Bush Calls Service Members to Thank Them

[Moloch]

Stationed on the farthest island in Alaska's Aleutians, Coast Guard Fireman Michael Joseph feels like he's living at the end of the earth. But he wasn't too far away to receive a Christmas Eve greeting from President Bush (news - web sites).

"First thing he said was, 'Michael, Merry Christmas," said Joseph, 24, of Tucson, Ariz., one of 20 men at the Coast Guard's Loran Station Attu. "It was great."

Placing calls from his mountaintop retreat at Camp David, Md., Bush talked to 10 members of the U.S. military around the world and in the United States to thank them for their service and share holiday greetings.

Joseph told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that his name was among those submitted for the honor of receiving a call from Bush. He said he was surprised and elated to learn two weeks ago that he would be among those talking to the president on Christmas Eve.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=703&e=6&u=/ap/20041224/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_calls

[MidwestTransplant]

1. Been funny if it said" Bush calls on service membes to thank him"

[seito]

2. I guess that makes it all worth it huh...

:puke:

[roguevalley]

3. They must be truly fearful of a military revolt. The truth about the

stability of our military must be worse than we know.

[cornermouse]

4. Too, too generous of him.

10 whole phone calls, hard work indeed.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Moderator]

8. You make a very good point and the pictures are haunting

however, all graphic images must be preceded by a warning.

Thanks.

[gordianot]

6. So he is just sending the Plastic Turkeys this year?

[despairing optimist]

7. And he called collect

Every spare federal dollar needs to go to the war effort and making the millionaires' tax cuts permanent.

[NYC Liberal]

9. Words mean nothing

unless they're backed up with ACTION! I would suggest getting some armor over there, but Herr Rumsfeld says that the tanks could get blown anyway. Oh well, who needs it anyway, right?

[0007]

10. junior should apologize to the troops for his lies and unnecessary

deaths.

[Last Lemming]

11. Does Bush seem to be

a lot more present in the news this year--compared to seasons past?

[Career Prole]

12. Oh, his arrogance knows no bounds!

"Joseph, who has been stationed on the Aleutian island for nearly nine months, awoke at 2:45 a.m. local time to prepare for the call at 4:15 a.m., which at Camp David was 8:15 a.m. EDT. The conversation lasted three or four minutes."

The lousy POS couldn't be troubled to wait a few hours and call the guy at a decent hour...hell no.
"I don't care what time it is in Alaska! I want to get these stupid phone calls knocked back right after my pop-tarts and choclick milk so I can play with my yo-yo for the rest of the day!"

[jody]

13. I’ll bet Bush didn’t call the wounded troops shown in the

The Memory Hole gallery of wounded WARNING, VERY VIOLENT PICTURES.

[xchrom]

14. go to the funerals, asshat!

[zann725]

15. Someone should've asked: "Where's my paycheck?" Or...

adequae food, and drinking water...or medical benefits once I leave active duty.

Please! He's they're Commander In Chief. No one's ALLOWED to really tell him how they feel. Wasn't it nice he called to listen to his own echo. Wow, what a Christmas gift to himself!

[Dem2theMax]

16. Wouldn't it have been priceless

if they had all hung up on him?

I know I would have.

[Skittles]

18. we wouldn't know if they did, now would we?

anyways, you can bet the soldiers selected for this piece of shit "honor" were carefully vetted.

[jayctravis]

17. I think there should be a rule...

During wartime the President should take one or two calls every *day* from servicemen and servicewomen. He *should* have to keep up with them and they should all have the opportunity to be on this list.

Yeah, ten in a row probably took a good chunk of his time, but he certainly could spare 10 minutes each morning to speak to someone there for his own information and knowledge.

All it would take would be one person to clue him in before scandals like Abu Ghraib were allowed to get out of control.

[NYC]

19. I doubt it took much time for the 10 phone calls.

Someone else dials, the soldier stays on hold, Bush speaks, hangs up, goes immediately to next soldier already on hold.

I doubt he spent much time at all.

[jayctravis]

21. Right, I forgot this is Bush we're talking about.

I meant for a thoughtful and caring President to make ten phone calls, speak, listen, converse, would take a good hour if not more to chat with ten people.

I didn't consider this was a probability that the calls went:

"hold for the President..."

<white house muzak>

Merrah Christmas (pause to consult list) Private Jones! Doin' a great job, sendin' armor fast as we can, if you see newsmen tell 'em that...Laura says hi we're all sittin' by the fire drinkin' schnaaps, willada people, mandate, goobah!"

[leesa]

20. Certainly was the VERY LEAST he could do.

How can people worship this thoughtless, uncompassionate POS.

[NYC]

22. I'm sure he pondered: "What is the very least I can get away with doing?"

What will improve my image without much effort?