Bush used fake firefighters in his campaign ad

[Oilwellian]

(I don't know whether to laugh or cry)

Another less-publicized aspect of the ad flap: the use of paid actors—including two playing firefighters with fire hats and uniforms in what looks like a fire station. "Where the hell did they get those guys?" cracked Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed John Kerry, when he first saw the ads. (A union spokesman said the shots prompted jokes that the fire hats looked like the plastic hats "from a birthday party.") "There's many reasons not to use real firemen," retorted one Bush media adviser. "Mainly, its cheaper and quicker."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4467791

[coloradodem2005]

1. THat is sick.

[Gman]

2. Another reason

is that they probably couldn't find a a firefighter that would do it anyway.

Think about it. No firefighter would volunteer so they had to pay actors to look like cheap imitations. That's pathetic.

[Oilwellian]

9. Hey now....

it's no more pathetic than the fake turkey. :D

[Art_from_Ark]

16. It's just par for the course

Early on in the bu$h misadministration, executives and others dressed up as "blue-collar types" were used as a prop to show that "the working man/woman" supported bu$h's get-rich-quick scheme for his rich buddies.

Then there was that incident with the "Made in USA" boxes that were actually from China.

Not to mention the fake "tourists" who replaced the real tourists at bu$h's photo-op at the Lincoln Memorial on July 4, 2001.

[mopaul]

25. we are all just props

firemen as props, flag draped caskets as props, (only in regard to the events of 9-11, NOT dead u.s. soldiers of course), world trade center rubble as props, like any theatrical production, take away the special effects and the dramatic lighting and slowmo and it's just theater, and we, the audience.

[Paragon]

3. Well, when your actual supporters look like this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1202862

...I'd hire actors, too. :D

[Oilwellian]

7. hehehe

those pictures are hysterical. :D

[fujiyama]

19. The guy is from Hicksville after all!

:D

[rumguy]

4. Does Bush have absolutely no shame?

I just read an article in Latest Breaking News about Bush being very involved in the campaign and in the production of these ads....

If it was me, I would be totally ashamed to use ACTORS instead of REAL FIREMEN...it's just so phony.

[jmowreader]

30. Bush has absolutely no shame

If he had a grain of shame, he'd have hung himself long ago.

[uhhuh]

5. Probably true

"There's many reasons not to use real firemen," retorted one Bush media adviser. "Mainly, its cheaper and quicker."

They would probably have to spend a lot of money, and it might take till after the election to find a firefighter who would be seen with the chimp.

[Renew Deal]

6. I knew it!

I knew it!!! I knew it!!

I knew these idiots did that.

[chelaque liberal]

24. I LOVE the "Steady Leadership..." shot

Where can I get it to pass around?

[bpilgrim]

8. plastic turkeys

peace

[Stephanie]

11. "Mission Accomplished" - NOT!

=================================================
Bush's denial that the WH placed the banner on the carrier:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20031028-2.html

Q Mr. President, if I may take you back to May 1st when you stood on the USS Lincoln under a huge banner that said, "Mission Accomplished." At that time you declared major combat operations were over, but since that time there have been over 1,000 wounded, many of them amputees who are recovering at Walter Reed, 217 killed in action since that date. Will you acknowledge now that you were premature in making those remarks?

THE PRESIDENT: Nora, I think you ought to look at my speech. I said, Iraq is a dangerous place and we've still got hard work to do, there's still more to be done. And we had just come off a very successful military operation. I was there to thank the troops.

The "Mission Accomplished" sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed some how to some ingenious advance man from my staff -- they weren't that ingenious, by the way. But my statement was a clear statement, basically recognizing that this phase of the war for Iraq was over and there was a lot of dangerous work. And it's proved to be right, it is dangerous in Iraq. It's dangerous in Iraq because there are people who can't stand the thought of a free and peaceful Iraq. It is dangerous in Iraq because there are some who believe that we're soft, that the will of the United States can be shaken by suiciders -- and suiciders who are willing to drive up to a Red Cross center, a center of international help and aid and comfort, and just kill.

====================================================

Bush handlers stage manage every aspect of his appearances, including this one:

Keepers of Bush image lift stagecraft to new heights
By Elisabeth Bumiller
New York Times
Friday, May 16, 2003 Posted: 7:08 AM EDT (1108 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/05/16/nyt.bumiller/

The president's image makers, Mr. Bartlett said, work within a budget for White House travel and events allotted by Congress, which for fiscal 2003 was $3.7 million. He said he did not know the specific cost of staging Mr. Bush's Sept. 11 anniversary speech, or what the White House was charged for the lights. A spokeswoman at the headquarters of Musco Lighting in Oskaloosa, Iowa, said the company did not disclose the prices it charged clients.

