Update: An NB reader contacted Mike Allen, author of the article, to complain about the photo choice. Allen indicated he was unaware of, and not involved in, the photo selection. The accompaning photo was subsequently changed to one of the condemned solider.
Of all the millions of photos of George W. Bush, that displayed here is the one Politico.com chose to accompany its story, Bush Approves Soldier's Execution, of the president's authorization of the execution of a soldier convicted of four murders and eight rapes in North Carolina.
Was this a photo taken of Pres. Bush as he announced his decision? Apparently not. The story indicates that the president did not announce his decision in person, but did so via a statement from White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.
Does Politico have evidence that the president made his decision in anger? If so, it didn't report that. To the contrary, Dana Perino's statement says the decision was "difficult" for the president.
According to the Politico's mission statement, "there is more need than ever for reporting that presents the news fairly, not through an ideological prism." How does this photo choice advance that goal?
Note: Politico emailed this item to subscribers as a "Breaking News" story, ensuring wide circulation and reflecting the importance Politico attached to it.






















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Love this face,wish we saw
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 21:56 ET by general companyLove this face,wish we saw more of it. BTW Bush was brilliant and so was Pakistanis PM today, no questions either.
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
"Love this face,wish we saw
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 01:31 ET by Schnikeys"Love this face,wish we saw more of it."
My sentiments exactly.
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"It could be the answer to our age-old, philosophical question, 'Why are we here?' PLASTIC!"
Yep
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 09:24 ET by 10ksnookerWhere's it been?
You did know the politico is just disgruntled WashPost staffers, didn't you?
The real angry people are at politico.com
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 21:56 ET by wdhorningYou know we all slip now and then an loose our temper, especially when morons make a..nine statements that reflect so much ignorance.
Well, they basically have shown their true colors, angry losers.
Hey Mark... I am so glad
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 21:56 ET by bigtimerHey Mark...
I am so glad you posted this...I just saw this about twenty minutes ago...I was going to put it on OT...
At times The Politico infuriates me to put it mildly.
Nah...this wasn't done intentionally, it wasn't meant for any bias or another attempt at a put-down towards the President...
...and pigs fly!
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
so he shouldn't be angry, as former military i'm angry
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:14 ET by lunaticcringeradioi'd hope he'd be angry, cause i know if it were another former president he wouldn't be angry at all.
someone who is convicted of such typical civilian crimes i would hope the president is pissed. i'm pissed. the one benifit is this ass commited these crimes in uniform(for those of you not in the military that is not a literal statement)and that means under the ucmj he will get the death penalty.
lunaticcringeradio
Look at NewsBusters' photo
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:18 ET by Biff McCainLook at NewsBusters' photo of Bob Shrum.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/07/28/0-8-buchanan-sm...
I know how to win wars!
Biffy... What the hell
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:23 ET by bigtimerBiffy...
What the hell about it...
Was the picture from the story that was presented...or was it a picture from somewhere else not related to the story to create bias, spite, and yes hatred for the Pres. for a personal agenda?
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
As bt has pointed out, the
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:29 ET by Mark FinkelsteinAs bt has pointed out, the photo of Shrum was taken from the segment described in the item. It might be unflattering, but it was an accurate representation of a part of his reaction. The Bush photo in Politico, as far as I can tell, was totally unrelated to the subject matter of the story and misrepresents his reaction.
Moreover, NewsBusters makes no bones about its conservative orientation, whereas Politico, as per its Mission statement I reproduced, claims to seek to eschew ideology.
saw on TV
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:22 ET by goldboughI actually saw a minute of Bush talking about various things when this photo was taken. He was not angry, just normal conversation with the reporters.
So you saw him during the
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:36 ET by motherbeltSo you saw him during the conversation when this photo was taken and he wasn't angry?
Then what do you make of this photo?????
Obama's theme song
This is not the first
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:38 ET by ConservativeRexThis is not the first time a leftist organization has put an unflattering picture of any number of Conservatives in a news story.
As balance, I suggest any story concerning a leftist is accompanied by a picture of Helen Thomas (in any pose) or Barney Frank (in any pose), or better yet, Barney Frank hugging Helen Thomas.
How about a picture of Hillary Clinton ?
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 22:42 ET by Free StinkerHow about a picture of Hillary Clinton ?
Anyone see Drudge?
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:15 ET by wahoowah72At least the DrudgeReport never does anything like that... Just look at the flattering photo of Tom Kaine. Fair and balanced as always!
Republicans are a joke and they know it. I could not be anymore psyched about the election. The DEMOCRATIC party is going to clean House (and Senate for that matter). And let me save you and your leader's breath:
"It is I Rush Limbaugh, the doctor of democracy... here to tell you it isn't because Democrats clearly have better ideas or that people are frustrated with eight years of George W. Bush - it's because of the drive-by-media!!!"
