The Photo-Op War

[thedrifter]

05-12-2003

The Photo-Op War


By Ed Offley



This is getting downright hilarious.



It has been nearly two weeks since President Bush donned naval flight gear and flew out to welcome the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln back from a 10-month wartime deployment, and the Democrats and media talking heads are still hyperventilating over the photo-op.



The post-visit uproar began five days after Bush?s televised arrested-gear landing in an S-3B Viking and subsequent flight deck speech on May 1. What CNN?s Aaron Brown last week called ?a picture perfect presidential visit? triggered a spate of news reports, columns and editorials that noted a paroxysm of outrage by Democrats over the event.



Liberal California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman fulminated that ?The president was pretending like he was a jet fighter top gun, and it was all a prop for his re-election campaign. And the taxpayers had to pay for it.? Equally liberal Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan demanded that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld ?determine what the cost to taxpayers was for transporting the president to the carrier, his stay on the carrier, his flight from the carrier to shore, and any changes made in the carrier's or the jet?s schedule or procedure for the president?s visit.?



Some in the news media were equally shrill. ABC reporter Terry Moran intoned at a White House press briefing, that ?some people? were ?concerned? that for Bush to don ?military regalia at the end of a war? to land on an aircraft carrier in a Navy jet ?might have dissolved or weakened the distinction between? civilian and military control of the armed forces. Seattle newspaper columnist Joel Connelly, who proudly keeps on his newsroom desk a photo of himself and Bill Clinton flying on Air Force One to a campaign visit, railed that the Abraham Lincoln visit was typical of ?an imperial presidency.?


But the biggest tantrum of all came from ? no surprise ? our Pompey-spouting popinjay, Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. In a speech on the Senate floor last week, Byrd said, in part:



?As I watched the president?s fighter jet swoop down onto the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, I could not help but contrast the reported simple dignity of President Lincoln at Gettysburg with the flamboyant showmanship of President Bush aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.



?This is not some made-for-TV backdrop for a campaign commercial. This is real life, and real lives have been lost. To me, it is an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the president to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech.



?I do not begrudge his salute to America?s warriors aboard the carrier Lincoln, for they have performed bravely and skillfully, as have their countrymen still in Iraq, but I do question the motives of a deskbound president who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech. ? I believe that our military forces deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and not used as stage props to embellish a presidential speech.?



(Incidentally, there oughta be a special award for hypocrisy issued to Sen. Byrd for his charge against the president of engaging in ?flamboyant showmanship.? This is the politician, after all, who has plundered the U.S. Treasury nonstop for the past 45 years in his tireless effort to shift as many federal programs and federal dollars to West Virginia. As Washington Post reader Craig Bozman so elegantly put it in a letter to the editor of the Post, ?Of course, Mr. Byrd should know about flamboyant showmanship. After all, his home state has several things named after him, including: The Robert C. Byrd Highway; the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam; the Robert C. Byrd Institute; the Robert C. Byrd Life Long Learning Center; the Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program; the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope; the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing; the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse; the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center; the Robert C. Byrd Academic and Technology Center; the Robert C. Byrd United Technical Center; the Robert C. Byrd Federal Building; the Robert C. Byrd Drive; the Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex; the Robert C. Byrd Library; the Robert C. Byrd Learning Resource Center; and the Robert C. Byrd Rural Health Center.?)



(For a related opinion on Sen. Byrd, see the guest column in DefenseWatch magazine by retired Navy Chief Warrant Officer James H. Wright.)



And we can forget the media and Democratic accusations that the carrier photo-op bilked the taxpayers of up to $1 million for the operating costs of the Abraham Lincoln during the 24 hours of the president?s visit (or to an equally absurd point, bilking the taxpayers out of $200 to fit Mr. Bush in his flight suit and survival gear), or the rant that the poor carrier crewmen and women were kept out at sea for an extra day to serve as a stage prop. The Navy and White House immediately debunked those baseless charges: The Abraham Lincoln had a May 2, 2003 arrival date in San Diego, and merely steamed across the Pacific faster to arrive offshore early enough to make the presidential rendezvous. All costs for the president?s visit were typical for security and safety requirements, and not excessive.



As for the ?military regalia? the president wore in his S-3B flight, I can attest as a reporter who has flown in seven different tactical military jets (e.g. strapped down to an ejection seat), that what the president was wearing was mandatory survival gear required of all passengers: a nomex flight suit, helmet, gloves, parachute harness, anti-G leggings and inflatable life preserver.



No, the cost to taxpayers wasn?t the issue at all. The issue was, indeed, that having prosecuted a successful military campaign against Iraq, President Bush enjoyed a traditional presidential perq while engaged in a traditional presidential task, thanking the men and women of the Abraham Lincoln for their dedicated service.



What has the Democrats howling like banshees is that they know full well what the impact will be of Mr. Bush?s carrier landing next year when his re-election ads start airing. My advice is to them is, get a life ? and while you?re at it, select a presidential nominee who can match the leadership skills that the president has shown the nation since 9/11.



Ed Offley is Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at dweditor@yahoo.com.


Sempers,

Roger

[Jerry D]

Hmm right now the House Democrats are supporting ole' White Rat himself Dick Gephardt who has lost the primary for Prez many times then there is 2 way Joe who runs for Senate and Vice Prez the same year to gaurantee himself good odds then the rest of the Dems get 2 to 3% name recognition from Registerd Dems on whom they plan on voting for and a whoping 60% of registerd Democrats don't even Know who is running for Prez some even think Al Gore is running again