Guardian: Stuffed By a Plastic Turkey (sneeringly delightful)

[kskiska]

Bush's gesture politics suggest a man seriously worried about his career

(snip)

If anyone makes a similar film about the attack on Iraq, the title would now have to be The Plastic Turkey. In a revelation certain to be taught at schools of democracy and journalism for years to come, it has been revealed that the apparently appetising turkey that President Bush carried towards beaming troops last week in Baghdad had been genetically modified to a degree that would lead even the most profit-hungry farmers to protest. The bird was the kind of model used by butchers and Hollywood set-dressers.

(snip)

The fakery went further. The hoax roast in the president's hands cannot even be claimed as a symbolic stand-in for the steaming birds that were actually served. Reports say that the US troops were given airline-style meals of pre-packaged meat. And the pretend chef had flown to Baghdad in an Air Force One that filed a fake flight-plan, pretending to be a small corporate jet.

The latter act - though embarrassing for a politician who promised to end the easy lying of the Clinton years - can probably just about be excused as security. But the affair of the plastic turkey can only be attributed to insecurity.

(snip)

Although the image of George Bush, until recently, was of a man who could do whatever he wanted in both America and the world, recent events have suggested a man seriously worried about both his image and his career. The president seems to have entered a phase of gesture politics, and the gestures are those of a man who, while still swimming vigorously, has suddenly come to accept the possibility of drowning.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1101131,00.html

[hedda_foil]

1. Deeeelish!

If the president were to use the plastic turkey of Baghdad in commercials now, his opponents would make a real meal of it, so Bush 2004 needs some other photo-ops. Perhaps the new Nasa plans indicate that he intends to disguise Air Force One as a rocket and stage a photo-shoot on the moon.

Whatever the details, the message is clear. Though he still lacks anything as pesky as a plausible Democrat opponent, Dubya is starting to fear that his administration may become the second one-term turkey served up by the Bush dynasty.


(Though of course I think he's got a hell of a plausible Democratic opponent!)

[billbuckhead]

2. From "Mission Accomplished" to "Mission Impossible"

That's the Bush misadministration.