Bush In Theater

Field general Bush?  Or does Karl Rove think he's Spielberg?

Studying these shots set up last week at Fort Irwin, you can go one of two ways.

You can picture George Bush as the true warrior he is, doing his thing in the Afghan desert (as opposed to its California equivalent).  Or else, you can more closely examine the Administration's (deepening) delusion that Bush -- having completed his mental and spiritual merged with the military -- is the ultimate guider, decider, diviner and banded brother.

In an address to his comrades and Karl's crew members -- the "Red Devils" of the 58th Engineers; the "Renegades" of the 557th Maintenance Company; the "Super HETT" of the 2nd Transportation Company; and the 699th Maintenance Company, having just returned from Afghanistan -- Bush once again pontificated on 9/11, otherwise know as the "ocean-leaping danger cloud," as well as the "plain as day" Afghan - Iraq connection.

As part of his remarks, he also tossed in both explanation and justification for the surge.  I'd like to share it, since I hadn't heard it before:

The American people are weary of this war. They wonder whether or not we can succeed. They're horrified by the suicide bombings they see. I analyzed all the situation here this fall -- I listened to the advice from the military, I listened to the advice from the political people -- all in reaction to the fact that al Qaeda and the extremists bombed a sacred place, which caused sectarian violence to begin to rage. And it looked like that if action wasn't taken, the capital of this young democracy would be overwhelmed by chaos.

If I despise these pictures, it doesn't mean I don't also appreciate them.  If nothing else, they bring new gloss to phrase: "in theater."

Oh yes, and let's not forget the director.

Taking that wonderful expression into account (plus not one, two, but three flags, as well as an unsuspecting black person as prop, as is his signature), Rove is never more self-satisfied than when he's feeding the imagination.

Out-take from the cast party.

Corresponding White House photo gallery.

(image 1 - 4: Jason Reed/Reuters.  image 5: Jim Watson/AFP.  Fort Irwin, California. April 4, 2007. via YahooNews)

Comments

[marysz]

One more crass Administration photo-op. The smarmy pictures of Rove with the African-American female soldier are particularly offensive given the fact that one of Rove's primary strategies to maintain the illusion of a Republican "majority" in the country is to disenfranchise black voters.

[margaret]

Campare these photos with those of Pres Eisenhower reviewing his troops and speaking to them, and the comraderie of Ike with his soldiers is striking. It's genuine and a spontaneous connection is made. You are quite right that this is Theatre: Bush looks like an ad for a Brooks Brothers' suit, a fashion shot contrasted with the attire of the grunts. I can see the "caption" now: "you'll stand out in a crowd of conformity in your Brooks Brothers'."

[Helen Rainier]

Could I make an argument that we should be grateful that Rove and Dubya didn't put on desert cammies and boots so they could "pretend" to be in the "middle of the action" and real "boots on the ground"?

[embarrassed]

I'm ashamed that this thought keeps occurring to me, but I think that it *may* raise some consciousness in our unfeeling, uncaring, sociopathic rulers. We can see if they care for anything else but profit and power.

The idea is to use PhotoShop(tm) to create images of, say, the bush twins, in hospital beds with 1,2,3,4 bloody, burned stumps.

A picture of Lynne Cheney standing next to the evil one leaning on a crutch with a pinned up sleeve.

Lieberman standing next to his wife, who's face is a mass of scar tissue.

Find a picture of a maimed soldier heroically dealing with the steaming pile of shit served to them by their "supporters." Then duplicate the horror in a family photo of one of the war's enablers. Just a straight translation. Just to make a point. There is NO Need to exaggerate what these jackals (sorry, jackals) have done to destroy the lives of SO many people.

Or PhotoShop in the wounded themselves. Say a multiple amputee off to the side and in the background watching W ride his bike with his 2 good legs.

Since they have no consciences or souls which can be haunted by their actions, we'll have to haunt their photos.

Or transport images from Iraq to places that will have more emotional impact. Say an explosion in Baghdad to Times Square. "Ms Bush, how many of these would you consider to be acceptable?"

Just try to bring home the horror of what they are doing.

Things like this have been done in editorial cartoons, but real photos have much more impact.

Imagine taking Rove's disgusting rap "performance" and mixing it with images from Iraq. Or a continuous ghostly parade of images of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians.

But it would would suck if one of the good, subtle ones somehow got onto a real news site or on TV. That would be terrible. In retrospect, I would like to apologize for writing this and resign from my current position to avoid prosecution.

