Truespeak

Once again, the White House is revving up its high-powered PR machine and sending Georgieboy out to make excuses for their illegal deed. This time around it's the NSA wiretapping. georgia10, over at DailyKos, does a fine job of debunking the administration talking points, but tonight I want to talk about something else.

As usual, the traditional media outlets have picked up the administration's water and are running with it. Check out this comment from CNN:

Bush's appearance was the fourth in the last six weeks in which he's taken questions from the audience. But Kansas State offered the largest audience yet, with a coliseum full of roughly 9,000 people who got tickets distributed by the university. Six thousand were students, and 800 were soldiers from nearby Fort Riley who just returned from Iraq, officials said.

The White House says none of the questions was prescreened. The site chosen for Monday's event, however, was in friendly Bush territory in the reliably "red" state of Kansas.

Bush received a hero's welcome, with long standing ovations and loud applause as he defended his most controversial positions.

(emphasis mine)

Aside from the grammatical error, I'm left to say "What the...? Not prescreened? Get the fuck out of here!"

Like many things this administration does, there's what they say and then there's reality. Let's take a closer look at what they don't consider to be prescreened.

Back on September 16, 2002, George W. Bush gave a speech/held a photo-op at Sears Manufacturing Co. in Davenport, IA. It just so happens that my father is an engineer there and he told me about the White House's non-prescreening process. For starters, everyone in the plant had to undergo a background check. If anything out of the ordinary was found, those employees were asked to not be in attendance on the day of Bush's visit. Considering the position the man is in, this isn't really out of the ordinary. However, for those who were allowed to stay for the bullshit er..I mean, speech, they were instructed that they could not talk, make noise, or ask questions. They could, however, applaud, cheer, or laugh. So you'll have to excuse me if I don't believe that this audience wasn't prescreened. While the questions may not have been known in advance, the audience had been sifted for riff-raff and instructed on how to behave. To say he was on pretty safe ground would be an understatement.

So let's have a look at some of these not "prescreened" questions, shall we?

Question #1

Mr. President, we salute what you have done, your aggressive stance on terrorism. But more than that, as you know, Kansas is a beef state. The number one industry in the state of Kansas is beef production and beef processing. A strong beef industry indicates a strong Kansas, and it affects all of us. We sincerely appreciate your efforts in regaining our markets with Japan, your aggressive stance on trade. We support that tremendously. I wonder if you would just comment on what's happened recently.

Question #2

Thank you, Mr. President. One of the things that most of our Senate delegation has worked tirelessly on is the situation in the Sudan. Sudan was, of course, slated to be the chair of the African Union next year, which is -- they have tried, much like the United Nations, to do something. Does the United States have a larger role to play in the Sudan, and the entire sub-Saharan African region?

Question #3

What is your position, or would you comment on a long-term strategy with respect to the geopolitical ambitions of China and Iran?

Question #4

Hello, Mr. President. I am an American Iraqi Kurd. I would like to salute you and salute all the troops are freeing 27 million people. They are free.
[snip]
Mr. President, I would like to share this thought with all our nation and everybody who is questioning what happened to the chemical weapons. Saddam burned 4,500 villagers. I lost more than 10 members of my family under the ground. We found their bones after, when we freed Iraq. Saddam, himself, and his people, his followers, they are chemical weapons. Please stop questioning the administration and their decision. It was the best decision anybody could take. Freeing 27 million people.
[snip]
Mr. President, all I could tell you, I have two members of my family, they are in the Iraqi parliament. And both of them are women. My sister-in-law and my aunt, they are in the Iraqi parliament. And I would like you to share this happiness with me and with all the Iraqi people. Thank you, Mr. President.

Question #5

Us British, were a querulous people and we know that we're one of your greatest supporters in the world, and Tony Blair, who I have the greatest respect for, is my leader. When you say, "jump," he says, "how high?" At least, that's the perception of many of the British people. And when he agrees and does your bidding, then it weakens him on the home front at home. And many people enjoy this, but some of the more vocal ones will say, he's a yes-man. Have you discussed that with him, and do you have any --

Question #6

I have a question less with politics and more with leadership, in general. You're in a situation where you're under a lot of flack, especially for your character. And that's something that, it seems to me, means a lot to you, as it does to many of us here. As a leader, as many of us are going to need to know here because we're going to be leaders in just a few years, what's the best way that you go about preparing yourself for attacks on your character, and how do you deal with others in those matters?

Question #7

Mr. President, thank you for being here. I served under your father, he was my Commander-in-Chief in Desert Storm. And it was with great interest that I followed your campaign; my husband and I both are great fans of yours. I thank you for making the hard decisions, for making -- not listening to the critics and keeping your campaign promise.

And I've been following the confirmation hearings of Judge Alito. And I certainly hope he's confirmed.
[snip]
But I'd like to kind of know how it stands right now.

Question #8

Hi. First I'd like to say that when I was first able to cast my vote for President, it was my honor to vote for you -- (inaudible). Can you hear me?
[snip]
My question is about Social Security.

Question #9

Hi, I just want to get your comments about education. Recently, $12.7 billion was cut from education, and I was just wondering how that's supposed to help our futures?

Question #10

Again, I just wanted to thank you for coming. Your speech was very good. I'm a big admirer of your wife. I know that you said that your role as a President was as a decision-maker, and I would like you to comment, please, on how your wife contributes to your decision-making process, and how you confide in her. Thank you.

Question #11

W is for Wisconsin. You're a rancher. A lot of us here in Kansas are ranchers. I was just wanting to get your opinion on "Brokeback Mountain," if you've seen it yet? (Laughter.) You would love it. You should check it out.

Question #12

Mr. President, I have a question about the nuclear weapons the United States is keeping. It's around 3,000 nuclear weapons, so I want to know your opinion when you are going to destroy them?

Question #13

President -- (speaking Spanish.) I know that the relationship between United States and Venezuela is no good. That's not my problem. My problem is -- or the question I have for you is what are you doing in the borders? We try to secure the United States for terrorism, I know. So we're trying to secure the borders, but, as well, some of us of who are Hispanics and professional sometimes are denied the opportunity to work and advance in the workplace because we are minorities.

What are you going to do as a (inaudible) -- what are you going to do provide the most secure job in which we serve the country, we serve the university? I can't complain in this university, I've been treated like royalty here, but when you work outside the university as a Hispanic, you are not look good enough because they think you come from Mexico.

I come from Venezuela, which is a different country, but all of us are Hispanics and all of us embrace ourselves in America because America is -- North America, the United States. In Central and South America, where one continents embrace each other. So what are you going to do to provide opportunities for the Hispanics who come to this country legally, like I did? Or who are illegal here? We should help them to get legal here, not provide directly a green card, but help them to become legal in step-by-step --

Wow! Out of thirteen questions there were only two legitimate ones - one about education and the other about nuclear weapons - both of which he completely side-stepped. The remaining eleven were questions that played right into the party's talking points or were just unabashed ass kissing. So once again, your going to have to excuse me if I don't take the administration at its word when they say things aren't prescreened because maybe the questions weren't, but the ones asking the questions definitely were. It's like I said, there's what the administration says and then there's reality. One day soon, I hope the traditional media will join the rest of us here in the reality-based community.