<snip>

The most elaborate — and criticized — White House event so far was Mr. Bush's speech aboard the Abraham Lincoln announcing the end of major combat in Iraq. White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president, came up with the idea, and that Mr. Sforza embedded himself on the carrier to make preparations days before Mr. Bush's landing in a flight suit and his early evening speech.

Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.

====================================================

An eerily similar backdrop:



Mission Accomplished:



Another flag backdrop:



They used the SAME flag graphic:

This...



Makes this:



====================================================

Just another phony photo-op out of the Bush WH. I wonder if anyone can name even ONE thing they have done or said that was honest?

[Stephanie]

12. Made in China boxes

Sorry I can't find a better picture of this. But everyone remembers this anyway. They taped over the boxes in the factory because they all said Made in China, and on the phony backdrop that they had brought along the boxes all said Made in America. The real boxes didn't match so they had to tape them over.

[bpilgrim]

14. marketing 'geniuses'

and Mayberry Machiavellis :crazy:

peace

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. Add to that the fake soldiers

At least 3 men in that pic are secret service dressed up has soldiers.

[sandnsea]

10. It's all dressup to George

He just never learned the meaning of real duty. Man of the people my hind-end.

[patricia92243]

13. Bush likes himself and others to wear pretend uniforms - remember?

[Stephanie]

15. He's kind of like Michael Jackson

in that way.

Likes to dress up in fake military costumes.

[Stephanie]

17. Wesley Clark got off the best line of the whole campaign about this:

"I guess that next thing we are going to hear is that the sailors told him to wear the flight suit and prance around on the aircraft carrier. This is a president who does not want to take accountability."

http://www.time.com/time/columnist/dickerson/article/0,9565,536170,00.html

[Karenina]

18. Tee-hee!!!

:kick:

[fujiyama]

20. I don't know whether...

to laugh or puke. We really are living in bizzaro world -- after all Bush claims that he's genuine and that's what the media keeps telling us.

I think firefighters are one of the keys to this campaign. This is a group that will show that Bush has abondened those that did sacrifice themselves on 9/11 -- in contrast to the AWOL chimp that has never sacrificed a single Goddamn thing his entire life.

[democrank]

21. Fake firefighters? Well now..

you`d think that Bush would rather hire a few real ones after closing down some fire stations and working so hard against overtime pay.

[City Lights]

22. Fake firefighters, fake president.

At least he's consistent.

[dusty64]

23. Kinda like the chimp in chief

pretending to be a soldier and a war hero. Do these guys use REAL people for anything? Every event is fake and scripted and they NEVER venture away from safe and handpicked audiences. Sure is a farcry from a REAL President I remember who used to plunge into crowds of actual citizens to meet and greet. An actually elected President who wasn't afraid of the People and had their best interests at heart, boy that would be nice to have again.

[Muddleoftheroad]

27. Another reason

Firefighters are government employees and are not supposed to use their uniforms as props for politics or other things. Various firefighters have found that out the hard way. Some because they used their uniforms to pose nekkid various places.

[Q]

28. Pictures of police and firefighters are used in the commercial media...

...all the time. It wouldn't be against any law or rule to use images of firefighters in the context of responding to 9-11.

- The point is that using these images implies some kind of support for Bush* from the firefighters who died and responded to the attacks. Reality is you would be hard pressed to find a real firefighter that supports the Bush* regime after he used them for political gain and then cut their funding.

[iverglas]

29. don't know about the US - but in Canada ...

WalMart used a Canadian Armed Forces family in one of its commercials (it's well known that they're underpaid, and they're therefore good fodder for WalMart). And the husband appeared in his uniform in the ad. I considered complaining ... but I figured somebody in the Armed Forces must have noticed, so it apparently wasn't a problem.

A good few years ago, the Ontario Medical Association (that's the voluntary association of doctors acting in their own interests, not the licensing body) was embroiled in a dispute about their fees with the provincial healthcare plan / government.

They ran a full-page ad in several newspapers, with a picture of a Dr. Williams, quoting her as saying how much she cared about her patients (and that's why she was withdrawing her services to pressure the govt for more money). She was young, black, of course female, and extremely attractive. At that time, the OMA would have had to scour the province to find a doctor who looked like that.

I called the OMA to inquire where this Dr. Williams practised. It took 3 calls before I got a call-back, from someone who acknowledged that Dr. Williams was a model, not a doctor.

I made a complaint to the federal office responsible for false advertising claims. Never did hear what became of it.

Bush hasn't quite gone that far, but the very fact that public servants really ought not to endorse political candidates in the public servants' capacity as public servants -- which it's hard not to infer they're doing if they appear in their publicly paid for uniforms -- might have suggested that getting somebody else to dress up in the uniforms for a political ad that exploits their public service for personal gain is just, well, tacky.

.