[Kitt]

Alert: Cuss words ahead.....

I have nothing to say but these entitled and monied pasty-white bastards are far too cowardly to actually do a job their pansied & sissified asses would never dream of actually doing. They are the very essence and epitome of Winston's & Syme's world. They sicken me. Hell will be too fucking cold for them as far as I'm concerned. If ONLY there is a god.

[MonsieurGonzo]

photo #1 : “OK, boys ~ there they are: Shoot the photographers! ”

[Rafael]

Oh the arrogance!

[ummabdulla]

I would have thought that they'd dress Bush in a way that wouldn't make him look so out of place. Would a Commander-in-Chief jacket remind everyone too much of his "Mission Accomplished" spectacle?

There might even be four flags in the Rove picture - are there two on the table, together but facing in different directions? And it seems like everyone around him is ignoring him, except the black woman next to him, who got roped into a photo op.

Sorry to go off-topic, but when I went to the White House website, I saw this photo of the First Lady. The plastic expression on her face has been noted here before, but what's with the odd necklaces she's been wearing in the last couple of photos we've seen?

[PaminBB]

Regarding the top picture, looks like they made the two tallest guys kneel down, wouldn't want to show that W is no giant.

But like with the pics of the empty desk in the oval office- doesn't this guy have any actual work to do?

[tardigrade]

Bush in the top picture is saying, "...hey everyone, look! there's something over there..."

Actually, he just looks out of place... an anachronism... He needs to be put back into the 1970's standing next to his buddy, Nixon.

[MonsieurGonzo]

photo #2 : “OMG! Did you see that? they just shot Alan Chin! ”

“ Whaa...? ”

“I just saw it! The President pointed at him, and then they just blew him away!”

“ Jeezus! ”

“ Well I'm not going out there! I'm Hispanic ~ they'll probably think I'm an Arab...”

“ Jeezus! ”

“ Well, I'm not going out there, either! I'm a woman, and they rape their own female soldiers as often as they rape the Muslim girls!”

“ Jeez... ”

“ Is that all you can say? They just killed Alan! ”

“ Look! There he is! What'll we do if he sees us in here? Christ! ”

“ Quick! Take his picture through the porthole, and let's get the fuck outta here! ”

>SNAP<

[MonsieurGonzo]

photo #3 : “Did you see that Chinaman's head just fucking explode? {giggle} out-standing!”

“ Yes, Sir! ”

“ BTW, {giggle} what is this shit? ”

“ Lebanon Blond, Sir! ”

“ Out-standing! Hard to keep lit, though... ”

“ Yes, Sir! ”

“ You should try the Afghan 'Ope, Sir! One puff, and all ya can do is dream!”

“ Out-standing! Say, anything good comin' outta Iran? ”

“ No, Sir! ”

“ Bummer. ”

“ Yes, Sir! ”

[Mad_nVT]

That turkey's out of place, and most everybody is ignoring the stupid bastard.

[Mad_nVT]

Great photo of the First Lady of Plastic, linked by ummabdullah above.

To get a grin like that she must have found an amazing medicine chest.

And what's with the faux-femme-militia outfit?

[Kitt]

Oh my, lebanonese blond - now that brings back memories!

[mugatea]

U>
"I would have thought that they'd dress Bush in a way that wouldn't make him look so out of place."
Ya, I thought the same. He said he'd run the US like a CEO,

and he has.

He looks more out of place when he tries to fit in.
No clothing can change his image, at this point.

[donna]

"We can see if they care for anything else but profit and power."

Um, no. No, they don't.

Isn't that obvious by now?

[Megan]

Hee. That kid is sitting next to the Vice President of the United States and can't take his eyes off the pretty girl sitting across from him.

[boom]

i'm not being snarky, this has made me sick to my stomach. I'm not a hater. I want to respect and admire. These people are vile and vapid. I can't take much more. Sadly, I live in Dallas, so I'll have the bush/rove taint for the rest of my life with the library and all. ugh. i say it over and over...just go away, just go away.....

[Ksue]

I saw the third picture down a few days ago. I swear, I thought someone had cleverly photoshopped Bush into that picture. Every last one of the pics of him with the troops looks like he was photoshopped in, he is so out of place. Sadly, Laura doesn't look the least bit photoshopped. That's truly how she looks in real life today. Drugged to the gills each morning so she can tolerate the next 24 hours with Jr.