Revtim, Asylum, lieu - I said this wasn’t a rant, and it isn’t. Like I said, I’m just laughing my ass off.
The implied message of the photo was, “The President is about to serve up this beautiful bird to the troops.” Yeah, it’s a sort of lie, and it’s a pretty small one, but perhaps I’m just amused that they can’t even tell the truth in the small stuff.
No, I don’t think it’s worth a single op-ed column. Maybe it just reminded me of the old “Laugh-In” bit where the black guy talks about how generous Master was, that on Thanksgiving, he’d call them all in, and show them a picture of a turkey. It’s nothing to get irate about. I’m just laughing, that’s all, because one can laugh at this sort of stuff, while the serious lies are too real in their consequences to be all that funny.
The truly ingenious could probably draw a parallel between the turkey the President presented to the troops at the Baghdad Airport and the tariff protection he gave Pittsburgh or the rousing economic recovery he has served up to the nation. I’m not smart enough to do that, but maybe some bright guy from Minnesota with a gift for smart ass witticism might just be able to pull it off.
“bright”…not “brilliant”
“smart ass witticism”…not “sharp and acerbic satire worty of Swift”
“from Minnesota”…not “from Texas, currently gracing MN with his august presence”…
OK, I’ll pass it along to Diogenes. Wouldn’t want to butt in, uninvited.
Hey, I’m no damn lily-livered Bush-lover, but count me in with those who fail to see the point here. I laughed at the photo when I first saw it, 'cause it does seem to imply that the Prez just stepped out of the kitchen after having cooked it up for the troops, but nobody would ever seriously think that he actually had anything to do with making the bloody thing.
Beautifully put. Elucidator lives up to his name. I could not have phrased it any better.
I will, however, add that OPENLY DISAGREEING with one’s superior officer, particularly in matters political, is an extremely bad idea. Particularly when one is in a nasty-assed foreign country full of people who hate you and routinely set booby traps for you and your buddies, and occasionally just haul off and shoot guys dressed in uniforms just like yours, right in the middle of the street in broad daylight.
Were I there, I would be quite aware that I was being used as a tool by His Lordship, but I would not dare to utter a peep about it. My main goal would be to get home in one piece.
I agree with that. I’m just saying perhaps there are soldiers who feel the whole visit was a sham, even if they don’t state so to their COs or even to fellow soldiers. Which would make the overall good morale a sham to a point as well.
Here’s a question that would still be valid even if Bush hadn’t shown up: Why in the world would you go to the trouble of flying a turkey in all that distance and cooking it to a turn and then not eat it?!
The blogosphere has already discussed this (c.f. instapundit.com) and the conclusion is Lamest Pseudo Issue Evar.
You know, if folks want to nail Bush over his spending and economic policies, I’m behind you 100%. If you want to critique his environmental policy or his pandering to energy interests, then I’m there. If you think his invasion of Iraq was misguided, the motivations baffling, and the restoration poorly planned, I can concede that you may have some valid points.
But if you continually harp on the man for taking advantage of photo ops and performing symbolic gestures * which is one of his jobs *, then I’m going to decide that you’re just cynical lightweights who are more interested in exercising your knees than your brains.
Maybe it would be better if the US had a separation of symbolic leadership and actual political power like Britain, where the Prime Minister makes the decisions and the Queen waves graciously and poses for photo ops. But given the reality that both these jobs are combined in the same office, not all of Bush’s actions can be interpreted as posturing in preparation for the next election. Part of the job of the Chief Executive is to inspire and lead. No matter what you think of the man, the * office that he holds* still means something, and the soldier who gets a slab of turkey placed on his tray by the President of the United States is gonna get his morale boosted even if he personally doesn’t like the guy*. The President being there means that the country thinks the job he’s doing is important.
The thing is, it’s possible for something to be a cynically planned photo op and the right thing to do performed by a gracious person * at the same time *.
If I were feeling academically inclined, I’d cite references to the King’s Evil and the Pope’s washing of feet – all stage-managed but powerful gestures nonetheless.
Look, if Bush had uncovered WMD’s during his visit, it’d be big news. Instead he gives us Turkeys of Mass Deception. Folks gotta have something to talk about, and after the “mission accomplished” debacle, people are a little leery of swallowing more of that president-as-superhero-studmuffin stuff. If the only alternative is cardboard turkeys, that’s what they’ll talk about.
Rove should have noticed that the bar for reality-perception has been raised, and made more of an effort to keep things honest.
There’s no big Bush Bashing thing here, just an increasing desire by people to uncover the truth behind whatever images they’re presented with. It’s sort of a natural outgrowth of having been lied to for so long.
Besides, who cares what the morons at instapundit think, they’ve got nothing on the teeming millions.
Take it