The "mainstream" media today, in a stunning display of left-wing bias, engaged in a coordinated anti-war propaganda campaign designed to overshadow an attempt by President Bush on Thursday to rally America's troops. The effort was so gratuitously spiteful, partisan, and transparent that Joseph Goebbels himself would have applauded it.
In a video conference yesterday to members of the Army's 42nd Infantry Division based in Tikrit, the President did his best to boost the morale of U.S. fighting forces in Iraq, saying "We're never going to back down, we're never going to give in, we'll never accept anything less than total victory." This message was intentionally kicked to the curb by liberal journalists across the country and around the world this morning, when headlines began to appear stating that the teleconference had been "staged".
Here's a partial list of the stories I found on the internet today concerning the event.
ABC: Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged
Philadelphia Daily News: Bush Blasted For Staged Attempt To Rally Troops
MTV: Bush's Conversation With U.S. Soldiers Was Rehearsed
L.A. Times: Bush's Chat With Troops Draws Flak
Washington Post: Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged
Palm Beach Post: Bush uses staged event to try to rally war support
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Bush converses with rehearsed troops in Iraq via video
CBS News: Bush, Troops Have Rehearsed Chat
S. F. Chronicle: Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged
Of course, what every one of these stories left out was the fact that ALL such media events are planned in advance, and that the people participating are always screened beforehand, no matter who the President is, or what party he happens to belong to. Furthermore, the "rehearsal" period amounted to Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary, Allison Barber, asking the troops simple questions concerning the order in which they would answer questions, and making sure that unsightly debris was cleared from camera shot.
This sort of activity is so routine in terms of arranging a television shoot, that to even mention it as part of the story being covered is patently ridiculous, and the only reason why the press has gone to the trouble to do so, is because most journalists HATE George W. Bush. There is no other logical explanation for it.
The fact of the matter is that none of the troops who appeared on camera were "coached" to say anything. They were only informed of the sort of questions that the President would be asking them, so that they could mentally prepare to give their responses. Their words were entirely their own, and the media parasites covering the event knew that, yet they have gone out of their way to give the American people the false impression that the whole thing was some sort of put-on.
Moreover, many news outlets even went so far as to try and discredit the President's statement to the soldiers assembled, "You've got tremendous support here at home," by pointing out that only around 40 percent of respondents to a recent poll said they agreed with the way Bush was handling the war. Apparently these leftists, who constantly argue that they support the troops even though they don't support the war, now seem to be incapable of discerning between the two things, even though they want everyone to believe there is a clear difference.
In case these cretins didn't notice, President Bush was pointing out to the troops that there is wide support for THEM, and that is certainly true, unless of course the American left has been lying about their support for our fine fighting men and women all along. Judging from this most recent affront to common decency and fair-mindedness, which serves no purpose other than to harm the President as well as our troops in the field, one has to wonder if they have ever really backed America's fighting forces at all.
I don't know what anyone else thinks, but it is been apparent to me for a long time that, to leftists in the news media at least, our troops stationed in the Middle East amount to nothing more than political fodder to be chewed up and spat out whenever the journalistic community feels it's expedient to do so.
And still they wonder why average citizens like myself continue to hold them in contempt.
By Edward L. Daley
Owner of the Daley Times-Post
http://www.times-post.com
