Re: <nettime> Governing Hollywood Style

[Kurt Ralske <kranning@miau-miau.com>]

> It was a moment fraught with imagery. Ronald Reagan's role as US
> President during the 1980s is beginning to pale in comparison to the
> artistry and sheer audacity of George W. Bush. Fortunately, too many
> people see through these laughable attempts to stage empty theatrics
> designed for political gain. When you have nothing of substance to
> say to the world, when you must lie to cover up failed policy, you
> turn to the tricks of media and illusion to deliver your message.

The absurdity of this particular photo-op becomes even more obvious when you
consider that Bush's Iraqi Thanksgiving dinner was served at 6 AM (a fact
not mentioned in the mainstream coverage of the event):

http://www.counterpunch.org/madsen11282003.html

Wag the Turkey
Surprise Thanksgiving Dinner at 6 AM?
By WAYNE MADSEN

Yes folks, we are now all bit players in a real-life version of the movie
"Wag the Dog." President Bush and his GOP advisers are ecstatic that the
president made a secret trip to Baghdad to be with U.S. troops for a
"traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. His polling numbers -- which I contend
are as fixed as a Florida election -- will undoubtedly receive a huge boost.

I may be a bit naive, and it has been a while since I served on active duty,
but I can't recall ever sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at 6:00 AM. Air
Force One touched down at Baghdad International Airport, under cover of
darkness, at 5:20 AM Baghdad time. Bush was on the ground for two and a half
hours, his plane departing Baghdad at around 7:50 AM. Considering that it
likely took some 30 minutes for Bush to disembark from Air Force One and
travel by a heavily secured motorcade to the hangar where the troops were
assembled, that means our military men and women were downing turkey,
stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and non-alcoholic beer at a time
when most people would be eating eggs, bacon, grits, home fries, and toast.

But there on national television, when most Americans were preparing to sit
down to their own traditional Thanksgiving dinners, we saw a tape of
President Bush serving mashed potatoes and corn to American troops at a
"traditional" Thanksgiving meal in the early hours of the morning. What's
more, when a clearly exhausted Bush strode around a curtain -- after a
"What's My Line" mystery guest routine by Iraq proconsul L. Paul Bremer --
600 American troops were said to be "shocked and awed" by Bush's surprise
appearance. I would have thought most of the troops, many of whom are
support personnel who work relatively normal working hours, would have been
more surprised when they were ordered to get up before sunrise to eat
Thanksgiving dinner between 6:00 and 7:30 A.M.

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