Surprise Front Page RE: Surprise Visit

[Atman]

Here in Hartford, the Tribune Media Company owns all the news...the state's only two major dailies, three teevee stations, plus the so-called "alternative" weekly that covers from NY to VT (I always wondered: If the Trib Company thought Cheney's dirty nuke dealings were news enough for the front page of its alt paper, why did it never show up in its mainstream paper? Never mind...I think I know the answer).

Anyway, today I grabbed our morning rag and was fairly shocked at what I saw...the big bold banner headline screamed ARMY: PLAN FOR IRAQ FLAWED.

There is a big color picture of a beaming Bush with his arm around an also-beaming black female enlistee. But get this...EVERYONE esle in the pic, and there are dozens and dozens of soldiers in the AP pic...everyone else except for one guy half cut off on the left edge, is scowling at Bush. One guy right next to him has a death-glare on Bush that should have concerned Bush's SS guys. It is truly an amazing picture, and probably not Rove's first choice. Underneath the pic, a small headline below the fold read "Bush's Surprise Visit to Baghdad."

And this in Repubican Connecticut, where our governor is a golfing criminal with Kenny Boy and was in line for a cabinet postition with Bush, until it became clear that he was even more damaged and corrupt that Lay...approval rating at near 20%, found to have a major state contractor practically set up shop in his office, getting no-bid contracts for state work...a mess.

Maybe finally some backlash. Maybe just one editor pissed off he was working on Thanksgiving. Either way, not what I expected!

[bbernardini]

1. Link to online version?

I would love to see this.

[Atman]

3. Not the same in online version

Tribune also owns the ctnow.com web site, which doubles as the Hartford Courant's home page. I just checked it...nothing even remotely like the print version. Later I'll take out the digital cam and take a pic of the front page for you. It really is something. Nothing like the glowing wonderfulness everyone else seems to be reporting.

[AlinPA]

2. Bush's Iraq trip dominates Pitt Post-Gazette today

Just like something out of "1984".

[booksenkatz]

4. I saw that pic last night

and I am soooo glad you posted this, because I was also very intrigued by the scowls in that photo. That one speaks volumes!

Upon viewing the slideshow at Yahoo!, I can't decide if the sockpuppet was ensuring he was standing with an African-American at all times because it is so totally self serving, or if it just demonstrates how minorities are overrepresented among the cannon fodder? Which is it? Both?

[Cocoa]

5. I think some of the scowling guys were SS guys

Especially if they looked older than most of the troops. I saw some footage on C-span, there were a few people moving Bush through the crowd looking very scary.

I did think that in general the kids looked depressed and exhausted, but not in a threatening way, just depressed and exhausted. There were some smiles, a little bit of excitement, but I think Rove wouldn't want that footage to be seen widely, it was pretty sad to watch.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Is this the pic?

I bet these soldiers weren't allowed to carry their weapons while W was hanging around.


Here's another pic that sort of odd:



See the guy in the foreground. What is that thing running down the back of his neck? It seems that some of the scowlers might be security people? Even among a hand picked audience W still needs to be surrounded by security?

[UTUSN]

7. TYBB

A couple of Turn-Your-Back-on-Shrub types, too---------hey! It's open for interpretation.

[Atman]

8. Yeah, the top pic's the one... n/t

.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Yeah, he must be SS

From the Drudge Report 'reporter's rough notes':
"Reporters try on camouflage, Velcro-front "ballistic vests." Keil, adjusting his, asked: "Anyone have a tailor?" Much of the staff changed into camouflage tops and bottoms, for security and to blend in and not spoil the pictures."

http://www.drudgereport.com/flashbb.htm

To give them their due, I doubt the audience was hand-picked. If it had been, word might have leaked out that someone was expected. Still, the Commander-in-Chief shouldn't need security in his own army...

[TomNickell]

10. Local headline...

In the very conservative paper: 'Bush Sneaks into Iraq'. Lead story.

Not sure whether anything was intended, but not the most heroic phrase.

[ima_sinnic]

11. here is a jpeg of the Hartford Courant front page

from Today's Front Pages, which shows a picture of the front pages of 238 newspapers from around the world each day--also linked to in my web site, in my sig line

good one Atman!

[zls44]

12. Glad to see more CTDems

Like to know I'm not the only one suffering in the state...

[Atman]

13. Surprise Front Page Redux

Okay, so today the Hartford Courant offered equal time...

The above-the-fold headline:

Bush's Trip Quiets Rivals: Perilous Journey To Boost Moral Difficult to Criticize.


Several 'graphs of ass-kissing and comments about hapless democrats follow.

The real editors must have picked up their Thurdsday papers and dropped a giblet at the negative headlines on Thanksgiving, so they had to make it up for the team. Mind you, this isn't a wire service story, it is by the Courant's "Bureau Chief," whatever that is. I think of The Daily Show, where every correspondent is the "chief" of whatever type of story they are reporting on.

Sheesh.