Oh boo-hoo. Apparently conservatives think most of the country is too stupid to interpret the facts in the same cockeyed fashion as they do.
Already taking off 1/20/09 (and 1/20/13, for that matter)!
Finally proud of my country as it relates to elections for the first time in eight years for making the correct choice!
-- WahooWah72.
P.S. By the way in watching that little video at the start of NB.com I was reminded of the HalfHour News Hour? Whatever happened there? Oh, that's right. Republicans can't think for themselves. Either that or it's that gosh darn drive-by-media. Boo-hoo...
Wahoo... Wow...delusions
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:21 ET by bigtimerWahoo...
Wow...delusions of hope...
Not gonna' happen with Obama...but I still hope you are locked in to your days off...heheheee...
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
Cheif Wazoo, go ahead and elect Obama...
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:25 ET by R D Helm...and once he gets elected and hits the oil companies with a windfall profits tax, and we are all paying $6.50/gal (or more) by next summer, be sure and drop us a note and let us know how that is working out for ya, okay?
I mean, a windfall profits tax on the oil companies at a time like this is like shooting your pizza delivery guy in the knee, and then expecting a discount.
The truth is insensitive. - Neal Boortz
Not gonna happen RD
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:30 ET by Cool ArrowThe new sheriff in Washington (N. Pelosi) is gonna reign them oil companies in.
She started two years ago. Nothing but results ever since.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE
WahooWah72 sez: Finally
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 07:36 ET by DontFeedTheTrollsWahooWah72 sez:
Finally proud of my country as it relates to elections for the first time in eight years for making the correct choice!
Proud of your Democrat leaders with a 9% approval rating? The worst rating ever, an historic low?? This must be the history the press applauds when talking about the Obama campaign.
P.S. I think your man has a good chance of winning, because there are plenty of bubbleheads, like you, who will vote like this was 'American Idol' instead of a Presidential race.
D
Keep the ILLEGALS out, join NumbersUSA to send free faxes to your reps.
RE: Nonsense
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 11:36 ET by mooreusmcAd hominem attacks make your arguments look weak. If your ideas can’t stand on their own you may want to rethink them. Of course this is the humble opinion of a veteran and conservative, so what do I know?
Forgive me because these are 2007 numbers, but:
Since voting in a Democratic Congress in 2006 we have seen:
1) Consumer confidence plummet;
2) The cost of regular gasoline soar to over $3.50 a gallon;
3) Unemployment is up to 5% (a 10% increase);
4) American households have seen $2.3 trillion in equity value evaporate (stock and mutual fund losses);
5) Americans have seen their home equity drop by $1.2 trillion dollars;
6) 1% of American homes are in foreclosure.
America voted for change in 2006, and we got it!
By the grace of God I can afford these increases in cost, but what about the poor your party purports to defend?
Newsbusters did this a couple of weeks ago...
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:51 ET by ImAllRightYou guys did the same exact thing in a post about Susan Estrich (sp) not that long ago. While I don't agree with mainly everything she says you guys posted the UGLIEST possible picture of her that could be found for something that most likely had not taken place in relation from the pic to the article. That was only a week or two ago that I remember.
I think what Politico did was stupid and out of context but its pretty hypocritical for Newsbusters (not necessarily you, Mark, because I don't remember the poster of the Estrich post but more so this site in general) to whine about it after pulling the same little trick very recently.
Aren't we all sick of Bush anyway? Who cares, this guy has disappointed almost every faction of our party and managed to annoy the country sooo0o much that the Dems. will coast to the Presidency. ( I don't buy those polls saying McCain is as close as he is. I think it'll end up around a 9-10 point victory for Obama)
"Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.” - William F. Buckley Jr.
IAR...( I don't buy
Mon, 07/28/2008 - 23:55 ET by bigtimerIAR...
( I don't buy those polls saying McCain is as close as he is. I think it'll end up around a 9-10 point victory for Obama)
You are in denial...but dream on.
Btw...I am no McCain fan either...but Obama Mia is not gonna' win.
"America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh
BT, you are exactly
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 00:17 ET by ConservativeRexBT, you are exactly right! One of the left's favorite son's, Dukakis had a 13% lead over GHW Bush at this point in 1988, he lost by 6%.
Obami is not going to win either. People are not paying attention as yet. But they will, and when they find out just who this empty suit is, they'll run him out like they did Dukakis and all the rest.
I saw this photo with the story
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 00:15 ET by Delsaand found myself looking for the story that went along with it.
At first I thought they were talking about a soldier who did something over seas and I was thinking, here we go again.
The military guy should get the death penalty for his awful crimes.
The photo of Bush is really strange. I would be interested in where it came from and the context behind it.
Maybe he was yelling at our gal from MSNBC
Free
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 00:20 ET by DelsaHillary should have had her bag on.
Obviously, it was a hard days night for her.
WahooWah72
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 00:25 ET by DelsaKaine look just like his photo.
