KAREN HUGHES begins job of "repairing America's image"

[Bluebear]

Karen Hughes, seen here, charged by President George W. Bush with refashioning the tarnished US image abroad, promised to listen to the world's fears and dreams (AFP/Andrew Councill)


Bush Confidante Begins Task of Repairing America's Image Abroad
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
Published: August 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 - For years, President Bush has called on Karen P. Hughes, his confidante from Texas, to help devise replies to attacks from political foes. Now Ms. Hughes, installed at the State Department, plans to set up "rapid response" teams to counter bad news and defend administration policies around the globe.

The teams, to be set up in the Middle East and elsewhere, are one of several initiatives being prepared by Ms. Hughes, who took office this week as under secretary of public diplomacy. The initiatives are part of what Bush administration officials say will be an aggressive drive to repair America's poor image abroad, particularly in Muslim countries.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an interview this week that the units would "work to deal with misinformation and misinterpretation." During the war in Afghanistan, Ms. Rice said, the administration discovered that it had to rebut "all kinds of lies about what we were doing."

For instance, Ms. Rice said, the administration discovered that allegations of Koran desecration at the Guantánamo Bay detention center, particularly what turned out to be an unfounded report of a Koran being flushed down a toilet, were spread throughout the media in Muslim countries before the United States could respond....

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/politics/21diplo.html

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Yeah just tweak the image stuff and it'll be all good.

[Bluebear]

2. It's just a "perception problem", doncha know. nt

[murielm99]

3. Is this satire? nt

[Bluebear]

9. You would think.

But, no.

[Generic Other]

4. "Misinformation and misinterpretation"?

I'm confused. Don't they already do this 24/7??

[TomInTib]

5. Yeah, well...I think that she is the man for the job! n/t

[annabanana]

6. You can fix it in Marketing...

seems to be their mantra. They've taken "the media is the message" and taken it to "the message is everything"

Reality is not relevant, anywhere anymore.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

30. Catchy new phrases needed to market the war product to the war consumer

[bpilgrim]

7. FREEDOM?!?

http://news.globalfreepress.com

peace

[Solly Mack]

8. sending a Bush mouthpiece to undo damage caused by Bush?

Yeah, that'll work.

[Burried News]

10. Gonna take a lot of Superglue and Duct tape but at least she's

not going to have to explain any presidential philandering. :sarcasm:

Err Karen Honey - are you sure Judy Judy Judy is perfectly happy?

[longship]

11. She can start...

by completing her gender reassignment surgery.

(I'll leave to the imagination which way it's gonna go.)
:rofl:

[Burried News]

16. Whichever way it goes - she gets those mits on you, you are

going to hit those high notes like you've never been able to before.

Funny post.

[blondeatlast]

12. Ms. Hughes; the world is not on the e-mail list of the Heritage Foundation

and the 700 Club.

It's going to take a bit more spit and polish than the entire Disney Corporation can muster to do that job.

You ain't got the goods, sister K. Until the shrubbery's removed at the roots, no one, no one, no one does.

[LoKnLoD]

13. She and Ann Coulter

make me want to vomit....

[pinto]

14. Oh, she's a publicity agent. Who woulda thought? All spin all the time.

Seriously, though, I wondered where she was in the scheme of things. When Karen shows up, you know things are a little rocky for Bushco, PR wise....

[punpirate]

15. If one looks at her absolute devotion to Bush...

... it's almost a certainty that she conceives of this job as rehabilitating Bush's image in the world, and that, friends, is a hopeless task....

[TaleWgnDg]

17. Karen Hughes brings visions of something ultimately gone bad . . .

.

Karen Hughes brings visions of something ultimately gone bad . . . errr . . . gone "badder!"

Indeed.

She's the quintessential horrific role model for all that is female! For example, she appears to be bright; however, she wastes her intelligence by pontificating grandiosity for the Emperor Without Clothes, as well as talking down to her audience. And, if Dumbya and Karl are using Hughes as some kind of bottled genie then I suggest they are rubbing the wrong vase!

Nothing but f*ck-ups in this Bush Administration! Surreal, all of them.



.

[Al-CIAda]

18. Catapult the propaganda! nt

"Rapid response' team -getting OT but this reminds me of Kerry's alleged 'rapid response' team. Was that a joke or what? Seriouslly, did they even exist? I always wondered why their preferred weapon of choice to fight rocket launchers was the musket.

[existentialist]

19. Baghdad

Send her to Baghdad right away; we have a little image problem there.

[Cleita]

24. Doesn't she have a son who should be the right age for

signing up soon?

[Daphne08]

20. Our best hope and prayer is that she doesn't do more damage

than has already been done!

Why don't they hire reputable, unbiased Middle Eastern experts? Oh, wait, that would be logical, wouldn't it!

[Raster]

21. executive wet-nurse to the beast. her homey texiana persona

hides the fact she's vicious as they come, completely without scruples and extremely loyal to bushco*. I wonder if, like condi, karen has fantasies about w?

[ElectroPrincess]

22. Oh yes, I feel so much better now ... (head spins 360 and spews pea soup)

Wasn't she the wife of the old Senator in "The Manchurian Candidate"? If not, then the role was mis-cast.

What a heartless, propaganda spinning hag!

[LouisianaLiberal]

23. Leo Strauss would love these guys.

I think these "noble lies" are intended to keep the American populace compliant. I doubt that they care what most of the world thinks.

[Cleita]

26. He was the cause of all these guys.n/t

[annabanana]

31. Exactly right LouisianaL

All the handmaidens of the PNAC fear the people. They are entirely in the camp that believes you can fool all of the people, all of the time..

Is it a personality disorder, hardwired in the brain, that makes some people yearn for Empire? Something that normal people see as despicable?

(Oh, and Welcome to DU :toast: )

[whistle]

25. Will apply the principles established by the mentor of the....

...neo-conservative movement in America:

[tocqueville]

27. what turned out to be an unfounded report of a Koran being flushed down a

UNFOUNDED ?

:wtf:

it has been proved that the Koran has been desecrated MANY times in GITMO, Iraq and Afghanistan as a psychological pressure method, at least when it wasn't pure sadism...

[Oilwellian]

28. I can't wait...

to see the team she dispatches when the rest of the Abu Ghraib photos and videos are released. We're just so misunderstood by the rest of the world. :eyes:

[txindy]

29. My eyes!

They buuuuurn! Please, next time include a warning that a picture is included.

So, public perception of Junior's crimes. Right, good ol' Karen is going to manipulate the press around the world, force them to lie, and make everything that's been done look like a positive. They're going to spend an awful lot of money buying all the media in the world, aren't they? Because otherwise....

[mopaul]

32. lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig

[SoCalDem]

33. Karen is gonna convince the cowboy to resign?

:evilgrin: