George & Condi's Excellent Vacation...(reporter's diary ... Aug 6, 01')

[SoCalDem]

Click the picture of the Brush-cutter-par-excellence to read the whole story.. This is from a reporter who was assigned to cover his "Texas Vacation" in Aug of 2001.. See if you can gauge the "intensity" of a man who was interested in fighting terrorism, or preventing 3000 deaths...

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AUGUST 6


Getty Images
A sign at the Coffee Station restaurant in Crawford welcomes President Bush and his wife Laura to town for their vacation.

4:50 p.m.

On the case

You may think covering the president is glamorous. Sitting at a folding table in a school
gym on a scorching August day in central Texas, I'd have to say you're wrong.

SEE IT NOW

Video Bush speaks to miners, families
Video courtesy of AP. (Requires Real Player)

When President Bush heads out on one of his extended visits to the Prairie Chapel ranch, reporters wince.
It means hour after hour between the basketball hoops and modest bleachers waiting for dribbles of news. The White House sets up a press center in the gym - one of, if not the, largest buildings in Crawford
and newspaper, TV and wire service reporters haul out their laptops and try to get comfortable.

The very things that seem to draw Bush to Crawford are those that make it dreary for the media,
most of whom are big city dwellers. Crawford is truly Big Sky Country, a flat landscape marked by sparse trees
and grazing cattle. The main intersection in the town of 705 people is marked by a flashing yellow light.
There are no hotels and only one diner.

Reporters stay in Waco, about half an hour away. The official hotel for the trip is a Hilton,
and the benefits to staying there are maps to Crawford, signs telling you what time you
need to report to the lobby for the next day's trip (when there is one) and, today, cookies
and hats proclaiming, "Waco: 43's neighbor."

For reporters, constantly terrified of missing the news of the day, there is also a certain sense of
security about staying at the same hotel as everyone else. There is also spillover into two neighboring
hotels, and with some of the town's nicest restaurants and bars within walking distance, the press largely
stays in a 3-block radius in Waco, except for the daily forays to Crawford.

The president and I both arrived in Crawford this afternoon, him on Air Force One
and me by car. I haven't seen him, and it is entirely possible I will not in the week
that I am here to cover him. I will report on what he says and does while he is here,
but I will find much of that out from his staff or from whatever reporter has pool duty
when Bush ventures off the ranch or chooses to hold a news conference.

Glamorous, huh?

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AUGUST 7


President Bush, center, shakes hands with the crowd after arriving in Jackson, Miss., today.

8:20 p.m.
Softball and margaritas

The press corps softball game was distinguished from the average game at the park in two respects: it was played in the somewhat daunting Baylor stadium and a local TV crew was filming it.

After watching a few innings of balls in the parking lot, arguments over who was up and confusion over whose cell phone was ringing, I was ready for a margarita - the next stop of the night. I didn't play. Chalk it up to flashbacks of getting picked last in elementary school gym classes.

5:45 p.m.

Texas cookin'

There may not be much in the way of news around here, but there sure is a lot of food. Heavy, fried, central Texas food.

Everywhere I go, someone hands me a cookie.

In the press center is an enormous freezer case of Blue Bell ice cream, free for the taking, along with all the Dr Pepper - invented in Waco - you can drink.

For lunch today I went to the now-world-famous Coffee Station, Crawford's only restaurant and a favorite of the president's. They also do the catering at the Crawford press center, so I'd had the food but not the flavor of the 15-table combined restaurant and gas station.

The food - mostly burgers and chicken fried steak - comes in baskets with drinks served in Styrofoam cups. The walls are decorated with Bush's photos and autographs. Most of the lunch crowd is tourists, owner Kirk Baird said. The locals come at night when it's quieter.

I asked one local who was there whether the novelty of sharing a home town with the president is wearing off. He joked that the only thing he is tired of is answering reporters' questions.

Like every other business in town, Coffee Station employees are inundated with requests for directions to Bush's ranch. They used to hand out maps, but the Secret Service asked them to stop.

I'm not the only one with little to do. It is so dull around here that I've attracted some helpers in writing this. They asked not to be identified but said the road kill around Crawford and hairy spiders "near" the ranch were the most newsworthy part of their day.



Associated Press
Secret Service agents, joined by a police officer, left, wait at a Waco airport for President Bush to arrive by helicopter from his ranch.

