The Dems had their work cut out for them this week; they had to try to convince the American populace that on the one hand, the President and Vice President are out-of-touch with regular folks; while, at the same time, complaining that the Economic Forum in Waco didn't count because elite elected officials weren't invited.
Actually, what the Democrats have tried to infer is that only senior DEMOCRATIC elected officials weren't invited. The fact is, the President decided that - as Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate can pretty much see each other whenever they want - they didn't need to use up their valuable campaign time by coming to Waco.
Of course, EVERY member of the U.S. House and Senate would have come to Waco if they had been invited because, as we have seen again and again, they all love to get their mugs in the frame with President George W.
Nevertheless, the Democrats had their usual allies in their efforts to malign the Waco forum.
Mike Allen's piece on the Washington Post's website last night contained the following:
- ... at a made-for-television White House economic forum today ...
- ... four tightly scripted roundtables ...
- ... he said, to applause from the handpicked audience of 240.
- The forum, staged with special lighting, logos and sets ...
- The forum was so meticulously packaged ...
And, in case you missed the subtleties, Mr. Allen gave us this:
"Terence R. McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, accused Bush of grandstanding before an audience heavy on Republican contributors."
This is a nuance within a shading wrapped in a gradation. Mr. McAuliffe USED to be known as just good ole' Terry - as recently as this past Saturday in the very same Washington Post. But now that he is the principal anti-Bush spokesman, he has been granted gravitas and elevated from "Terry" to "Terence R."
The Wall Street Journal's Jeanne Cummings weighed in with:
- ... a heavily stage-managed economic-policy forum ...
- ... the president's decision to use every tool in the White House kit - including seven cabinet secretaries - and elaborate sets ...
- ... featured handpicked participants who largely served to echo Mr. Bush's agenda.
- ... the meticulously planned event ...
When the president made his 20-minute cameo appearance ...
Elizabeth Bumiller's NY Times piece for the early editions on the Web last night:
- ... he heard today from a selection of 240 hand-picked guests ...
- ... 25 miles from his ranch where the president is on a "working vacation"...
Note the Dr. Evil-esque quotation marks around the words working vacation.
A later edition write-thru added reporter Edmund L. Andrews and the phrase:
- ... a staged pep rally ...
Larry Knutsen's AP report, which will be in almost every newspaper in the nation, was pretty balanced:
Bush heard virtually no criticism of his policies from the forum of about 240 people who represented a cross section of America's corporate boardrooms, along with labor leaders, teachers, a welder, a truck driver and other wage earners. The group included some major Republican campaign contributors, as well as some Democratic donors.
Ok. I think you get the picture.
On the plus side, here is a clip from Michael Barone's latest US News & World Report column:
Today, amid much talk - cheerful talk by Democrats, pessimistic talk by Republicans - that issues of corporate wrongdoing are going to help the Democrats, there is no evidence, at least yet, of any such tide. Except for districts where incumbents have been forced to run against each other by redistricting, the number of House incumbents trailing challengers in publicly announced polls is zero.
"Facts," as John Adams once said, "are stubborn things."
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: links to the Washington Post and New York Times, the full Barone column, the full John Adams quote, as well as the usual stuff.
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