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Mr. Bush, On the Campaign Trail
Mar. 12th, 2004 12:58 pmExcerpt courtesy of Paul Vitello of Newsday:
Paul Vitello: A president's brand of optimism
March 12, 2004
It was upbeat, precise, as organized as a meeting of the board of directors, framed at beginning and end with rousing music - a near-perfect campaign stop:
President George W. Bush arrived on schedule. He gave his speech. He moderated a panel of five people on a makeshift stage in front of a sign that said "Strengthening America's Economy." He wove their stories seamlessly into the fabric of his re-election campaign. He engaged in self-deprecating humor that even a detractor might find charming.
And then he left - to a standing ovation - shaking hands all the way to the exit door of U.S.A. Industries in Bay Shore, where his campaign made this first of three stops on Long Island yesterday.
Security people kept reporters from interviewing the workers at U.S.A. until the president was gone.
But when workers were finally interviewed - these people who made up the bulk of the president's cheering audience in New York - Bush's performance turned out to be even more impressive.
"No speak English," said the first worker, smiling apologetically.
"No speak English," said the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth workers waylaid in the crowd.
It is possible that President Bush could have drawn a crowd of several hundred at lunchtime on the streets of Bay Shore to cheer his economic policies, which can be summed up in two words: tax cuts.
But if that crowd is ready-made - the workforce of a small auto parts factory whose owner has received tax breaks from the Republican-run state and town governments, and who employs large numbers of non-English speaking immigrants happy to work for $6 to $9 an hour with few benefits - why bother?
"I understand him a little bit English," said Nubia Guzman, a packer who said she earns $7.50 an hour after four years on a job that Bush had described in his speech as evidence of the success of his tax cutting economic policies. She has no health coverage.
What did you like about him? she was asked.
"He nice," she said.
This may be all that matters in the long run. The candidate who wins is usually the one people like the look and sound of, not the one they have listened closely to. In this particular crowd, anyway, there were probably few voters. Of those who spoke English, few said they were registered.
Does it matter to anyone but a literal-minded person that the "crowd" at a campaign stop is not quite "real"?
It is the not-so-secret secret of every presidential campaign that most crowds at most campaign stops are so much stage prop. They are there to make a certain amount of noise, to look like a constituency the candidate hopes to win the votes of - in the Bay Shore factory, Hispanic voters - and to be as unsurprising and well-behaved as security arrangements can make them.
Wow. This takes Potemkinizing to an all new high- all six of the people interviewed right after Mr. Chimpy left pretty much didn't understand a word of what he said. Now we understand why they didn't let anyone talk to them before he left- it would have been one more demonstration that the Emperor has no clothes.
He's a crooked liar (yes, this is part of a new Googlebomb, so make sure if you use the phrase "crooked liar" anywhere in your blog you link it to the page which is linked here [Mr. Chimpy's official bio, on whitehouse.gov]. After all, look what it did for Santorum).
2nd November, 2004. The End of an Error.
Paul Vitello: A president's brand of optimism
March 12, 2004
It was upbeat, precise, as organized as a meeting of the board of directors, framed at beginning and end with rousing music - a near-perfect campaign stop:
President George W. Bush arrived on schedule. He gave his speech. He moderated a panel of five people on a makeshift stage in front of a sign that said "Strengthening America's Economy." He wove their stories seamlessly into the fabric of his re-election campaign. He engaged in self-deprecating humor that even a detractor might find charming.
And then he left - to a standing ovation - shaking hands all the way to the exit door of U.S.A. Industries in Bay Shore, where his campaign made this first of three stops on Long Island yesterday.
Security people kept reporters from interviewing the workers at U.S.A. until the president was gone.
But when workers were finally interviewed - these people who made up the bulk of the president's cheering audience in New York - Bush's performance turned out to be even more impressive.
"No speak English," said the first worker, smiling apologetically.
"No speak English," said the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth workers waylaid in the crowd.
It is possible that President Bush could have drawn a crowd of several hundred at lunchtime on the streets of Bay Shore to cheer his economic policies, which can be summed up in two words: tax cuts.
But if that crowd is ready-made - the workforce of a small auto parts factory whose owner has received tax breaks from the Republican-run state and town governments, and who employs large numbers of non-English speaking immigrants happy to work for $6 to $9 an hour with few benefits - why bother?
"I understand him a little bit English," said Nubia Guzman, a packer who said she earns $7.50 an hour after four years on a job that Bush had described in his speech as evidence of the success of his tax cutting economic policies. She has no health coverage.
What did you like about him? she was asked.
"He nice," she said.
This may be all that matters in the long run. The candidate who wins is usually the one people like the look and sound of, not the one they have listened closely to. In this particular crowd, anyway, there were probably few voters. Of those who spoke English, few said they were registered.
Does it matter to anyone but a literal-minded person that the "crowd" at a campaign stop is not quite "real"?
It is the not-so-secret secret of every presidential campaign that most crowds at most campaign stops are so much stage prop. They are there to make a certain amount of noise, to look like a constituency the candidate hopes to win the votes of - in the Bay Shore factory, Hispanic voters - and to be as unsurprising and well-behaved as security arrangements can make them.
Wow. This takes Potemkinizing to an all new high- all six of the people interviewed right after Mr. Chimpy left pretty much didn't understand a word of what he said. Now we understand why they didn't let anyone talk to them before he left- it would have been one more demonstration that the Emperor has no clothes.
He's a crooked liar (yes, this is part of a new Googlebomb, so make sure if you use the phrase "crooked liar" anywhere in your blog you link it to the page which is linked here [Mr. Chimpy's official bio, on whitehouse.gov]. After all, look what it did for Santorum).
2nd November, 2004. The End of an Error.
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