WP:In Ex-Aide's Testimony, A Spin Through VP's PR

[cal04]

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.

This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under the "pro" column, she wrote: "control message."

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

It is unclear whether the first week of the trial will help or hurt Libby or the administration. But the trial has already pulled back the curtain on the White House's PR techniques and confirmed some of the darkest suspicions of the reporters upon whom they are used. Relatively junior White House aides run roughshod over members of the president's Cabinet. Bush aides charged with speaking to the public and the media are kept out of the loop on some of the most important issues. And bad news is dumped before the weekend for the sole purpose of burying it.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012501951.html

[AlCzervik]

1. wow! She confirmed everything i thought about Russert and she confirmed

the friday newsdump, she validated it. That is a good read, go for printer format, makes it easier on the eyeballs.

[DURHAM D]

2. I wonder how this makes little Timmy Russert feel ? n/t

[AlCzervik]

3. ashamed hopefully but i doubt it.

[unblock]

9. what makes anyone think timmy isn't in on it?

media WHORES are whores for a reason -- they get paid for it. the more the media whores do the bushies bidding, the more the bushies appear on their shows and therefore the more valuable they become.

i'm sure timmy knows exactly what the bushies get out of it just as he knows exactly what he gets out of it.

[Blackhatjack]

4. Next Dem Guest on MTP Needs To Ask Timmy How It Feels Being Used By Cheney?

Russert has been using questions like they were written by Cheney for the last 6 years.

Nothing impartial about him.

We really could use a good impartial journalist to get to the bottom of all the scandal and corruption. Sorry Timmy, buy you do not qualify.

[bleever]

5. Russert may have the last laugh,

if anyone can laugh about this debacle.

He has stayed true to himself and his vocation, while being used cynically by the administration.

When push comes to shove, integrity matters.

Russert comes out on top in this case, at the end of the day.

Big Russ would be proud.

[bling bling]

6. Well we all already knew this. I don't even feel satisfied having it confirmed.

I didn't need it confirmed because I was that sure already.

Same thing when it's eventually revealed through somebody's testimony that the 2000 and 2004 elections results were manipulated by the Repubicans.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. It was like "finding out" that there were no WMD in Iraq.

Was there ever any doubt???

[KAZ]

8. Forever known as Little Timmeh BF

"Best Format". Get your minds out of the gutter, will ya. Or BF Russert! Sounds scholarly. I think I'll do an email to him tonight, saying "Hey BF, how's it hanging".