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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: HPilot who wrote (707378)10/14/2005 10:59:45 AM
From: cirrus  Read Replies (1) of 769670
 
I agree that's it's necessary to have some sort of organization in an event like this - you want to explain to the soldiers what to expect and remind them not to say "um" or "ah" or use profanity or say anything that might reflect poorly on them - they're soldiers - not TV talking heads.

But the event was billed by the White House as "spontaneous". Yet the troops were told what questions the President would ask and who would answer. It would be logical to believe that only troops likely to answer "correctly" were selected by DOD to participate.

Looked a lot like a the carefully packaged "town meetings" the President held during the campaign.

From a White House Press conference:

Q Scott, why did the administration feel it was necessary to coach the soldiers that the President talked to this morning in Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry, I don't know what you're suggesting.

Q Well, they discussed the questions ahead of time. They were told exactly what the President would ask, and they were coached, in terms of who would answer what question, and how they would pass the microphone.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry, are you suggesting that what our troops were saying was not sincere, or what they said was not their own thoughts?

Q Nothing at all. I'm just asking why it was necessary to coach them.

MR. McCLELLAN: ...this is a satellite feed, as you are aware, and there are always technological challenges involved when you're talking with troops on a satellite feed like this. And I think all they were doing was talking to the troops and letting them know what to expect.

Q But we asked you specifically this morning if there would be any screening of questions or if they were being told in any way what they should say or do, and you indicated no....

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