US News Lets Dan Bartlett Spin "Mission Accomplished" as Demo Fib

[BurtWorm]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/030929/whispers/29whisplead.htm

Washington Whispers 09/29/03
By Paul Bedard
`Mission accomplished': Bush brag or Demo fib?

After weeks of Democratic assaults that President Bush was a nitwit for declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq during his May 1 landing and victory speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the White House is bidding to set the story straight. The issue should be a simple one: Bush never uttered those words. "The president," argues communications boss Dan Bartlett, "said exactly the opposite: The mission continues." But Bush stood under a banner declaring "mission accomplished." Why? Bartlett says that the Lincoln's captain had the banner made up to thank his crew for the longest-ever carrier tour, not to declare the war over. "It is something the troops are really proud of," says Bartlett. "Of course they can hang the banner." But the picture was all the Demos needed. "On TV," he says, "they never play the bite of the president, they just show the image with the banner." Democratic polls show that the public buys their spin, which doesn't really surprise Bartlett. "Look, perception becomes reality," he says. "But the facts don't back it up."

[Beetwasher]

1. Let them keep doing shit like this.

These idiotic denials make them less and less credible with most people. No SH 9/11 link. Only 16 words. etc. Keep it coming dumbassess...

[VolcanoJen]

2. Exactly. Can't wait until they make those claims...

... that Bush "never uttered" the words "Mission Accomplished," while in a Dem Nominee campaign ad, we show Chimpy McFlightSuit standing in front of the "Mission Accomplished" banner.

Nice try at spinnage, Repubbies, but this dog won't hunt.

[rocktivity]

40. This is BEYOND idiotic

Bush never uttered ("Mission accomplished" while on the USS Lincoln)..."The president," argues communications boss Dan Bartlett, "said exactly the opposite: 'The mission continues.'"
Well, who's said that he did use those words while on the Lincoln? Why wasn't Bartlett more specific? I haven't seen a single instance of it. But then again, why would he have said it on the Lincoln when it was written across a gigantic freaking banner right above him? And I'll just bet that Rove and the Secret Service would have told the ship's captain, "No, you can't hang the banner behind the president because people might get confused!" Dispicable--they're denying something that never even happened.


rocknation

[Cha]

3. Hey smucker! Whadda think when the shoe is on the other

foot? Ya big clodhopper. they were the ones who set up the photo op! ya dumb dodos. And they wouldn't know "facts" if they bit them in their bums.

[nannygoat]

4. This sounds just like the incident at that factory in Missouri

where the boxes that were used as a backdrop for * had "Made in the USA" stamped over "Made in China". What is with these people? They never take responsibility for anything--it's always someone else's fault. Oh, when will the grownups be back in charge again?

[fishnfla]

5. What a fucking photo-op of a joke

The whole thing was staged and now they are trying to rewrite the script! HAHAHAHAHAHA

[LynneSin]

6. This is from Whitehouse.gov

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/iraq/20030501-15.html

President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended
Remarks by the President from the USS Abraham Lincoln
At Sea Off the Coast of San Diego, California

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. (Applause.) And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country

<more>

---

I dare anyone to claim this was a democratic fib

[wryter2000]

8. Not only that

Someone here found an old picture on the White House website declaring "Combat Operations Over." It now says "Major," which is what he said, but someone didn't clue in the WH webmaster until many months later.

[VolcanoJen]

17. Might wanna do a screen capture on that, LynneSin...

... it didn't take WhiteHouse.gov long to remove the photos of Chimpy "penning" the State of the Union, 16 words and all.

[ParanoidPat]

39. Everyone talks about the 16 words.....

.....but few seem to remember the Bush* 2002 Global Address! :evilgrin:
Read my sig! :)

[ameriphile]

7. And did you know that we were never at war with Iraq?

Dubya never actually declared war on Iraq. This whole "Iraq war" thing is Democratic spin.

Damn liberal media.

[QC]

9. We are at war with Oceania. We have always been at war with Oceania.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

14. War is Peace.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. Does anyone have a link to the pic with the banner in it? Edit: found

Yeah, just try to convince us that wasn't framed that way by the WH. OK... ignorance is strength, yada yada yada

[LizW]

11. I had a psychotic boyfriend once

who enjoyed lying. He would set up situations where he would be caught in a lie to see if he could push the envelope and get himself out of the lie. He actually enjoyed this, for some perverse reason.

I didn't stick around to figure out the reason for his psychosis, but I recognize it in some Republicans. They enjoy lying. The more outrageous the lie, the better. When caught, they just add on more lies, all the time pretending they believe themselves.

Most telling is that they lie when there is no reason to. That's how you know they love doing it. When the truth would serve them better, they still lie.

[Cha]

18. Go liars go...they will come home to roost!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. Sometimes the way they grin when they're doing it...

really gives me the creeps

[Andy_Stephenson]

12. After reviewing the video of the event...

I can say without a doubt he said "Mission Accomplished"

[Cha]

15. Hey! Good for you. Taping that sucker! That must have

been fun ..reviewing it?

[Melinda]

19. According to the CNN transcript, Bush* did NOT utter that phrase:

Bush Speech on USS Lincoln

[BurtWorm]

27. Bush uttered the phrase

in Qatar, after it was emblazoned across the photo op yards off the coast of San Diego. He said it.

