How to get straight to the people: control the message, stage the event
By KEN HERMAN
Cox News Service
Monday, February 14, 2005
WASHINGTON — For Team Bush, the communications goal is to get around national media the GOP believes stand between the president and the people.
"We need your help to get the president's message past the liberal media filter and directly to the American people," Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said in a recent fund-raising e-mail.
From how the message is delivered, to who is in the audience to hear it, to who gets to ask questions about it, the White House goal is control. It's a critical effort for a president who must get Americans to give him a listen about proposed overhauls of basic institutions such as Social Security, health care and taxes.
The tactics include public events, sometimes called "conversations," sometimes called "forums" and sometimes called "town hall meetings" featuring Bush.
Last Thursday, Bush held a "Town Hall on Strengthening Social Security" in Raleigh, N.C., and a "Conversation on Strengthening Social Security" in Blue Bell, Penn. His barnstorming tour on the topic hits Portsmouth, N.H., on Tuesday.
Regardless of the name, such events are always the same: Bush as congenial host with hand-picked on-stage guests with stories to prove the president's point.
Careful staging of events and control of message are tactics that have been on the upswing since President Reagan made it something of an art, according to Martha Kumar, a Towson University professor who studies presidential communication.
In addition to orchestrating the on-stage portion of the events, there is evidence that the White House works to control the live audience. Presidential appearances are "ticketed events," with ticket distribution controlled by local officials and organizations.
The locals operate under marching orders from the White House "advance" staff. Earlier this month, James Burgum, an aide to North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, was one of the locals.
Inside the box of tickets and other event materials he got from the White House was a list passed down by the advance team of people it deemed could be disruptive to the event, he said.
Burgum said volunteers were told it was not a "do-not-admit list." What it was, he said, was more of please-behave list. The 42 people on the list, if they sought tickets, were to be asked not to disrupt the event.
The local newspaper, the Fargo Forum, found that the list included at least 33 people who had participated in the Fargo-Moorhead Democracy for Action Meetup Group. Democracy for Action is a progressive political group including many people who were active in Howard Dean's presidential campaign.
Among those on the Fargo list was Linda Coates, a local city commissioner who said she initially was "amused, shocked and creeped out" about it. She said those on the list probably were singled out because of "our history of outspoken opposition to many of the administration's policies."
"Last time I checked that was called democracy," she said, "you know that noble governance that our country's current leaders are so hot to spread – by force if necessary – around the world," she said.
Coates went to the Bush event and said she was welcomed by an unidentified official who apologized and blamed an "overzealous staffer" for compiling the list.
But Taylor Gross, a White House spokesman, said the list was the work of an "overzealous volunteer."
"The White House was unaware of this list and is working to ensure that this does not happen again," Gross said.
Spokesman Scott McClellan insists the White House welcomes "a wide variety of views and people at these events" but strives to prevent disruptions. Protesters, he noted, are welcome at designated areas "outside the events."
Martha Kumar, a Towson University professor who studies presidential communication, says it has become increasingly important for presidents to avoid hecklers who can hijack events.
"Particularly with cable (television), you have the opportunity to present the president speaking at some length," she said. "And you want to do it in an environment you control. You don't want the story to be the hecklers."
Burgum said the Fargo list definitely came from the White House advance staff. He found it "a little odd" and "just stupid." And, in what he called the chaos of ticket distribution, the list was ignored by volunteers.
There were similar incidents of crowd control during Bush campaign events last year. In addition to screening potential attendees to keep out protesters, people who held up anti-Bush signs at events were quickly taken away.
Burgum said the whole effort in Fargo seemed like "a silly mistake by some event-team person."
In the end, nobody was barred from the event and everyone found something to be happy about.
"Getting out of Washington is healthy, and getting out amongst the people is invigorating, and I want to thank you for coming out to say hello," Bush said by way of wrapping up.
And this post-mortem was posted on the local Democracy for America Web site:
"Due to the huge surge in new membership we've had since the list fiasco ... we will be having another meetup this month as long as enough people RSVP for it."
When Bush is not out and about pushing his message – he is one of many Americans who works at home - the prime lines of communication are McClellan's twice-a-day sessions in the White House Briefing Room.
Admission requires the approval of the White House Press Office. McClellan says it's pretty much an open-door policy. By showing affiliation with a legitimate news organization, you're pretty much in, he said.
The briefing room front row is populated by long-time institutions, including the television networks, wire services and Helen Thomas, who generally open with questions on the topic du jour.
As McClellan works his way to questions from the middle and back rows, he gets to people who work for regional and niche media outlets.
The dicey nature of who gets in was highlighted last week when a man who went by the name of Jeff Gannon and worked for a GOP-backed organization called Talon News quit under pressure about his background and affiliation.
Gannon, whose real name is Jeff Guckert, was known for asking administration-friendly questions with a twist-of-the-knife for administration foes. At Bush's Jan. 26 news conference, Gannon asked Bush a question about Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."
Gannon quit last week under pressure about his ties to the GOP and the fact that his jeffgannon.com Web site is registered to the same owner as some gay-themed sites that have since shut down. His work has also been removed from the Talon News Web site.
On his own site, Gannon posted this message: "The voice goes silent. Because of the attention being paid to me I find it is no longer possible to effectively be a reporter for Talon News. In consideration of the welfare of me and my family I have decided to return to my private life."
The fact that Gannon, who worked for a GOP-backed organization, had been allowed into White House briefings and news conferences took on additional significance in the wake of reports that the administration had paid two columnists to promote presidential initiatives. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has asked the White House for documents showing how Gannon got his White House credentials.
Lautenberg's office called it "yet another scandal involving the Bush administration's manipulation of the media."
McClellan defended the system that had allowed Gannon into the White House to join the briefing room coalition of the contentious and the cantankerous
"There are a number of people in that room that are advocates," McClellan said, declining to name names. "I don't think it's the role of the press secretary to get into the role of picking who gets press credentials."
Asked if Gannon's questions seemed unusual, McClellan said, "I get unusual questions all the time in that briefing room from a number of people."
Regardless of how unusual, McClellan almost always has a response for all questions, as he did for Gannon.
But on Feb. 1, McClellan opted to ignore a hostile question from Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Report and an occasional briefing room participant.
Mokhiber's interactions with McClellan are catalogued in something he calls "Scottie & Me," (formerly known as "Ari & I") at a Web site called CommonDreams.Org.
Here's the most recent, in which Mokhiber noted the Justice Department sided with those who support Ten Commandments displays in government buildings:
Mokhiber: "The question is, does the president believe in commandment number six, thou shalt not kill, as it applies to the U.S. invasion of Iraq?"
McClellan: "Go ahead. Next question."
It's a frustration that all administrations encounter as they try to get their message out.
"They all complain about the press, whether they are Democrats or Republicans," Kumar said. "They all think they are not getting a fair shake."
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