GOP propaganda machine spinning news in Iraq.

[SuperTool]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=4&u=/ap/20040404/ap_on_go_pr_wh/running_on_iraq

 

[Ldir]

One of the main goals of the Office of Strategic Communications ? known as stratcom ? is to ensure Americans see the positive side of the Bush administration's invasion, occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, where 600 U.S. soldiers have died and a deadly insurgency thrives.

"Beautification Plan for Baghdad Ready to Begin," one press release in late March said in its headline. Another statement last month cautioned, "The Reality is Nothing Like What You See on Television."

Senor, spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, said his office is guided by ethical "red lines" that prevent it from crossing into the Bush campaign.

Earlier in his career, after Hebrew University and Harvard Business School, Senor was with the Carlyle Group, an investment firm with Bush family ties and big defense industry holdings. Senor jogged in a Thanksgiving Day race here wearing a "Bush-Cheney 2004" T-shirt.

More than half a dozen CPA officials in the press office worked on Bush's 2000 presidential campaign or are related to Bush campaign workers, according to payroll records filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

Republican figures also permeate the wider CPA staff, including top advisers to U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer and the Iraqi ministries.

The U.S. team stands in deep contrast to the British team that works alongside it, almost all of whom are civil or foreign service employees, not political appointees. Many of the British in Iraq display regional knowledge or language skills that most of the Americans lack.

The drive to re-elect Bush is a sensitive topic. Several coalition officials angered by what they see as CPA politicking ? with U.S. accomplishments in Iraq being trumpeted to help Bush ? grumbled privately, but would not go on record with complaints.

Rich Galen, 57, a well-known Republican strategist, oversees the daily news releases sent directly to media outlets in the United States. Before joining the CPA press operation late last year, Galen wrote a GOP insider column and appeared on Fox News to harpoon liberal critics of Bush.

Galen has been press secretary for both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Vice President Dan Quayle during their careers. Galen's 27-year-old son, Reed, is involved in the Bush re-election effort.

Were he to get directly involved in the Bush campaign, Galen said he'd be far more effective working at an office in Virginia outside of Washington D.C. than from the Iraqi capital. "It's as inefficient a way to run a campaign as I can imagine," he said of being in Baghdad.

Outside political analysts, however, said Galen's vast expertise lies in political campaigning, not shipping radio and TV spots to local audiences. Putting a sharp strategist like him in the press room is a campaign masterstroke, said Bob Boorstin of the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan political think-tank in Washington.

"You know they're in trouble if they shipped Rich Galen over there," said Boorstin, who worked on four presidential campaigns, all Democratic.

"They're desperate to control the story over there. It's a very smart thing on their part. He knows what he's doing."

"Beautification Plan for Baghdad Ready to Begin" So much for good news stories from Iraq. They come from Cheney-Bush 2004. This administration has no integrity. Compare them to the British. The British send nonpartisan experts. We send political hacks.

:disgust:

 

[burnedout]

Bush Loyalists Pack Iraq Press Office

Er, except that "pack" turns out to mean that 36% (21/58) of those there have some sort of (undefined) GOP tie. But, to a press accustomed to newsrooms that are upwards of 95% Democratic, we might suppose an operation that's one-third Republican must seem inconceivably rightward-tilting!

1. The AP story doesn't assert that any stories being "pushed" are false. If they're merely counterbalancing CNN, Reuters, and the AP that's probably only fair. There's surely a difference between bucking the dominant press culture and living in panglossian la-la-land, and there's nothing in the AP story to indicate these guys have crossed the line.

2. The AP writer's commentary source is some guy at the Center for American Progress, which he credulously (or mendaciously) describes as "non-partisan." OK. By that standard, the Heritage Foundation is non-partisan, too.

Meanwhile, back on the farm. . . .

 

[sMiLeYz]

It's just funny it hilarious that instead of sending Iraq some real help, they rather send some GOP propaganda news spinsters to help Iraq look good for Bush.

I mean for godsakes US soldiers are dying there left and right, we're dumping billions into fixing the architecture we bombed, and the Iraqi's want us out. All they want to do is "counter-balance" the all the bad news with some made up good news?

The nerve of these criminals. :|

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: burnedout

Bush Loyalists Pack Iraq Press Office

Er, except that "pack" turns out to mean that 36% (21/58) of those there have some sort of (undefined) GOP tie. But, to a press accustomed to newsrooms that are upwards of 95% Democratic, we might suppose an operation that's one-third Republican must seem inconceivably rightward-tilting!

Actually, it is defined: "former Bush campaign workers, political appointees and ex-Capitol Hill staffers". In other words, it's not that 36% are registered Republicans. It's that 36% have ties to the Republican party organization.


On a somewhat unrelated note, does anyone else see the irony in, "the press office is inside coalition headquarters in the Republican Palace that used to belong to Saddam Hussein"? (The ironic part is Republican Palace, not the bit about Hussein.) I don't mean this as a dig at all. I just found it humorous.

 

[SuperTool]

I think they went a bit over the top on This one.
But you be the judge

 

[Shad0hawK]

LOL you guys are desparate!

 

[Bowfinger]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
I think they went a bit over the top on This one.
But you be the judge

Looks about right. It's the new cammo scheme to conceal tanks in the throngs of Iraqi well-wishers holding flowers and Bush campaign signs.

 

[Tripleshot]

Originally posted by: Shad0hawK
LOL you guys are desparate!

How so? If you can refute the premise of this news story, then be my guest. Its not desperation reporting the facts. Its desperartion hiding from them or spinning around them.

You see this is funny? I don't find 610 dead American soldiers funny at all. I don't see tainted images of a rosy Iraq as a funny matter at all.
This is a serious matter. You sit at home in your compfy chair and find this stuff amusing? You are pathetic. If you can't respond with anything more salient than "you guys are desperate" maybe you should find another forum to chat in. Better yet, sell your computer and go back to playing with your dolls.

 

[etech]

Originally posted by: Shad0hawK
LOL you guys are desparate!

I don't know if they are desperate. They are making jokes about the situation and posting their funny made up pictures. Seems to me they aren't taking it very seriously.

I would ask them one question. Is all of the news from Iraq bad or is there also good news. Could people with an agenda emphasize only the bad news as a political ploy just as your and this writer accuse the Pres. Bush administration.

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: etech

Originally posted by: Shad0hawK
LOL you guys are desparate!

I don't know if they are desperate. They are making jokes about the situation and posting their funny made up pictures. Seems to me they aren't taking it very seriously.

I would ask them one question. Is all of the news from Iraq bad or is there also good news. Could people with an agenda emphasize only the bad news as a political ploy just as your and this writer accuse the Pres. Bush administration.

It's great the Iraq Beautification Project is starting, however in Iraq at this time, I think the bad news outweighs the good news, therefore it's getting more emphasis. Too bad it isn't the other way around.

 

[sandorski]

I get this feeling that Bush was in awe of the Iraq Foreign Ministers leet skills.