1:40 p.m.

Hurry up and wait ...

Between the photos of the president and stuffed elephants wearing Crawford T-shirts for sale at a local shop, is a T-shirt that summarizes, my life this week:

"Hurry up and wait The Western White House Press Corps Crawford, Texas"


10:00 a.m.

Staying in Waco

As if my chances of seeing the president during his "working vacation" weren't slim enough, this morning we are in different states.

SEE IT NOW

Video: Bush signs trade promotion bill
Video courtesy of AP. (Requires Real Player)

I'm here in my Waco hotel room - from which I just saw two people riding horses down the sidewalk 10 stories below - and President Bush is in Mississippi.

Doubtful of news coming out of the brief trip, my editors decided to skip it. I thought it would be strange to be left behind, but I'm enjoying it so far. The rest of the press corps had to leave around 6 a.m., while I slept in. Now I'm heading to Crawford to talk to some locals, and I'll meet up with everyone at the gym turned press filing center this afternoon.

This evening there is a much-anticipated press corps softball game. The president is not expected to participate.

---

[buycitgo]

1. most excellent

I remember LOTS and LOTS of very scathing commentary, artcles, Letterman/Leno gags about this.

he was bottoming out as of 9/10 in the public opinion polls, and his vacation was PROMinent in peoples' lowering opinion of him

there's got to be a goldmine to be accessed along these lines, and should, indeed be revivified, as that amazingly titled PDB gets the prominence it deserves

Kerry's admen must be SALIVATING over that

Majority Report is commenting on how UTTERLY ludicrous condi's constention that it was a "historical" document

of course

WTF is the deal with DAILY brief? why on earth would they bother with historical mentions during daily briefings?

when are the media going to take off on that?

will they start to smell blood in the water?

[buycitgo]

2. ahhhh, for the gold old days

— Six months after taking office, President Bush will begin a month-long vacation Saturday that is significantly longer than the average American's annual getaway. If Bush returns as scheduled on Labor Day, he'll tie the modern record for presidential absence from the White House, held by Richard Nixon at 30 days. Ronald Reagan took trips as long as 28 days.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/august01/2001-08-03-bush-vacation.htm

[buycitgo]

3. from same story.......would you put this in a new dictionary as an

example of the word "ironic?"

He'll receive daily national security updates and handle the duties of the Oval Office from his 1,583-acre spread near Crawford.

[buycitgo]

from his "resume"

First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in U.S. history.

After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

[SoCalDem]

8. Presided....... Well That's what he thought Presidents do

:)

[Oddman]

4. Yahoo . . . Vacation at last!!!

“President” Bush Takes a Vacation . . .
http://www.arts-america.com/vacation.htm
Did our fearless “leader” fall asleep at the wheel of terrorism during 9/11?

[buycitgo]

5. remember that song, "My boyfriend's back"

"If I were you, I'd take a permanent vacation"

time for you to GO, chimpster

[buycitgo]

6. Do you get the idea that Bush's definition of 'vacation' comes

from the same dictionary as Clinton's definition of 'sex'?" —Jay Leno

"President Bush is leaving the White House for a vacation. He's taking a month off. Yeah, take a break, you deserve it. But aides say that while on vacation, Bush will continue to make two or three speeches a week to make sure that the market keeps crashing." —Jay Leno

"Things do not look good. The economy's gone south, we're at war, people are out of work. In fact, George Bush Sr. picked up the newspaper and thought, 'Hey, I must still be president.'" —Jay Leno

"In a speech yesterday, President Bush vowed to do whatever it takes to keep the economy strong. In fact he said that if he needs to, he will take vacation for another three months." —Jay Leno

"President Bush hosted something called the President's Economic Forum down in Waco, Texas today. Waco. Apparently Jonestown and Guyana were booked up. -Jay Leno

"The FBI has issued a new terrorist warning that al Qadea may be planning a spectacular attack intended to damage our economy. Well I have news for them, they are a little too late. This is where President Bush is smart. Two years ago he did a pre-emptive strike to make sure our economy couldn't be any worse than it is right now."
—Jay Leno

[enough]

7. kick (nt)

.

[rumguy]

9. hangin' at the pig farm

what bugs me is that the reporter called it "big sky country", the only big sky country is Montana, my home state...

Crawford sounds like a moonscape...