikrit.

"We're surging an operation called Operation Saratoga that includes the securing of over 1,250 polling sites," said Kennedy to President Bush.

After the big interview pressure was off, we got a chance to chat with Kennedy.

"It was an honor to talk to him. I mean, it's my boss of bosses," said Kennedy....

A wire service reporter in Iraq says the soldiers were coached on how to answer the president's questions. Kennedy says that's not what happened.

"They kind of talked us through what it was going to be like," said Kennedy. "Not telling us what to say, but to say, 'Hey look this is probably going to be what he's asking about.' "

Captain Kennedy has been in Iraq for a year, but should be back stateside in about a month.




LINK

 

[fromtheright]

Once again, ASLANSPAL makes a mountain out of a molehill for the purpose of trying to make the President look bad. Once again, his effort falls flat:

[T]he questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution.

And there is something incredible about that? Of course, he is going to ask those troops about the progress in the war. News flash: they're over there, they might be in a position to answer such questions. And sure he is asking them about preparation for the vote; after all, it is the biggest news over there right now.

"carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

Again, why the "shock"? Officers are in the position of being involved in those plans and overseeing their execution. Why wouldn't officers be a part of that teleconference.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."

That just proves what an idiot Rieckhoff is and anyone giving him a microphone: Bush didn't ask those troops' opinion, he asked their assessment of progress on the ground. Those are questions for officers to answer. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he had some senior enlisted folks there, as they provided some excellent information. But Reickhoff is simply dishonest in his point.

 

[StraightAndNarrow]

All of the soldier's answers were carefully rehearsed before hand. Bush can't take the chance that a soldier will ask another question like when are we going to get enough armor for our vehicles or bullet proof vests that work. His approval rating is down to 38% and sinking fast and only 26% of Americans think the country is going in the right direction.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

From the right by all means google to your hearts
content ..the story made the mainstream press and I am still trying to get the video from CNN'S The situation room on the rehersal. It is important because the White House put this out as a spontaneous
give and take between the troops and now we know that
is not the case.


And if it was such a molehill FTR why even respond
you just added dirt to the hill ..didn't you?

but thanks for playing.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

Originally posted by StraightAndNarrow:
All of the soldier's answers were carefully rehearsed before hand. Bush can't take the chance that a soldier will ask another question like when are we going to get enough armor for our vehicles or bullet proof vests that work. His approval rating is down to 38% and sinking fast and only 26% of Americans think the country is going in the right direction.

Exactly!

 

[hillclimber]

I personally think it necessary to control questions and answers at these events in light of the penchant of the leftists to insert imposters. It is afterall a political sound bite with pics, and better be choreographed to some degree. The President can talk personally to anyone he wants to anytime at all, unconstrained and without media present.

 

[ASLANSPAL]

I think it is important to hear from Paul Rieckhoff since he has been called out ..lets let others decide
if what he says is good, bad, or in between.

Snippet:
This thing was not just staged, it was superstaged. In a disgusting display, the President again used our troops as political props in an event so scripted that it basically turned into a conversation with himself. I wish the White House had put this much effort into post-war planning when my platoon hit Baghdad.

Not only were the teleconference troops told what to say by Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Allison Barber, they were also prevented from speaking freely by the looming threat of their ground commanders. Undoubtedly there was a PAO (Public Affairs Officer—likely someone ranking Major or higher) standing directly off-camera making sure the soldiers spoke in line with White House directives. Every troop presented an upbeat view of the situation on the ground in Iraq. There was no talk of armor issues or mortars attacks. A token Iraqi soldier in the group at one point gushed to President Bush, “Thank you very much for everything. I like you!”

When I was an Infantry Platoon leader in Iraq, I was interviewed by CBS 60 Minutes. As the tape was rolling, my commanding officer stood behind the camera carefully listening to my every word with his arms crossed. I knew it wouldn’t be fun for me if I strayed from the prescribed talking points. That incident was one of the motivating factors that led me to create Operation Truth--an organization that truly represents the candid voice of our troops and Veterans. The voices we heard today were neither candid nor representative.


Link

 

[emeraldctyangel]

I do wish you would dispense with the dumb pictures. Sigh.

I have to tell you this...when I had the opportunity to be near the President, we were briefed on what he wanted to talk to us about, so we wouldnt be standing there with the "uh" look on OUR faces when he came up to shake our hands. The briefing helps the soldiers more than it does the President.

