Kurt Ralske on Sat, 29 Nov 2003 14:08:52 +0100 (CET) |
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Re: <nettime> Governing Hollywood Style |
> 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. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net