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Tuesday, September 28
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member, Part 4
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 28 Sep 2004 05:01 AM CDT
 Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member, Part 4
Connie Wilson dissects Bush's Colorado campaign speech and really let's him have it!
Now comes the onslaught: A sampling of some truly outrageous tactics and statements. First, this one:
1) “The American President must be clear in his thinking and must be clear in his speaking in order to effectively lead.” (hahahahahahaha) Right after this, I believe he mispronounced both the word “bio-deisel” and the name of the Japanese Prime Minister.
2) “I will never turn over America’s national security decisions to other countries.” Trust me. No other countries want anything to do with us any more, and most certainly they don’t want to be fighting our unnecessary wars. They have problems of their own, and the cost of ours has shown them that this is NOT the way.
3) “Liberty can transform an enemy into an ally.” This is a Harry Truman quote. Some nerve. There is no real proof that liberty, alone, has made any country I am aware of our “ally.” France has liberty. They used to be our ally. I think the past tense is perhaps the important thing here. Insert your own support for this quote…if you can.
4) “I want a chance for our children and grandchildren to grow up in a more peaceful world.” (Certainly why he bombed Iraq back to the Stone Age and is purportedly amassing troops now to move on Iran.) George W. Bush is many things. A pResident on the side of peace he is not. I just want a chance for my 17-year-old to grow up AT ALL, since we may have to re-institute the draft once “W” really gets rolling on his “Save the World Crusade.”
5) “Freedom is powerful.” So is money. So is oil. So is the stench of bull---t.
6) “I want to spread freedom to the world, not because it is America’s gift to the world, but because freedom is the Almighty God’s gift to the world.” Careful, George. Some people call him Allah. Some people don’t call him at all. Some people would like you to just NOT spread anything you touch in their direction, at this point, because it is all turning to (rhymes with twit).
7) “We will continue to lead the world to make it free and more peaceful.” OK. I can’t help myself. One more “R-iiiiiiiight!”
more »
Tuesday, September 21
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member, Part 3
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 21 Sep 2004 08:39 AM CDT
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member, Part 3
When last we left Connie, the puppet of the junta-select was just about to ascend the podium. I suppose it will come as no surprise that certain Bush mis-statements cannot stand up to the scrutiny of Connie Wilson, Intrepid Reporter!
Bush begins: “Thanks for comin’. I’m proud to be back. It’s nice to be out west where the cowboy hats outnumber the ties. And it’s nice that the man who led the drive is now out here leading my drive.” I assume this is a reference to the almost-inarticulate Elway of the Denver Broncos. It’s the “Man of the People” thing, despite the fact that the speaker is anything BUT a “man of the people.” Ah, yes, the Good Old Boy network is alive and well.
Bill Owens, the Governor of Colorado, says that we are “safer, stronger and life is better for all Americans,” and gets in a plug for Zell Miller, that wacky Democrat. What planet is this man living on?
Connie's Press Pass
“W” gets to the real core of his message as to why he should be re-selected, and here it is: “It is most important of all that I be re-elected (sic) so that Laura will continue to be the First Lady.” It’s a variation on the song theme, “Tell Laura I Love Her.” To quote the October, 2004, issue of “Mother Jones” magazine (p. 30), “Laura Bush was most famously used to put a friendly face on issues. In April 2001, Laura, the librarian, kicked off the Campaign for America’s Libraries. A week later, her husband cut funding for the Library Service and Technology Act, the Reading is Fundamental program, and the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Oops.”
Bush continues: (he has been thanking everyone in Colorado, individually and personally, for at least 20 minutes, without any substantive policy statements), “I’m a little mad at Ben Nighthorse Campbell (an American Indian senator) for retiring, but I feel a lot better knowing that Pete Coors is gonna be in the U.S. Senate.” Well. That makes one of us. Pete Coors is running ads all over Colorado television making fun of IOWA. Pete Coors, talking about frivolous governmental spending, says, “They allocated (fill in your own figure here) for a rainforest in Iowa. IN IOWA!” He says this last part very sneeringly, as though Iowa is a synonym for excrement. I have a lot of classmates and close friends who left Iowa to teach in Colorado; not a one of them was amused by this demeaning ad, viewing it as a colossal put-down of our state, (which it is and was.) Keep that in mind if you are a transplanted Colorado resident, out of Iowa.
I might add, if Coors is so upset over waste in governmental spending, maybe he should read the article “Waste Not, Profit Not” (“Mother Jones”, page 23), in which colossal waste is reported by those actually IN Iraq, caused by the sweetheart Halliburton deal. James Warren, a former KBR Convoy Truck Driver says, “The theft was rampant. Most of the stealing was done between 9 p.m. and midnight, when the trucks were at Camp Anaconda. I reported this to my convoy commander, Don Martin, who told me, “Don’t worry about it. It’s the Army stealing from the Army.” (See Joaquin Phoenix 2003 movie “Buffalo Soldiers” for more on this topic, in general).
