investigator
05-06-2003, 11:02 AM
Bush Lands on the Carrier.
Mind you, it was funny. At first the White House claimed the dramatic tail-hook landing was necessary because the carrier was too far out
to use a helicopter. In fact, the ship was so close to shore that, according to The Associated Press, administration officials
"acknowledged positioning the massive ship to provide the best TV angle for Bush's speech, with the sea as his background instead of
the San Diego coastline."
A U.S.-based British journalist told me that he and his colleagues had laughed through the whole scene. If Tony Blair had tried such a
stunt, he said, the press would have demanded to know how many hospital beds could have been provided for the cost of the jet fuel.
But U.S. television coverage ranged from respectful to gushing. Nobody pointed out that Mr. Bush was breaking an important tradition.
And nobody seemed bothered that Mr. Bush, who appears to have skipped more than a year of the National Guard service that kept him
out of Vietnam, is now emphasizing his flying experience. (Spare me the hate mail. An exhaustive study by The Boston Globe found no
evidence that Mr. Bush fulfilled any of his duties during that missing year. And since Mr. Bush has chosen to play up his National Guard
career, this can't be shrugged off as old news.)
Mind you, it was funny. At first the White House claimed the dramatic tail-hook landing was necessary because the carrier was too far out
to use a helicopter. In fact, the ship was so close to shore that, according to The Associated Press, administration officials
"acknowledged positioning the massive ship to provide the best TV angle for Bush's speech, with the sea as his background instead of
the San Diego coastline."
A U.S.-based British journalist told me that he and his colleagues had laughed through the whole scene. If Tony Blair had tried such a
stunt, he said, the press would have demanded to know how many hospital beds could have been provided for the cost of the jet fuel.
But U.S. television coverage ranged from respectful to gushing. Nobody pointed out that Mr. Bush was breaking an important tradition.
And nobody seemed bothered that Mr. Bush, who appears to have skipped more than a year of the National Guard service that kept him
out of Vietnam, is now emphasizing his flying experience. (Spare me the hate mail. An exhaustive study by The Boston Globe found no
evidence that Mr. Bush fulfilled any of his duties during that missing year. And since Mr. Bush has chosen to play up his National Guard
career, this can't be shrugged off as old news.)