A Banner Moment
The AP reports:
The White House said Wednesday that President Bush has paid a price for the "Mission Accomplished" banner that was flown in triumph five years ago but later became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly war in Iraq.
Thursday is the fifth anniversary of Bush's dramatic landing in a Navy jet on an aircraft carrier homebound from the war. The USS Abraham Lincoln had launched thousands of airstrikes on Iraq.
[...]
"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said 'mission accomplished' for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday.
Perino continued, "It's hard to fit a lot of words on a banner, as the font size has to be large. So you could say it wasn't a mistake in content as much as a graphic design problem." Perino also urged people to think, but not too hard, about how the war is going today and not about bad visuals from the past that they shouldn't waste their time remembering.
She said what is important now is "how the president would describe the fight today. It's been a very tough month in Iraq, but we are taking the fight to the enemy."
As she said those words, a banner behind her read Taking the Fight to the Enemy*. Only those closest to Perino could read the tiny type next to the asterisk at the bottom of the banner: "Over the backs of our dead soldiers, a mere 49 in April alone."
Perino concluded, "Don't worry--five years from today when I'm working for President McCain we'll say how you misunderstood what I said, and that has caused a lot of heartache. But what's important is how the president describes the fight."
The White House said Wednesday that President Bush has paid a price for the "Mission Accomplished" banner that was flown in triumph five years ago but later became a symbol of U.S. misjudgments and mistakes in the long and costly war in Iraq.
Thursday is the fifth anniversary of Bush's dramatic landing in a Navy jet on an aircraft carrier homebound from the war. The USS Abraham Lincoln had launched thousands of airstrikes on Iraq.
[...]
"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said 'mission accomplished' for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission," White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday.
Perino continued, "It's hard to fit a lot of words on a banner, as the font size has to be large. So you could say it wasn't a mistake in content as much as a graphic design problem." Perino also urged people to think, but not too hard, about how the war is going today and not about bad visuals from the past that they shouldn't waste their time remembering.
She said what is important now is "how the president would describe the fight today. It's been a very tough month in Iraq, but we are taking the fight to the enemy."
As she said those words, a banner behind her read Taking the Fight to the Enemy*. Only those closest to Perino could read the tiny type next to the asterisk at the bottom of the banner: "Over the backs of our dead soldiers, a mere 49 in April alone."
Perino concluded, "Don't worry--five years from today when I'm working for President McCain we'll say how you misunderstood what I said, and that has caused a lot of heartache. But what's important is how the president describes the fight."
Labels: McCain is the same
posted by George at 4:11 PM
2 Comments:
"President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said 'mission accomplished' for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission,"
Perino is quite the tap-dancer, I see. Can you hear my eyeballs rolling?
I read your comment too quickly and thought you called Perino a "lap dancer." And that sort of fits her role with the press, I guess, all come-on but no real delivery.
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