West Virginia Erupts in Anti-Media Cheer

RushLimbaugh.com ^

[Blue Turtle]

RUSH: All right, audio sound bite time. I have been talking about this the whole program, President Bush and his town meeting in Wheeling, West Virginia, yesterday. Gayle Taylor, who is the wife of a member of the military recently returned from Iraq stood up and said this to the president.

TAYLOR: This is my husband who has returned from a 13-month tour in Tikrit, and he has brought back several DVDs full of wonderful footage of reconstruction, of medical things going on. And I ask you this from the bottom of my heart for a solution to this, because it seems that our major media networks don't want to portray the good. They just want to focus -- (Cheers and applause.)

[the invisib1e hand]

where the hell would this country be without Rush Limbaugh?

[HitmanLV]

Nice to see but this is a hand-picked crowd for a Town Meeting. It's less West Virginia erupting in an anti-media cheer and more a few hundred GOPers erupting in an anti media cheer.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

NEWSPAPER


I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one.
- Galaxy magazine, December 1870

A private should preserve a respectful attitude toward his superiors, and should seldom or never proceed so far as to offer suggestions to his general in the field. By the etiquette of war, it is permitted to none below the rank of newspaper correspondent to dictate to the general in the field.
- "The Benefit of Judicious Training," 6/8/1881


We like to read about rich people in the newspapers; the papers know it, and they do their best to keep this appetite liberally fed.
- Mark Twain in Eruption

There is no suffering comparable with that which a private person feels when he is for the first time pilloried in print.
- Life on the Mississippi

The old saw says, "Let sleeping dogs lie." Right. Still when there is much at stake it is better to get a newspaper to do it.
- Following the Equator

...one of the worst things about civilization is, that anybody that gits a letter with trouble in it comes and tells you all about it and makes you feel bad, and the newspapers fetches you the troubles of everybody all over the world, and keeps you downhearted and dismal most all the time, and it's such a heavy load for a person.

MARK TWAIN

[Blue Turtle]

anyone have the video of her statement/question?

[Blue Turtle]

Video here: http://www.exposetheleft.com/2006/03/22/bush-mediacoverage/

[stylin19a]

THE PRESIDENT: One of the things that we've got to value is the fact that we do have a media, a free media that's able to do what they want to do. Just gotta keep talking and word-of-mouth, there's blogs, there's Internet, there's all kinds of ways to communicate, which is literally changing the way people are getting their information.

And so if you're concerned, I would suggest that you reach out to some of the groups that are supporting the troops that have got Internet sites and just keep the word moving. And that's one way to deal with an issue without suppressing a free press.

We will never do that in America. I know you're frustrated with what you're seeing, but there are ways in this new age of being able to communicate that you'll be able to spread the message that you want to spread.

Scratchin my head..The President has the bully pulpit. He could certainly bring this message about the great things going on in Iraq, to the forefront. The MSM can't ignore him forever....( or can they ?)

[Rudder]

hand-picked crowd

BS!! I live in the Wheeling area and all the radio stations announced beforehand that tickets were free and available at (I forget the places) named locations on a first-come-first-served basis.

[The Worthless Miracle]

Where has this President been for the past 3 yrs?

[HitmanLV]

I don't think the president puts himself in a situaton like that, without stacking the deck with a sympathetic audience.

If he does, he really is dumb.

[ladyinred]

It is time someone said this besides just us! Sure, it might have been a friendly audience, but the media was there too, and it is great she was in their faces.

[Rudder]

Yep, he sure was dumb by announcing free tickets to all on a first-come-first-serve basis...the crowd gave him a rousing reception.

Who's dumber? You or the President?

[HitmanLV]

If the president, with his low approval ratings, is putting himself in a situation without some control over the makeup of the audience, then yes that is a dumb thing to do.

[sportutegrl]

Freeping?

[Rudder]

I'll let you in on a secret, and since I'm indigenious here I know whereof I speak: Bush did know, beforehand, this audience would be staunchly supportive. First of all patriotism, and support for the troops, is unchallenged here. Secondly, this area is a collection of small communities and the locals have unwritten rules to keep the peace: Democrats (who are strong here, thanks to the unions) don't disrupt GOP events and vice versa. These locals also are mostly steel workers or real country folk, they've lived on the river valley for generations and they're tough and direct...even the Democrats genuinely support our troops. Thirdly, Bush has been here before (and his audiences then were hand-picked...sort of, just to keep out pre-election rabble, but I saw well-known Democrats at these events.) Fourthly, all the above was well-known by Bush, et al.

The point I want to make is that this time, when Bush is allegedly in "trouble," there was no effort to pre-select the audience. There simply was no need.

PS: I worked for the Bush campaign and even have a genuine gold-embosssed letter from the Pres. hisself, suitable for framing, and even I didn't get advance notice or a personal invite to the event in Wheeling.

[HitmanLV]

There you go.

[Rudder]

Cool..

Hey, by fortuitous circumstance, this just appeared as a post here at FR: Democrats win if America loses. It's from the Ohio Valley area of which I have been speaking, and it's from a Democrat!

[HitmanLV]

It happens. Still as you say, they knew they were in friendly territory so there was not much of a chance the pres was going to be embarrassed. They wouldn't have a town hall in Queens, NY, for example, without being more aggressive in stacking the deck.

[pollyannaish]

where the hell would this country be without Rush Limbaugh?

You know, we whine a lot about the fact the country is not as conservative as we want it to be...all the while forgetting just what we were facing pre-Limbaugh.

God bless the man. He helped change my life.

[pollyannaish]

Ah come on Hitman. In the President vs. the Media...it's still the President by a LONG shot. Even among Bushes detractors.

Of course, I am working from anecdotal evidence in my own life...but frustration with Press negativity on the war seems pretty consistent across the political spectrum.