BAGnewsNotes

Laura Bush Makes History

Of course, you heard Laura Bush "made history" this week, right?  Yes, fast on the heels of Dubya's cameo on a game show, she became the first First Lady to host the TODAY show.

With the country sliding by virtually every measure, the Bush's are now resorting to the most cynical and patronizing misdirection play at their disposal, which is to throw every bit of emphasis they can into their celebrity status.

Really though, what this screen shot documents is the logical outcome of an incest that's been going on between the Bush's and the media for years.  Whereas up to now, the White House has been overly-dependent on media actors to deliver their talking points (while ensuring the masses remain otherwise anesthetized), the process has finally come full circle.

Of course, Karl's at Newsweek now, Kristol's at The Times, and Snow is embedding at CNN.  But in making an audience out of Ann and Matt, host and infotainment personality Laura Bush actually demonstrates how the White House can cut out the middle man.

First lady Laura Bush makes television history  (Lotta video here if you can stand it - TODAY/MSNBC)
The Self-Loathing Liberal Media (Arianna Huffington)

(screen shot: TODAY. April. 22, 2008. msnbc.msn.com)

Caked With Compassion

Co-opting a tone and itinerary more typical of the Edwards campaign, John McCain's 'It's Time for Action' tour generated these images Tuesday from a factory in Youngstown.  It's always fascinating how a candidate, simply through juxtaposition with physical decrepitude, can expect to pile up empathy credits -- no matter how suspect their social proposals and record.

Expressing all the compassion in the world -- in direct contradiction to his less than commensurate legislative response --  McBenevolent also paid a visit to New Orleans yesterday.

Your Turn: TIME Mixing It Up

Wish fulfillment?
Dems can never come together?
Giving Hillary statistical boost (up to 50-50)?
Party can't make the jump over gender/racial divide?
Making a monster?
Center line turns the Obama "O" into "nothing" symbol?

(But irony of ironies: outline of faces do almost form a heart, no?)

The Incredibly Shrinking Democrats (TIME Cover Story)
Tell Me How This Ends? (TIME - Tumulty)
inspired by NBA "There Can Only Be One" playoff campaign (Sports.Yahoo.com)

(photo credits: left: Callie Shell/Aurora.  Right: Damon Winter for The New York Times/Redux. May 5, 2008. time.com)

Out Of Touch?

In the day-after-Pennsylvania coverage, does the visual comparison between HRC and BHO leave Obama looking, well, tainted?

These shots, in this order, opened the Chicago Trib on-line Election '08 photo gallery.  (For  comparison, check out the Clinton versus Obama juxtaposition the NYT offered in back-to-back articles in its on-line Politics section.)

Of course, it's possible Obama was largely keeping to his lonesome yesterday (although it's hard to extrapolate from two pics taken so close together).  Either way, however, what comes through is a solitary, isolated and disaffected Obama.  (As in, "leave me alone to eat my waffle.")

Conversely, of course, the Hillary here (and in the NYT link) is extraordinarily unguarded, inviting, personal, engaging and upbeat.  Part of the very real concern over "the kitchen sink" has to do with the depth, degree and, particularly, the durability of particular forms of characterization.  In this case, the image of Obama maps only too well with accusations of disconnection, ineffability and elitism (especially in the NYT photo linked above, of Obama reading the NYT).

Election 2008 photo gallery (chicagotribune.com)

(image 1: Jae C. Hong / AP.  April 23, 2008. En route to Louisville, Ky. image 2: Elise Amendola / AP. April 23, 2008.  En route to Indianapolis. chicagotribune.com)

Please, Let's Not Sleep

Well, I lost.

I had a bet with myself, dating back over a year now, that I wouldn't come across a scrap of visual evidence of American bombing in Iraq.  On a roll, I was doubly-convinced about this since the Falloujah-inspired military recently trained its cross-hairs on Sadr City. (By the way, credit to the kid for protecting himself from having his head cut off by either our folks, or the Maliki brigades.)

And while I'm on the subject (vent alert), I should add that I'm disappointed with myself for having paid such short shrift to Iraq over the past couple weeks.  Even though The BAG has maintained a consistent eye on the war for at least the past four years, I have to confess that Iraq fatigue -- having, yes, permeated down to the netroots -- has lately sapped my motivation for tracking this blasphemy.  The omission is more noteworthy given the way the war has devolved, over this past month, into a desperately ugly post-surge phase, with the U.S. military fully engaged in a Shiite civil war, while laying siege to a large swath of poverty-stricken, civilian Baghdad under a steady stream of increasingly flimsy rationalizations and propaganda.

