Agent Jack Bauer in the White House

msnbc ^ | 3/22/06 | Howard Fineman

[mathprof]

If you want to get ratings with the action drama that is the American presidency, you need a compelling plot and a hero with a stirring image.

Since 9/11, George W. Bush has topped the charts with GWOT (bureaucratese for the “global war on terror’), in which producer-director Karl Rove features his leading man as commander-in-chief on the global battlements. It's a mix of Ike at Normandy, Ronald Reagan in Berlin and Tom Cruise in “Top Gun.”

But ratings for “Bush, the War President” have collapsed (something to do with the loss of blood and treasure in Iraq). And Americans don’t like overseas stories in any case.

Politically, the war in Iraq is a loser; Bush has said as much. So for the new season — the fall congressional elections and beyond — there will be a new shooting script and a reshaped presidential character.

I saw the rushes the other day, when the Republican National Committee released the text of a radio ad and Bush held a hastily-called press conference. The revamped story line is WATITH (the “war against terrorists inside the homeland”) and it will feature Bush not as Top Gun, but as Top Gumshoe: a mix of Eliot Ness, J. Edgar Hoover and Agent Jack Bauer.

And Bush/Bauer’s enemies will be different: not just the terrorists themselves, but also wussie lovers of legalistic niceties that get in the way of investigations, and MSM news organizations that focus obsessively on explosions and mayhem in Iraq, even as they print or broadcast classified information and ask nasty, argumentative questions at hastily-called press conferences.

It takes some chutzpah to do this rewrite, given the latest run of stories about the pre-9/11 terrorism signals that were missed by the then-new Bush Administration.

[mathprof]

To steal a phrase from Rush, these drive by media types are a piece of work!

[MNJohnnie]

Howie is an idiot. Always has been. He has yet to get one story even marginally near accurate. Like his outlet, Flush the Koran Newsweek, he is politically irrelevant.

[mathprof]

"Politically irrelevant", nice phrase.

[tsmith130]

Newsweek lied; people died.

[RasterMaster]

Another example of LIEberal fools living in TV fantasy land.

[TheRobb7]

There's nothing wrong with Howie that 40 feet of chain wouldn't cure

[AngryJawa]

Uhhhhh...hold on. I'm trying to think of a good word for this.

Wait. I've got one.

Incoherent.

Yup. Incoherent. That'll work.

[proud American in Canada]

George W. Bush has topped the charts

Oh please... I thought the one of the Dems' main talking points was his ever-falling poll numbers.

What a stupid comparison to make. Hollywood should get a clue and realize that the movies, fun as they are, are not real life. Please pardon my tagline. ;)

[proud American in Canada]

Okay... pretty soon its Friday. My French (sorry) husband has managed to turn my keyboard into a French keyboard...so Ièm ... sorry, I .. am... having trouble with html. Anyway.

If anyone thinks this thread has any kind of humor possibilities, Iè... er I am passing it along. ;)

[maine-iac7]

"Shut your yap, Helen,"

I loved him shutting her off, time and again - after her diatribe -

She is no longer a member of the WH press corp - WHY do they let her in, let alone ask questions?

[mystery-ak]

Hey Fineman,......this is what I think of your article...

[Rummyfan]

Just what are Howard Fineman's bona fides? He's never been right on aything has he?

[Miss Marple]

Great and appropriate graphic, mystery.

I hate the Dowdism of the media. This reads like Mo Dowd, who has been banished to pay-per-view. I wonder if she is ghostwriting his columns?

[rvoitier]

I think it was a trap and she stepped right into the trap.

Nothing fires up a base like a slap-down of the media.

W. KNEW! she would act the ass. He laid in wait and ko'd her.

[manwiththehands]

Mr. Fineman thinks the war in Iraq is a popularity contest.

[NonValueAdded]

you might say she wandered into his field of fire and blam, he Cheney'ed her :)

[hummingbird]

She is no longer a member of the WH press corp - WHY do they let her in, let alone ask questions?

"Perxactly!"

What a colossal waste of time her questions are. She has not been a member of WH press corp for some time.

[mountainfolk]

I think that Mara Liaison on the FOX Brit Hume evening news had the correct answer as to why Helen Thomas was allowed in to the press conference. Mara said the President used her for a foil. IMO, he knew she would not ask anything but would do her usual accusation routine and expect to get away with ranting on. The President was able to address her accusations while showing great patience and charity to an obvious throwback journalist who has seen better days. He came across as being a very nice person who told her in a gentlemanly way,several times, to shut up, and she suffered by comparison. I think Pres Bush has let the press know that he will no longer tolerate their disrespectful behavior during press conferences. At least I saw a whole different attitude this time.

[TheSpy]

'I'm gonna need a hacksaw.'

Jack Bauer

[devolve]