Bush advance staff impersonated reporters

[Jon8503]

W Post 35 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said it would discipline two government employees who impersonated journalists in advance of a trip by U.S. President George W. Bush to the Gulf Coast, The Washington Post said on Saturday.

The Post quoted a Gautier, Mississippi couple whose home was wrecked by Hurricane Katrina as saying two men identified themselves as journalists during a visit to the couple's home.

Elaine Akins told the newspaper she and her husband Jerry were initially told by the two men that they were Fox News journalists, but that they later identified themselves as Secret Service agents.

Bush visited Gautier on March 8.

"They just came up and said they were with the media, and then they said they were with Fox," Akins was quoted as saying.

"They just talked to us and asked us about rebuilding our house. Then, after everything was over with, they approached us and they were laughing, and they said: 'You know, we really weren't with Fox. We're government, Secret Service men,"' she said.

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius was quoted as saying, "This incident has been brought to our attention, and this is clearly not appropriate, nor is it part of our standard operating procedures. The individuals will be verbally reprimanded."

A Secret Service spokesman told the newspaper the people involved were not Secret Service officials.

Asked to identify where they worked, White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said she would not go beyond the statement Lisaius gave to the Post.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060318/us_nm/hurricanes_bush_impersonation_dc_1;_ylt=AkrzWkKbjmMeKgEj6KzTqpwGw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--

[mitchum]

1. Can't these smarmy little bushbots now be charged with impersonating...

law enforcement officers?

[shoelace414]

2. Well one thing I know is...

CIA agents even NOC's (like formerly Ms Plame's old job) can't pretend to be reporters.

[Botany]

3. Got to keep * in his bubble

God forbid he meets real people.

Reminds me of a true story:

@ a 4th grade school the teacher was asking what their parents did for a living. When Jimmy was asked,
he said his dad danced at a strip club, had sex with the patrons for money .... (men or women),
and sold drugs too. He said his dad was a real good earner and that he was proud of him.

The teacher was horrified and cleared the classroom except for Jimmy and called in a children's
case worker and the principal and then asked Jimmy to tell the people what he had told the
class.

Jimmy broke down and sobbed .... My dad works for bush in the White House and I am so ashamed
of him I had to invent something that didn't make him sound so bad.

[babylonsister]

4. Now the wh is going to discipline them? Like they didn't tell

these employees to impersonate journalists? Bunch of lying weasels...:grr:

[BrotherBuzz]

5. Not the first time "Republican Operators" impersonated Secret Service

I understand they were never identified or disciplined. Business as usual, I guess...:shrug:


A "volunteer" police state

Why were we forced out of Bush's Social Security talk? And why won't the White House identify that fake Secret Service agent who stopped us?
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Leslie Weise

April 25, 2005  |  Just over a month has passed since two friends and I were forced out of President Bush's town hall-style "conversation" in Denver about privatizing Social Security. Despite the support we have received from elected officials in our request for answers from the White House regarding this incident, Karen Bauer, Alex Young and I still await a satisfactory explanation of why our First Amendment rights were violated.

<snip>

Some questions have been answered since that day. We now know that, despite holding valid tickets and being properly dressed, Alex, Karen and I were removed from the event because of the message on a bumper sticker on my car: "No More Blood for Oil." This detail was revealed during a telephone conversation with the Secret Service the day after the incident. A week later, in a face-to-face meeting, the Secret Service also informed us that the man who had removed us was not an agent but a "Republican staffer" on the host committee responsible for managing security. They would not disclose his identity to us, however.

What's more, we have confirmed that the president's Social Security "conversation" was not a private event but, rather, a taxpayer-funded public event open to anyone with a valid ticket. While all this information is telling, as a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen with the right to peacefully express an antiwar statement on a bumper sticker, I believe I deserve more answers. Specifically, who is this person who represented himself as a Secret Service agent empowered to use physical force? Further, who was giving instructions to him and his cohorts?

Most important to me is getting an answer as to why this happened to us. Are citizens who oppose the Iraq war less entitled than those who support it to engage in a dialogue about Social Security -- or any other issue about which Americans need to hear all sides to make informed decisions?

<more>

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/04/25/denver_incident/

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. Ok. Someone Help Me Out Here.

I am failing to see why this matters. I'm not saying it doesn't, I just don't see the relevance yet. I understand it is wrong that they impersonated but what I don't get is what in the world they got out of it. Why did they do it at all? Was it some hidden agenda? Just a joke? I read the article but just failed to see any reason why they did this at all or any reason I should be mad at (other than just the fact they did it at all). What were they trying to get out of the civilians by impersonating media (if you want to call fox that at all) or SS agents? Anything? Ok, sorry for the rambling, I just don't know if this is supposed to mean anything to me at all and if it is supposed to, why. (I want to make sure I'm made aware if there's something more important here that I'm missing.)

Thanks!

:)

[Rex]

7. SS, foxnews 'journalists'

They both defend George Bush without question, so what's the difference again?