press conference this morning
As Jeremy and I listened to Bush’s uninspired and insipid press conference on NPR this morning, I had some big thoughts. Seriously, if you didn’t hear the press conference, you should at least go skim it; it takes the cake for cliched inanity. Most notably, all signs point to that the current administration must believe we are complete fools. The kindergarten logic coming out of Bush’s mouth is so transparent, even those who support him must realize how dangerously simplistic he makes everything.
- The administration is upset that the media is only covering the “bad news” about both the U.S. economic and the Iraq situations. Bush repeatedly emphasized that the good news is not being told, and we all know his administration is in the midst of hiring PR specialists to put its spin out there. The thing is, though, Americans would be a lot more receptive to the President’s message if we actually believed that he gives a fuck about us; that he has ordinary Americans’ best interests in mind. But he doesn’t. His “spread the good news” campaign reeks of political agenda. It’s about wanting to bathe he and his cronies in the most glowing light possible so that he can win next year’s election. Bush’s agenda is entirely selfish, elitist (yes, right-wingers can be elitists!), and deceitful. This agenda is so transparent - what he is saying will not convert anyone who is suspicious of the administration; it will only reach those who already rabidly support him.
- In this morning’s press conference, Bush’s tone was so tired, so read-off-the-teleprompter, so dead. I was under the impression that the main reason for the press conference was for him have the chance to push out the “good news.” But oh boy, if he couldn’t conjure up some enthusiasm about his own agenda and its measures of progress, how is anyone else supposed to be excited?
- The President keeps reiterating that “suiciders” do what they do because they “hate freedom.” Now, we can all get how simplistic and ignorant this is. Please tell me I don’t have to explain that. Of course, that kind of rhetoric allows Bush to claim that terrorist attacks are escalating in Iraq because of the progress we’re making there - that evil people are getting freaked out by all that freedom and upping their efforts. By this logic, we could have increasing casualties over the next year in Iraq, and Bush will chalk it up to “it’s because we’re making such great progress.” Clever way to let himself off the hook, eh? Progress=more death?
- Kos draws a really good distinction between terrorists attacks and attacks of war. I swear, the word terrorist has been so abused, it’s lost meaning. We’ve come to a point where everything is deemed a terrorist attack….except our own of course. Along these lines, I highly recommend a book by Chris Hedges titled War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning: he writes of how during wartime people view their own side’s actions as righteous, heroic and legitimate, whereas the enemy’s actions are always from some horrible place. The whole “war on terrorism” stinks of this kind of limited thinking.
- A final point: As a commenter at Daily Kos wrote: “My guess would be that Iraqis desire the stability necessary to choose their own future. It seems to me the current administration wants to choose that future, while having given little thought to achieving stability.” The kind of freedom Bush speaks of is largely the kind from which his business associates can prosper. They’re thinking, let’s split that country wide-open so that we can control its government and economy. Whether we’re in there militarily or dictating their economy under globalization strategies, it doesn’t matter, it’s still the U.S. choosing for the Iraqis. Ram-ram-RAM that freedom down their throats!
Ahem. Any thoughts?
leblanc said,
October 28, 2003 @ 4:27 pm
excellent summary and good thoughts. i haven’t read or listened to the speech yet because i’m afraid to.
regarding points #1 and #3 in particular:
#1: since when do people care about good news anyway? honestly. watch even your local edition of the evening news and all that is reported are fires, deaths, attacks, injuries, robberies, political scandals, etc. when was the last time you saw your local news report “today was a beautiful sunny day, and the local church had a really good turnout at their fundraiser for the homeless in the community” or something along those lines?
it’s not just the news: television or movies or books in general - they’re all about dramatic situations where someone or something is in trouble or needs help or is dying or something. people don’t create literature and movies about happy-go-lucky situations either.
people watch the news to find out what they should be a) watching out for and b) trying to do something about. we all know that good things happen in the world. it’s not like we’re all sitting out here thinking the world is just a horrible evil place because that’s what we see on t.v.
i for one think the news is in fact not reporting even CLOSE to what the real situations are; NPR is probably as close as your going to get. to watch NBC or other news channels you would barely even know we still have troops over there or what actions our government is still taking at all. sure, the news reports every time a US soldier gets killed or caught in the crossfire, but that’s barely coverage of what’s going on.
i think you’re very right about Bush wanting to push “the good news” about the war AND the economy so that he looks better for the 2004 election. as it stands right now, he’s still blaming 9/11 for the state of the economy and the war in Iraq (even though i’m still confused about how all that is related) so that it doesn’t seem like his administration’s doing or fault. whatever.
for #3, if i hear him say one more time that ANYONE “hates freedom” i’m seriously going to scream. it’s just the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard. who could possibly believe that’s true? it relates very much to the what i posted earlier today about the misconceptions about the palestinian/israeli conflict. it’s such a first-world, culturally ignorant point of view. it’s so embarrassing to have your President say such things.
sorry for the ramble. i’ll probably cross-post some of this to my blog as well.
Jeremy O'Leary said,
October 28, 2003 @ 6:24 pm
I couldn’t really listen to Bush, it was causing my ears to start bleeding.
Pamela said,
October 29, 2003 @ 10:40 am
Yeah, I meant to listen to it as well, but knew I’d get the gyst of it from the media that I respect and I can’t listen to that man, he is the epitome of vapidity. He is so frighteningly dim-witted, unoriginal and uninspired that I’ve toyed with the idea that he’s a robot, or a Raelian clone.
What can I say that you didn’t sum up so eloquently. Yeah, all those “evildoers” that just HATE FREEDOM. He thinks we’re watching an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle! Or playing toy soldiers in our back yards. He’s so out of touch, such a self-righteous pawn. His logic: There’s the good guys and the bad guys and never the twain shall meet. Two of my dear friends are Republicans. I can’t stand it–I’m losing respect for them.
Generally idiocy unravels itself, like a sweater with a snag–eventually it’s gotta catch on something. I feel the energy of the opposition, and I’m committed to doing what I can to sustain that in my sphere of influence.
Rock on with the passion Emily!