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I think we can all agree that both parties regularly engage in staged media events in the hopes of making them seem spontaneous. My beef is not with them for doing this. My beef is almost always with the media and how they handle situations like this.
The media readily acknowledges that they have known all along how the Bush administration constantly micromanages all press events to prevent any impromptu moments that might catch the president off balance. Bush has been in office almost 5 years now. Why, then, is the media all of a sudden all over this story? Because the media is spineless.
The media waits until his numbers are low enough, then come out and say, "yeah, he's been doing this all along, we've just never said anything about it."
They've been willing pawns to this administration all along and were so terrified of being labelled biased or losing access that they took it up the arse whenever possible in order to get "leads" or interviews or whatever bone the white house threw at them. Instead of doing their jobs of holding our elected officials accountable for their statements and actions, they wagged their tails and and rubbed up against the legs of this administration. Now, they feel they've been cheated by having this satellite feed broadcast and at first they acted shocked - Shocked! - that such an event took place. Emboldened by Bush's slipping numbers, suddenly they find a few vertebrae and do a mediocre impression of the free press. Had the press done their jobs since day one instead of feeding at the teat of the Rove Machine, we might not be in the huge mess we now find ourselves.
I don't blame the Bush administration so much for doing what they've been doing because they've been getting away with it long enough to think they'd get away with it for the duration of their stay. I blame the media for acting like fawning fans for five years.
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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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