Mission Not Quite Accomplished
I keep thinking about that silly “Mission Accomplished” banner. Judith Bushmiller, the New York Times reporter who asked the question in last week’s press conference that led to Bush asserting that it was the sailors’ idea to fly the banner, has an interesting followup story: Two words on a banner that no author wants to claim. She paints an ever-so-slightly-clearer picture of who did what as the White House advance team and the PR officers on the Abraham Lincoln worked out the specifics of Bush’s flightsuit photo op.
I realize the story is completely trivial. But it’s like a loose tooth; I can’t stop fiddling with it.
I’m willing to accept that the idea for the banner was originally floated by someone from the ship, as a variation on the innocent practice of flying self-congratulatory banners at the end of a deployment. But for Bush to assert that it wasn’t latched onto by his visuals-obsessed image people as a symbolic backdrop that spoke of his success in winning the war in Iraq (excuse me, “successfully concluding major combat operations in the Iraq battle of the War on Terra”) is simply horseshit on the face of it.
I tried to talk ymatt into photoshopping the Reuters image from Bushmiller’s article to crop in on Bush’s head and the word “ACCOMPLISHED,” changing the word to read “ACCOMPLICE,” since I think that would be really funny. Alas, he remains unconvinced that that would be worth the effort involved. In the meantime, though, he was kind enough to create the following slightly different (and significantly easier) visual gag:
November 7th, 2003 at 12:12 pm
“I realize the story is completely trivial”
Indeed, but that fact hasn’t prevented hard-core Bush-bashers from clinging to it. Even when all the evidence indicates that the President was 100% correct about it being the Navy’s idea, one NYT reporter decides that she just _HAS_ to feed her dirt-hungry followers with more inconsequential non-information.
And, not surprisingly, her mind-numbed faithful dutifully and gleefully eat it up — even when they know there is no substance.
Very sad. But you folks are a real hoot to watch. Please keep up the great work!
November 7th, 2003 at 12:58 pm
Could there still be people too dense to understand the point here? Bush’s meticulous advance team leaves no detail to chance in their pursuit of the perfect Potemkin presidency. Even if the “Mission Accomplished” sign dropped down from the Heavens as a gift from God, the president’s staff made the decision to make it the central element of their photo op and declare to America and the world that the Iraq War was a done deal and our side won. For them to run away from the consequences of that decision, now that it has proven to be laughably inaccurate, demonstrates yet again the hollow nature of this White House.