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Rove Regrets 'Mission Accomplished' Banner

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infowarrior
 
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 03:11 pm
Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C. ?- President Bush's top political adviser said this week he regretted the use of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as a backdrop for the president's landing on an aircraft carrier last May to mark the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

"I wish the banner was not up there," said White House political strategist Karl Rove. "I'll acknowledge the fact that it has become one of those convenient symbols."

Rove, speaking at an editorial board meeting with The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio on Thursday, echoed Bush's contention that the phrase referred to the carrier's crew completing their 10-month mission, not the military completing its mission in Iraq.

The banner has been a source of controversy for the Bush administration and has been mocked many times over the failed search for weapons of mass destruction and the continuing violence in Iraq.

Last October, Bush said the White House had nothing to do with the banner; a spokesman later clarified that the ship's crew asked for the sign and the White House staff had it made by a private vendor. It wasn't clear who paid for the sign.

Rove also predicted that "we're going to win Ohio comfortably" in the race against Democratic rival John Kerry.

The Bush campaign is "building the greatest grass-roots apparatus that Ohio has ever seen," Rove said. The state's 20 electoral votes could determine the election.

"I don't mean that it's going to be close," Rove said. "What I mean is, it's going to be where everybody is going to be paying a lot of time and attention. I think we're going to win Ohio comfortably, but I do think that Democrats are going to contest it strongly."

Kathy Roeder, a spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign, said it was "stunning" that Rove feels so confident that he can win Ohio, a state that has millions of people without health care.

"Just because he's so comfortable doesn't mean everybody else is in Ohio," she said.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://www.krem.com/sharedcontent/nationworld/washington/041604ccktpolRoveRegret.1306ef0b8.html
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 1,573 • Replies: 23
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suzy
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 04:23 pm
"President Bush's top political adviser said this week he regretted the use of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as a backdrop for the president's landing on an aircraft carrier last May to mark the end of major combat operations in Iraq."

Well it's about time to admit that little faux pas.
0 Replies
 
Dartagnan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 04:25 pm
That knucklehead event should have been regretted as soon as it happened...

Suiting up the president in a pilot's jump suit. Good lord...
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Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 04:34 pm
Every Prez should have his own action figure . . .


http://fp.entertainmentearth.com/AUTOIMAGES/BB21262lg.jpg
0 Replies
 
infowarrior
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 04:51 pm
RE: Bush's action figure.

Where are the letters, AWOL? Laughing
0 Replies
 
revel
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 06:00 pm
About the bush toy, i think it is too flattering.

The way I am beginning to see the whole election deal is that if we are dumb enough to actually elect him this time then we deserve what we get.
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 07:22 pm
I think that what i like best about the doll is that look of beady-eyed determination . . .
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hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 07:32 pm
Setanta wrote:
I think that what i like best about the doll is that look of beady-eyed determination . . .

I thought it was airsickness....Confused
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 07:32 pm
or that, yeah . . .
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 08:06 pm
Look again. It is a combination of personal resolve with the dawning knowledge of personal overreach (BIG overreach).
0 Replies
 
Deecups36
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 08:08 pm
Sorry, but Bush won't be a man before his mother. Razz
0 Replies
 
PDiddie
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 08:11 pm
I'm amazed Rove admitted a mistake.

Let's see if this makes it into Bush's PDB, so he can rub it in "Turd Blossom"'s face.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 08:30 pm
Not much of an admission of mistake, except relative to these boys.

PD...have you concluded (as I have) that a corner has been turned? O'Neil's book wasn't enough. But Clarke has done serious damage, and now, Woodward will too, I think. All this on top of the a press corps that has finally remembered where its balls are. And, of course, the disaster in Iraq. This is really the first time I've felt that it's probable Bush will loose in November.
0 Replies
 
PDiddie
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 08:36 pm
I've been thinking that corner was turned some time back, b.

The slime merchants will, however, crank it up again shortly.

The only way they can build Bush is up is to tear Kerry down ("drive up his negatives", in hack parlance) so expect to see the smear ads plastering the airwaves again shortly.
0 Replies
 
hobitbob
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 09:35 pm
Quote:
press corps that has finally remembered where its balls are.

In Rove's pocket? Sad
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2004 09:45 pm
He really is, I think, the least agreeable human I've seen on the political scene for a long time.
0 Replies
 
infowarrior
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Apr, 2004 07:49 am
There are two versions of the 'Mission Accomplished" story.

1.) some over enthusiastic sailors hung the banner up on the USS Abraham Lincoln themselves -- so relieved to finally be home. How they would've gotten the materials to make the banner has never been answered.

2.) the banner was placed there prior to Bush's arrival as yet another, cynical photo-op to use in the campaign.

There have been other, rather peculiar photo-op events involving Bush, but this one is probably the most controversial.
0 Replies
 
Dartagnan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Apr, 2004 11:52 am
Info: I believe the first theory you mention came up after the event first rec'd some criticism. As I recall, the idea that the sailors put up the banner was quickly forgotten. Really, would a president as carefully scripted as Bush appear in front of a banner that hadn't been approved well in advance? I kinda doubt it...
0 Replies
 
McGentrix
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Apr, 2004 12:02 pm
What was the mission?

Was it accomplished at that time?
0 Replies
 
infowarrior
 
  1  
Reply Tue 20 Apr, 2004 03:02 pm
D'artagan,

I'm with you.

My guess is Rove lead the away team to hang the silly banner well in advance of Bush's arrival -- an arrival that kept the USS Abraham Lincoln doing lazy eights in the Pacific Ocean an additional 30 hours after these young men had been away 6 months, making certain the words "Mission Accomplished" could be captured by the cameras for later use in campaign photos.

After all, would Bush's big $$$ donors expect anything less? Laughing
0 Replies
 
 

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