We fight wars and wrestle the bad guys to the ground. He gets to field terribly idiotic questions by reporters and get gossiped about horribly by some of you. I think I still have the better end of the deal.

If you want my candid voice about the war in Iraq A-pal, then I leave you with this: stick to video games and fast food.

Superstaged? Is that like being Supersized? Wow. How incredibly silly.

 

[KenH]

Originally posted by StraightAndNarrow:
Bush can't take the chance

No president would.

By the way, I would vote that the country is not headed in the right direction as well.

 

[Mike McK]

I'm curious to know where these people were when Clinton was staging his "Town Hall Meetings".

I don't recall hearing a peep out of them.

 

[Mike McK]

Michael Smirconish had an interesting breakdown of the event this morning.

He served in the Reagan/Bush-Bush/Quayle White House and says that this is common, no matter who the president or what the occasion.

The point isn't to stack the deck, but to make sure that the President is able to express his thoughts clearly and that there is not bedlam with everyone talking at once.

The second reason is that there is a delay because of satelite issues and people do tend to talk over one another when this happens.

Of course, the conspiracy theorists will read whatever they want into it.

In a related story, Matt Drudge is a Sodomite.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

LINK

In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, shortly before airing a segment aimed at embarrassing the Bush administration by suggesting that it had staged a video conversation between the president and soldiers in Iraq, the Today show was caught staging . . . a video stunt.

In the Bush/Iraq segment, Today screened footage indicating that prior to engaging in a video conversation with President Bush, soldiers on the ground in Iraq were given tips by a Department of Defense official.

But the only advice that the official was shown as giving was a suggestion to one solider to "take a little breath" before speaking to the president so he would actually be speaking to him. It was also stated that some of the soldiers practiced their comments so as to appear as articulate as possible. But there was no indication, or even allegation, that the soldiers were coached as to the substance of their comments or in any way instructed what to say....

....Michelle Kosinski has been on the scene for Today in New Jersey, working the story. In an apparent effort to draw attention to herself, in yesterday's segment she turned up in hip waders, standing thigh-deep in the flood waters.

Taking her act one step further, this morning she appeared on a suburban street . . . paddling a canoe. There was one small problem. Just as the segment came on the air, two men waded in front of Kosinki . . . and the water barely covered their shoe tops! That's right, Kosinski's canoe was in no more than four to six inches of water!...

...Matt: "Are these holy men, perhaps walking on top of the water?"

 

[Mike McK]

Curtis, let's not forget that NBC was the same network that was sued by GM for shoving dynamite up the tailpipes of pickup trucks and then claiming that they have a tendency to explode.

 

[Mike McK]

By the way, the soldiers are already coming out defending themselves against these accusations.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Here's one....

LINK

Yesterday, I (bottom right corner in the picture) was chosen to be among a small group of soldiers assigned to the 42ID's Task Force Liberty that would speak to President Bush, our Commander-in-Chief. The interview went well, but I would like to respond to what most of the mass-media has dubbed as, "A Staged Event."
First of all, we were told that we would be speaking with the President of the United States, our Commander-in-Chief, President Bush, so I believe that it would have been totally irresponsible for us NOT to prepare some ideas, facts or comments that we wanted to share with the President.
We were given an idea as to what topics he may discuss with us, but it's the President of the United States; He will choose which way his conversation with us may go.
We practiced passing the microphone around to one another, so we wouldn't choke someone on live TV. We had an idea as to who we thought should answer what types of questions, unless President Bush called on one of us specifically....

...It makes my stomach ache to think that we are helping to preserve free speech in the US, while the media uses that freedom to try to RIP DOWN the President and our morale, as US Soldiers. They seem to be enjoying the fact that they are tearing the country apart. Worthless!....

...It is history in the making and I will not let the media or anyone else (who has not spent more than two weeks here) tell me otherwise. I have been here for almost a year. I have seen the progress made in so many ways from January's elections to this referendum. Don't tell me what the Iraqi people can or can't do. They will tell you with their VOTES!...

 

[carpro]

Much ado about nothing.

 

[Rocko9]

The President should hire profssional media personel. Yes I believe all Presidents have rehearsed and staged their own interviews but this one was poorly done and only served to emabarass well intentioned soldiers. Please Mr. President, get professional help the next time.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

Did Sgt. Ron Long sound embarrassed, to you ? Seems like the proffesional media is the problem.