WP: Inauguration Gives Troops High Profile

[kskiska]

In Wartime Celebration, Special Ball to Honor Fighters in Iraq, Afghanistan

Saturday, December 11, 2004; Page A01

A major component of President Bush's second inaugural celebration will be a Commander in Chief Ball to honor troops who have just returned from Afghanistan and Iraq or are about to be deployed, inaugural committee officials said yesterday.

About 2,000 guests will be invited to the Jan. 20 ball, one of the highlights of an inauguration that promises to be the most expensive and the most secure of any. The Commander in Chief Ball will reaffirm that Bush is a wartime president, one of the major themes of his reelection campaign.

Inaugurations have historically been a reflection of the president's personality or events of the day. Abraham Lincoln stayed almost unnoticed at the Willard Hotel the night before he was sworn in; Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath in a business suit; Jimmy Carter walked the parade route instead of taking a limo; and the Americans held hostage in Iran were released on the day of Ronald Reagan's first inauguration.

(snip)

The war has also given protesters a major reason to come to the inauguration. Protest organizers predict a massive outpouring of dissent, saying that Bush's Nov. 2 victory has galvanized an array of activists from across the country. Marches, street theater and civil disobedience are part of the plans, which are still being fine-tuned, they said. They said tens of thousands -- some said hundreds of thousands -- will be on the streets Jan. 20, fueled by their opposition to the war in Iraq and the administration's policies on civil liberties, the environment and other causes.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56180-2004Dec10.html

[Just Me]

1. So, are we protecting US or those who fail to represent US?

Think about it.

[Qanisqineq]

2. Where's my invitation?

My husband served in Iraq, dammit.

I guess this is his way of "supporting the troops". He always puts them in photo-ops but doesn't do any actual supporting. That's what they are to him, cannon fodder and cool props.

[MADem]

18. Unless you are still on active duty

...these bums won't give you no steeenkin' invitation. But if you ARE on active duty, you can march in the parade, you can stand in the gutter on the street keeping the 'peoples' in their place on the sidewalk, you can pick up the litter before and after the event, and you will get a lousy eval for your trouble. I feel for all of the "volunteers" who are usually poor bastards who get pulled, protesting, from their workcenters to go do that ugly, horrible detail. It's slave labor, thankless, grinding, stupid.

Wonder if it will rain again?

[Swamp Rat]

3. Bush&Co might want to hold off on the invitations.

It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings - there's still one more aria called Ohio!

[zann725]

6. I hear 'pricey' invites to Gala afterward are NON-refundable!

That's smart!

[Swamp Rat]

8. They must be Ferengi.

[SodoffBush]

4. * is busy covering up Rummy's stupid comments about lack of armor

If he throws a Ball for 2,000 about to deploy, he'll get some good photo-op mileage out of it and all will be forgiven in the RW soldier's eyes.

A prom in exchange for armored humvees--sounds like fair trade to your average RW soldier.

[Mokito]

5. * says; "Dance with the Devil! Before you go and die for him."

PRINCE OF DARKNESS (By Electric Hellfire Club)

I always spell Satan with a dollar sign
If there's anything I want I just make it mine
I've devoted my life to the power of evil
So c'mon Daddio and...
Dance with the Devil...dance with the Devil

The pact that we all made...
The price that we all paid
The path we chose to take...
The choice we chose to make

To walk the line between success and disaster
To gain the favor of our lord and master...

And this is what the Devil really does!

The price of damnation is always high...
Sometimes it means someone has to die

Do you question all the things that you've been told
About the...dark prince to whom you've pledged your soul?
You hope and pray that he was on the level
But sometimes you just have to...
Dance with the Devil...dance with the Devil
Dance with the Devil...dance with the Devil

[zann725]

7. I've got just TWO words for Shrub re: January 20...

"President Kerry." :bounce:

[JI7]

9. are those 2000 guests going to be the soldiers ?

[saigon68]

15. They can't afford $10,000.00 a plate.

They can however, be nice little sheep and help Hailliburton strip mine the taxpayer's pockets.

[daleo]

10. Is it time to play Mr. Dressup?

Bush can put on one of his cool uniforms again. Before the party he can bounce a balloon globe around, like that fellow in Chaplain's "The Great Dictator".

[rodeodance]

11. I think it plays on the tragedy of this war--putting the troops on display

at his party!!!!!!

[daleo]

12. Yes, they are props to Bush's ego

And to Rove's political calculations - nothing more.

[teryang]

13. Running out of 911 mileage-new class of exploitees available

Will the blind, legless and armless be attending? How about the dead? I think the walls should be festooned with pictures of dead Iraqi women and children.

[bluestateguy]

14. Shameless

The troops do not need a ball in Washington. They need armored vehicles, better access to health care services, and end to backdoor draft policies like stop loss and IRR callups. Most of all, THEY NEED TO BE BROUGHT HOME.

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. May I suggest a protest of 1500 coffins

or however many of the poor sods Bush sent to Iraq will be dead by that time? Remind the war monger of what he's doing to the grunts he thinks he leads in his oh-so-fetching military fashions?

[goclark]

17. yes, yes coffins

On the road that leads from the airport to the ancy hotels.
Let them see what they have done.
If the parade is in the streets they will never see the coffins because they will be wining and dining close to the white house.

[MADem]

19. Followed by thousands of protesters

...waving prosthetic arms and legs.