[shrdlu]

13. You can bet that Karl Rove and his minions

examine every shadow and smudge that will appear in Whistle-Ass's photo ops. Think they missed a big honking banner or that they misinterpreted its meaning?

[Cha]

16. Yeah! That have too much bad history with photo ops

to get away with that!}(

[trumad]

20. From CNN

Bush to troops in Qatar: 'Mission accomplished'
"Our actions sent along a clear message that our nation is strong and our nation is compassionate," Bush told the troops at the rally. "America sent you on a mission and that mission has been accomplished."

http://www2.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/06/05/qatar.bush/

[Qutzupalotl]

22. Oops!

That's just the opposite of what Dan Bartlett said in the original post. Whopper of the Week, anyone?

[Melinda]

23. No, no, no. Please read carefully: trumad links to * in QATAR -

and not the USS Lincoln event/speech. Look at the original post again and you'll see it specifically addresses the landing on the aircraft carrier and subsequent speech of May 1st, not the idiots appearance and speech in Qatar on June 5th.

[BurtWorm]

26. The point is that Bush used the phrase "Our mission is accomplished"

which Bartlett desperately tried to deny.

[trumad]

30. I tought about that Melinda

but I get the impression that they're trying to say he never said it... The point is he did say it and the er..Misson isn't accomplished...

[Melinda]

31. The repukes mix apples and oranges, trumad - they disassemble

information and spin till its factual in the eyes of their believers, despite what they claim. Let's examine the original post and dissect the "truth":

>After weeks of Democratic assaults that President Bush was a nitwit for declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq during his May 1 landing and victory speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the White House is bidding to set the story straight. The issue should be a simple one: Bush never uttered those words. "The president," argues communications boss Dan Bartlett, "said exactly the opposite: The mission continues."<

This is factually true. Bush* never said those words on the USS Lincoln during his 5/1/03 landing; he said them while in Qatar some 4 days later - 5/5/03. While giving his speech onboard the USS Lincoln Bush* "said exactly the opposite: The mission continues." In every respect, Bartlett is factually correct.


Democrats need to get this correct. There is absolutely no reason they can't run an ad showing the banner "mission accomplished" juxtaposed with Bush's utterance "mission accomplished"... both events happened within days of one another and both were absolutely implicit in their meanings. If however, if we continue to claim as truth that Bush uttered those words on May 1st when we now know better, then we are duplicitous and playing fast with the rules which the Rove machine uses in turn (as in the linked US News "Washington Whisper" tidbit) to their advantage.

And that makes me feel all creepy.

[BurtWorm]

32. Bartlett is factually wrong about one key issue. Dems didn't say Bush said

"Mission accomplished." Dems have been saying that that's what the whole scene was saying. The propaganda point of Bush's military photo-op was what that sign communicated loud and clear. If the Bushists did not want to convey that message, they should have had the smarts to have the sign removed. But they didn't have the sign removed. (As if they didn't put the fucking thing up in the first place! That's something that ought to be verified before being taken at face value.) Therefore, if people got the impression the Bushists were boasting--but who would be so cynical as to think a "presidential" tailhook landing on a plane 100 yards out from San Diego was anything as gross as a boast?--then it was the fault of the image they projected, not of the Democrats.

[Melinda]

33. At least one Dem - John Kerry - said exactly that:

“Being flown to an aircraft carrier and pronouncing the words ‘mission accomplished’ does not end a war" John Kerry, 9/5/03

[Dr Fate]

34. GOOD. Bush/media made sure the banner was on camera...

...and that was basically just like saying it. If they did not want to give Americans a false impression, then they should have not have shown the propaganda- but they DID show it- and now that it is not serving it's purpose, they want to have it both ways.

I'm glad Kerry is bringing up this farce!!

[BurtWorm]

36. Bush was flown to an aircraft carrier. Bush did pronounce the words

"Mission accompished." How was what Kerry said a fib?

[Dr Fate]

37. Kerry is certainly not the one misrepresenting this...

that banner was shown all over TV for a REASON- Rove LOVED it- they knew exactly what they were doing and Kerry is right to bring this up...

[rocktivity]

41. Well, since they enjoy playing semantic word games...

It turns out that John Kerry said, "Being flown to an aircraft carrier and pronouncing the words ‘mission accomplished’ does not end a war." Well, maybe Bartlett is interpreting Kerry's "and" inncorrectly. Maybe Kerry meant to suggest that Bush said "mission accomplished" after landing on the aircraft carrier. But on the other hand, maybe Kerry was simply giving two DIFFERENT examples of how not to end a war!


rocknation

[Dr Fate]

35. "saying it" is not the issue- he more than implied it...

Bush/media thought it would be a great photo-op- now that it's biting them on the ass-

are they trying to say they never wanted it shown??? If Bush/media was so concerned about giving a false impression, then they should have never shown it.

[BurtWorm]

25. Nice work, Trumad!!!

:kick:

[Cha]

28. THanks for that, Trumad!

[FredScuttle]

24. Reminds me of the Richard Pryor joke

"Who you gonna believe.....me or your lyin' eyes?"

[Dr Fate]

29. Live by propaganda, die by propaganda...

Sorry Bush/media- we realize you hoped the "Mission Accomplished" banner would be seen as "good"- it backfired. So sorry.

[Octafish]

38. Proof Positive: The BFEE Lives

These turds control what the media print and show. No lie is too big, no lie too small. It's been that way since November 22, 1963.

EDIT: Media are. Shits, too.