He gave a democrat response to something and his eyebrows had turette syndrome.
They kept going up and down uncontrollably.
He looked like a complete nut then and now. What you see with him is what you get
About the photo?
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 02:28 ET by airedaletwoI think the picture was taken to day but what was he talking about at the press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani when the photo was taken. I'll bet it wasn't the execution.
I thought the same thing...
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 05:57 ET by AmericanEnergistAs soon as I saw the read the story and saw the pic, I thought the same thing. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, no?
I have pointed out here at NB that the majority of the MSM's pix of Senator Obama have him looking above the horizon and off into the distance. Prove me wrong.
www.ArmchairEnergist.com
Poor headline
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 07:12 ET by WingletDriverWhy wasn't the headline, "Bush approves execution of rapist/murderer"? After all, was this guy on death row for his military service or something related to it? When I saw the headline I figured that it had to be something related to war crimes or desertion.
Nope. The guy was despicable criminal.
Furthermore, when Ted Bundy, Tim McVeigh, the Rosenbergs, et al met their end at the hands of the state, did the headlines scream out, "Governor approves execution of teacher, mechanic, janitor, etc."?
It would probably seem
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 08:30 ET by JasonCIt would probably seem pretty strange if it just said "Bush approves execution of rapist" because that's not normally something a president would be doing. By including "soldier" in the title, it at least makes a little sense that the commander-in-chief is giving the approval. Perhaps it could have been soldier-rapist, but something tells me that wouldn't have gone over well here either.
As to the content of this article, NB has a lot of cajones to accuse other news outlets of this practice. NB's pictures of liberal politicians and figures are consistently and repetitively unflattering and depict said people in states of rage and/or befuddlement.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/07/23/house-speaker...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2008/07/22/so-what-shoul...
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/07/20/its-ok-discuss-pic...
These are just from the last week. Don't forget the one of Hillary looking all cross-eyed, the one of Gore photoshopped to depict him breathing fire, and the fact that NBers like nothing more than to hemhorrage with misogynist rage and mockery toward Helen Thomas based on whichever particularly-unflattering picture the NB author has dug up. And all this from a site that claims to be the vanguard of bias-exposure!
"Issue-driven politics in red-and-blue America is like a man whose
appetite for steak is greatly enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians."
Still a poor headline
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 21:22 ET by WingletDriverA lot of folks here had the same idea that I did when we saw this headline. The editor should have worded it more carefully. "Bush Approves Death Penalty for Rapist, Murder" conveys the nature of the crime, "Soldier" does not. After all, he is not being put to death for anything he did in the line of his work. Would you agree with a headline of "Bush Approves Death Penalty for Black Man" or "Bush Approves Death Penalty for White Man"? I would hope not, because the race of the individual has nothing to do with the person receiving this form of punishment.
As for the pictures Newsbusters uses, you might notice that NB also has Newsbusted. This is a blog about media bias, but it is also very tongue-in-cheek. I've seen silly pictures of McCain and other conservatives. But what makes your point baseless is that NB is unapologetically conservative and an admittedly OPINION site. They don't hold themselves out as an unbiased source of news. When HuffPo & Daily Kos are excoriated, it is for being classless (like attacking people who have just been diagnosed with or died from cancer). There is a marked difference between Rush Limbaugh (who admits he is a conservative entertainer), NB (who are a wing of MRC and CNS News) and folks at CBS News, MSNBC/NBC News, NYT, etc who hold themselves as unbiased news sources.
So NB gets the same kind of
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 21:28 ET by balboaSo NB gets the same kind of pass that Jon Stewart does, because it's a "tongue-in-cheek" site.
Look up Jon Stewart in the Search
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 22:08 ET by WingletDriverStewart isn't excoriated by NB for posting silly pictures in his "news" stories. He is criticized at NB when he steps over the line from being a comedian to being a Dem mouthpiece. Same with Leno and Letterman. Their jokes are typically not brought up. But when they say stupid things like "Bush has committed war crimes", then it's 'Game on'.
Indeed this is a largely
Wed, 07/30/2008 - 08:23 ET by JasonCredacted
But guess what
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 07:22 ET by Cool ArrowWonder what the followup headline will be today.
another picture submitted for your perusal.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE
Judgement
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 07:57 ET by cocodrieThe only thing that really matters about execution is - the executed criminal will not be in this world to kill or rape any more people. Every time these killers are not executed they are released, thanks to the bleeding hearts club, and they kill again and again. The judges and parole board members that release them should be required to serve the remainder of the criminal's sentence.
execution
Tue, 07/29/2008 - 10:30 ET by cassratFirst a general comment.
The presidents 'approval' of an execution is meaningless since he has no say so in the decision.
President Bush did NOT 'approve of a Soldier's execution' he approved of a MURDER'S execution. That the murder happened to be in the military is not relevant to the case.
Don't try to teach a Liberal to think. It only wastes your time and irritates the Liberal.