If you were watching TV yesterday, you’d have thought George W. Bush was returning to base after vanquishing the entire Iraqi army single-handedly. The networks essentially ran hours of free campaign commercials for Bush’s re-election committee.
In case you missed, Bush announced from an aircraft carrier that the major fighting in Iraq is over, in front of a banner that read, “Mission Accomplished.” More annoying than the speech was Bush’s joyride to the ship — he took an S-3B Viking Navy jet instead of a helicopter.
For those of who are not, let’s say, great admirers of this administration, the images of Bush landing in a fighter jet on the USS Abraham Lincoln to deliver a speech reinforced our worst fears: no stunt is too low and no gimmick is too exploitative for this White House. They’re going to use the Republican National Convention to exploit 9/11? Well, yesterday was just as bad and probably worse.
This was a carefully choreographed photo-op. As the Washington Post reported today, sailors onboard the aircraft carrier were told there would be “no cheering” until Bush had been officially piped aboard the ship. A loudspeaker announcement told the crew, “At that time, you’ll be allowed to cheer as loudly as possible, and you’ll be encouraged to show your affection.”
To see America’s so-called “liberal media” eat this garbage up was nauseating.
Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News Channel, of course, and said Bush reminded him of the movie “Independence Day,” because it had “a fighter pilot who becomes president of the United States.” He added that “the sailors and the Marines who were there tonight…really recognize [Bush] as a true commander-in-chief, somebody they can respect, somebody who cares for them, somebody who stands up for them.” It’s a good thing I keep bottles of Maalox and Pepto around the house.
Chris Matthews was on MSNBC saying, “I think what you saw there was a president who probably has the closest identification I’ve seen since JFK of a commander-in-chief with the troops. I mean, he is one of them.”
This may be an inconvenient time for me to bring this up, but he is most certainly not one of them. JFK was a war hero. Kennedy volunteered to serve in WWII and put his life on the line in combat situations. So, for that matter, did John Kerry, Max Cleland, Bob Dole, John McCain, the first President Bush, and every single one of the men and women George W. was speaking to on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
This President Bush chose a different path. He chose the National Guard in 1968 after a politically-connected friend of his family helped him jump over the existing waiting list. A few years later, after repeatedly going on inactive duty to work on political campaigns, Bush transferred to an Alabama Guard unit. After missing a mandatory physical exam, Bush never actually reported for duty and no one anywhere can verify that he ever served another day in the National Guard.
Almost 20 years later, reflecting on his “military experience,” Bush told the Houston Chronicle that the National Guard accepted his application because “they could sense I would be one of the great pilots of all time.”
Oddly enough, there was a war going on at the time. I wonder if some of the troops dying in Vietnam could have used one the great pilots “of all time.”
Karl Rove and the White House can choreograph staged infomercials every day from now until Bush’s last day in office, but that won’t change the fact that he is not now and has never been one of the troops willing to sacrifice everything for their country.