Warren went on to say, “In March, I called KBR President Randy Harl personally and told him about the theft going on at night at Camp Anaconda. He promised he would get to the bottom of it, and thanked me. I never saw any evidence that KBR tried to stop the theft after my call to Mr. Harl.” Or we might quote Michael West, former labor foreman for Camp Anaconda who said, “Of the 35 or so Halliburton employees at Camp Anaconda, only a handful had anything to do….The human resources supervisor said, ‘Don’t worry. Just write down 12 hours. Walk around, look around, look busy.” Henry S. Bunting, former Procurement Officer, reports that he was requested to break purchase orders down under $2,500 in value, so that “we wouldn’t be required to solicit more than one quote. Large requisitions were split into smaller requisitions below the $2,500 level. I questioned this practice early on, but was told by my supervisor to get back to my purchase orders.”
So, if Pete Coors wants to worry about “waste,” a rain forest in Iowa sounds like a pretty good idea right about now, compared to continuing to support this misguided war. But I digress.
more »
Monday, September 20
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member, Part 2
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 20 Sep 2004 09:19 AM CDT
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member, Part 2
When last we left Connie, she and her Republican ordained deacon/photographer friend, Sue Ann, had finally ensconsed themselves in the Press Box at a Bush rally somewhere in Colorado....
There was little happening at first. In fact, the man who came out and slapped the Presidential seal on the podium got a HUGE round of applause, for, basically, nothing. There was a group playing…a local group.
“Do you know any of those people up there?” I asked, repeatedly. And, repeatedly, the answer was, “No.” Even I recognized Karl Rove and Karen Hughes when they appeared on a balcony, stage right, but none of the Media seemed to notice. The “staffers” said things in response to my attempts to clarify our entertainment source like, “I don’t listen to country music.” This from the black-clad Jennifer. For a group that “doesn’t listen to country music,” the Republicans are sure counting on their votes. I think you C&W people are being “played.” Smarten up!
Sue Ann and I, both middle-aged and clad in sensible shoes, had warned Jennifer that she would cripple herself before she was thirty if she continued to wear these really high shoes, but she responded, “My grandmother said that, if you want to be beautiful, you have to suffer.” (She said this just before falling down about four steps). Jennifer has a lot of suffering to go through, from all indications. Just being at this rally might qualify.
The types in charge claimed that there were 15,000 present at the rally in the huge arena, which had actual seating. I had brought a blanket to sit on and was using it to conceal a sign (for later) that said, “Bush/Cheney: Farm and Ranch Team.” To me, it was a funny slogan, coming, as it does, from the scion of an East coast family with ties to Yale and Saudi Arabian oil. One of the Republicans present, when I wasn’t looking, removed the sign from inside my blanket that I was going to take home for my Republican husband and family. Essentially, he stole it from me. Why does this not surprise me?
This photo of the frail but courageous protestor, with Connie's
friend Sue Ann in the center foreground, is from the Denver Post.
The elderly man shouted,"You lied, Mr. pResident, you lied!"
before he was escorted out by an eight-member security team.
The man from KCNC-TV leaned down, at one point, when I sought a seat on the bottom of the camera risers next to the Channel 4 Anchorman and said, “You can’t bump those tripods.” Well, no, I suppose not. Everybody was guarding their space very territorially. Sue Ann’s picture of the sole elderly gentleman protesting was a shot that could have been sold for actual cash. Good-hearted soul that she is, she generously agreed to send it to the professional photographer next to her, who missed the entire fracas, as I almost did, since I was several feet below the riser area. I have a picture of eight men jumping on the geriatric protestor, but it looks like some kind of worshipping of the Sun God, as I was shooting in to the sun and got only their backs. They must have felt very brave, subduing a man who looked like he needed a wheelchair.
more »
Sunday, September 19
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 19 Sep 2004 10:11 AM CDT
Connie Wilson: White House Press Corps Member
Blog for Iowa's intrepid reporter hides her true Deaniac colors and goes au Republican
White House Press Corps Member: September 14th, Denver, Colorado….
AND YOU WERE THERE!
By Connie Wilson
Whatever made me think that I could masquerade as a good Republican and get a White House Press Pass for the Bush Rally at Coors Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday, September 14th? I do own a “good Republican cloth coat,” but it was much too warm for wearing that. So I put on my best Omega gold jewelry and my caramel-colored Jones of New York three-piece suit with matching heels to pick up my tickets. The woman making us sign our names, addresses and serial numbers complimented me on my outfit. I was, as they say, “In like Flynn.” (Or was it Flint?) I brazenly asked her, “How do I go about getting a Press Pass for the event?” Here comes, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”
As it turned out, it was no easy matter getting this official White House Press Pass. You had to fax a request, on letterhead, complete with your name, date of birth, social security number, organization for which you wrote, your affiliation with this organization, your blood type and your approximate net worth. I’m just kidding about the last two, but I’m not kidding about the others. [And me without a letterhead! Or enough of a net worth!]
Sue Ann in the Press Box
My trusty Republican friend, Sue Ann, and I had just returned from my book signing, in the scenic prison town of Canon City (7 miles from the Royal Gorge). It was midnight. We had to gerry rig a “letterhead” from the blog picture, provide the information requested, and fax it. We also had phone numbers to call, which I did at 6 a.m. the day of the event (no answers). It was midnight, the night before the event.
“But they won’t get this until the day of the event,” said Sue Ann.
I fixed her with a steely gaze. “That’s the beauty part, Sue Ann. It’s genius!
I’m counting on it, in fact…That, plus your vast array of camera equipment. Hang everything you own around your neck! We’ll either look very official or we’ll look like lost Japanese tourists.”
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