By Staff
Folks who complain I undermine the war effort by asking the occasional question, I'm anxious to hear how they absolve President George W. Bush of the most shameless stunt I've seen since his flight suit.
Oct. 20 the White House manufactured a live teleconference featuring 10 soldiers in Iraq. The event was apparently designed to prop up Bush's evaporating approval ratings.
If as much effort had gone into planning post-invasion peace as it did scripting this travesty, Baghdad might look very different today.
This was like his Niles High School town meeting on steroids.
Not only were the teleconference troops coached on what to say by Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Allison Barber, they were prevented from speaking freely by their commanders lurking off-camera.
So there was certainly no talk of body and vehicle armor.
They even planted a token Iraqi soldier to gush at Bush on cue, “Thank you very much for everything. I like you!”
1,992: Members of the military killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to The Associated Press.
And in lesser publicity stunts: Fifteen years after “Rocky V,” Sylvester Stallone, 59, will reprise his boxer in “Rocky Balboa,” which will begin shooting in Philadelphia and Las Vegas in 2006.
Stallone told the trade magazine Daily Variety the movie will focus on an aging, widowed Rocky.
Quips, quotes and qulunkers: “I don't even wear a swimsuit. I always wear blue jeans when I swim. My butt hasn't seen the sun in 45 years.”
While Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm visited Marcellus Oct. 19, Ed McNamara, 79, for 16 years Wayne County's executive, was telling the Detroit Free Press that while serious problems with the state economy and budget hamper her, so does her cautious nature.
McNamara thinks Granholm is “too nice” to punish the Republican-controlled Legislature when it crosses her, though he acknowledged that, despite his criticisms, Granholm's approach might help her win re-election in 2006.