|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Regime |
|
More Fakery To Promote Tax Cut For The Wealthy |
Current rating: 0 |
by Jim Shella
(No verified email address) |
15 May 2003
|
|
Whitehouse aides order crowd to remove ties to make tax cut promotion appear to be more down to earth |
 More Fakery To Pormote Tax Cut For The Wealthy |
Rep. Bosma speaks to crowd before Bush arrives [Left photo]
but meeting Bush later, he has dutifully removed his tie. [right photo]
President Bush came to Indianapolis to send the message that his tax cut plan will help everyone and not just the wealthy. That's why all those people sitting behind him were instructed on what to wear.
When it comes to Bush’s public appearances, it seems very little is left to chance. The president has been criticized for the effort and expense that it took to create photo opportunities when he flew onto the USS Abraham Lincoln earlier this month. The same sort of image-making was a part of his Indianapolis speech.
George W. Bush came to Indianapolis for the picture. And in that picture, the White House wanted ordinary people.
“These are V.I.P.'s right, ordinary people aren't up on stage behind the president of the United States when he's speaking but the trick is to make V.I.P.'s look like they're ordinary people,” said Bill Bloomquist, political scientist.
That's why everyone sitting behind the president wearing a necktie was instructed to take it off.
Exhibit A is Brian Bosma. He appeared onstage in a necktie, prior to the president's arrival. When the president got there the Indiana House minority leader had an open collar. In a News 8 interview immediately following the speech, the tie was back on.
Former state Republican chairman Mike McDaniel helped organize the event. “They wanted them to be themselves and that's what we were trying to get out of those shots and it worked for the most part,” he said.
"They" are the White House staff, and they had other instructions, too. Bush fan Ann McDaniel was told not to flash her camera. Her companion, Wilma Hart, had this to say to the White House staffer: “I said, ‘Do we look like we just crawled out from under a rock someplace?’”
“When you see somebody who is in coat an tie, then not in coat and tie, then in coat and tie, it sort of reveals that this is about stagecraft rather than statecraft,” said Bloomquist.
Peyton Manning was apparently allowed to keep his tie on. But then, everybody knows he's not ordinary.
There were some other neckties in the crowd but most of them belonged to Secret Service agents. Representative Bosma told News 8, “When the guy from the White House tells you to take your tie off, you don't ask why.” But he also removed his pocket square.
While there’s nothing wrong with image-making, viewers should be aware when it’s taking place.
Related Stories on UC IMC:
US Rep Tim Johnson To Vote For $100,000 Tax Cut For Millionaires?
http://www.ucimc.org/newswire/display/11642/index.php
U.S. Representative Tim Johnson's Carefully Hidden Slap In The Face To Veterans
http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/11427/index.php |
See also:
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1278487&nav=0Ra6Fp4l
|
Related stories on this site:
Keepers Of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft To New Heights
|