For all that, I recommend the Digby Post (Bring It On II) from yesterday noting how the thoroughly inept Condi Rice showed up in Baghdad with the remarkable capacity to make a bad situation that much worse.  I also direct you to Bob Hariman's piece, or, more accurately, an Iraqi citizen's appeal ("Have You No Sense of Decency?"), yesterday at No Caption Needed.  And, as a way to back-fill a little bit, I also refer you two revealing images over the past few weeks.  The first -- showing Maliki as the two-bit puppet dictator he's turned out to be -- is paired with an article ("Secret Iraqi Deal Shows Problems in Arms Orders") detailing how the Iraq government threw away billions on a secret, no-bid arms deal with Bosnia.  And, following that, take a look at the photo-documentation of Iraqi military ("Desertions in Sadr City") refusing to fight in Sadr City, leaving the battle to Americans and more hard-core military factions loyal to the Shiite powers that be.

Please, let's not sleep.

(image: Ahmad al-Rubaye/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images.  caption: In Baghdad, an Iraqi held the remains of an American bomb dropped during an overnight airstrike on the Sadr City neighborhood. At least 328 people have been killed in the fighting that has rocked Sadr City since late March, when Prime Minister Maliki ordered his forces to disarm Shiite militiamen. nytimes.com)

Pennsylvania '08

I've been harboring this shot for almost a month now.  Having led the Chicago Tribune Election '08 photo gallery, it seems to perfectly frame last night's demographic tale almost perfectly, the candidate fused with the hard hat, the blue collar white male, the hard-scrabble guy (who interjects himself here so his woman with the disposable might bag the trophy).

Was it just me, or did those six weeks -- and all the stereotyped images -- seem to last forever?

Clinton Outduels Obama in Primary (NYT)
Election 2008 photo gallery (chicagotribune.com)

(image: Charles Dharapak / AP.  March 19, 2008. via chicagotribute.com caption: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton poses for a photo with miner Jake Hudson of Witcher Creek, W.Va., at a campaign rally in Capital High School in Charleston, W.Va.)

War On Terror: The Game Show

President 28% has sunk so pitifully low that he's taken to honoring Iraq vets through the vehicle of the television game show.  And, how fitting he should make his debut on a contest with the strong arm label: Deal Or No Deal.

Most painful to witness here is the emotional response -- engendered less by the fact the President would reach out to a veteran than the recognition on the part of the audience (check wonderous gaping mouth in pic #3) that the leader of the free world would actually take time out of his day to engage with such mundanity.

But then, isn't this Bush -- who spent way too long lugging around all those books from Karl's reading list -- really finding his own speed?

I'm particularly interested in your take on pic #1.

video via: President Bush On Deal Or No Deal: Watch Video (Huffington Post)

Duos To The Death

Since Sunday, I've been thinking about the significance of this image.  I've also been wondering (skeptically) about the accompanying NYT Week In Review piece, titled: "Gore-Lieberman: A Hyphen Apart? Try Poles."

The thing is, the article is about nothing.  At least nothing timely.  Essentially, the piece is an out-of-the-blue musing about what might of been had Gore won in 2000.  Specifically, it assumes that Lieberman a.) would have kept any proclivities toward invading Iraq to himself, b.) wouldn't have created all that Senate drama straddling the fence between Repubs and Dems, c.) certainly wouldn't be out there today stumping for McNasty, and d.) surely wouldn't be in the mix as a possible '08 GOP Veep pick.

Still, I think the pic, as free floating as it is, has more resonance as it relates to the current Democratic race.  If you think of Clinton and Obama as interchangeable Democratic standard bearers (and not just as finalists, but also oft-mentioned partners in a "dream ticket"), the article, and this photo, puts on the table how this previous duo (even if they weren't campaign rivals) completely blew apart.  (As the article notes, "The two men barely speak.")

I don't like this photo for the same reason I can't stand where the Obama - Clinton slugfest is heading.  One player is hopeful while the other looks bitter, and everybody has to have their own balloon.

Gore-Lieberman: A Hyphen Apart? Try Poles (NYT)

(image: Jim Bourg/Reuters, via Corbis. 2000. La Crosse, Wisconsin.  via nytimes.com)

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand. (And Don't Forget The Ducks!)

So, I was just taking a closer look at the screen shots of the military talking heads the NYT completely busted for running interference for Rummy.  What was it the Pentagon call these puppets, con artists and double dippers? "Message force multipliers?"

Geez, how could I have been so fooled!

Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand (NYT)
How the Pentagon Spread Its Message (NYT/Multimedia)

(screenshots - via nytimes.com)

McCain's Allowance

From Friday's "Situation Room" via Media Matters. 

If you can show me a better example of how the media shills for McMarried-Filing-Separately, I'd love to see it.

CNN chart purporting to compare candidates' "wealth" omitted Cindy McCain, who is reportedly worth $100 million. (Media Matters)
Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady (AP via SFGate)

(screen shot: April 10, 2008.  CNN via Media Matters)