Thursday, November 28, 2013

"Media still feasting on Bush ‘fake’ turkey claim; erroneous story still repeated 10 years on"

"It wasn’t exactly the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, but 10 years ago this week, Washington was consumed with another scandal, dubbed by one CNN newscaster as “Turkey-gate”: Was that a fake turkey President George W. Bush was photographed with during his first surprise visit with troops in Iraq?
The photo resulting from the visit was iconic — possibly history’s most famous picture of a cooked turkey. It’s certainly the most misunderstood. Despite being a real turkey, meant as a decoration for the chow line, Mr. Bush’s political opponents seized on it, erroneously claiming it was plastic.

In the years since, the bogus “fake turkey” story keeps churning, including slipping into 2004 New York Times and Boston Globe articles, making it into talk radio shows in 2005 and popping up in Washington Post and London Telegraph stories in 2006. To this day, it still creeps into print in letters to the editor in newspapers around the country.

“It’s a real theme in so many people’s minds, it’s almost got a religious aspect to it,” said Tim Blair, a columnist at The Daily Telegraph in Australia who has tracked the story over the past decade and said it has taken on a life of its own, playing on people’s perceptions of the former president. “If you’re of the anti-Bush faith, it’s a touchstone. It’s the book of turkey.”
The Washington Times

13 comments:

Unknown said...

What IS plastic and fake?
The ridiculous, unprofessional, hacktastic, democrat protection racket media.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Let's see.....possible fake turkey (it wasn't) delivered by the President to cheer up the men and women in a war zone,

versus...Obamacare, destroying the lives of millions of people who are being thrown off of their perfectly adequate insurance coverage and decimating the economic future of the entire United States all for political power gains.

Gee....I wonder which one the future people of the United States (if there are any and if the US still stands) will look back at and consider more important.

YoungHegelian said...

Prompted by his editor, Mr. Allen discovered the bird was a decoration, and said that led to the story looking at the way the White House was using imagery to promote its policies, which he said was the point of the story.

Using imagery to promote his policies! Oh, the humanity! That's just unheard of in American politics. How did we let this fiend get by with this stuff for 8 long years?

JAL said...

This is a Must Read

Ten Thanksgivings Ago

Don't bother trying to trash a man who has been gone 5 years. What a totally classless nasty nasty bunch.

Who would you rather spend Thanksgiving with? And which would rather spend Thanksgivng with you? (And why?)

JAL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JAL said...

And I hope all of you -- resting in a tryptophan induced coma or starting to dig in -- have a very blessed Thanksgiving.

For some this day is hard, or family far, but I am thankful for Lem and his co-conspirators (ooops, bloggers) and the rest of you guys (generic - so glad that's ok here) ;-)

You make me think. You make me laugh.

May you know God's blessings

john said...

Lying on a platter, that turkey would have been big enough to be seen on Sarah Palin's back porch all the way from Russia.

Theoretically.

Icepick said...

Sixty, this year I heard the turkey pardoned the President.

edutcher said...

Even then, they felt threatened by Dubya.

So they still have to try to destroy him.

Considering who they anointed as their Messiah, I'm not surprised.

ricpic said...

In answer to JAL's question, I'd rather spend Thanksgiving with Bush because he's decent and he loves the country. That said, his presidency, largely because he had no problem with big government, damaged the country, IMO.

Which begs the question as to why the communist Democrats and communist MSM continue to beat on him. The answer is the communist drive for total power. The "enemy" must be destroyed. Bush, as a face of the enemy, must be destroyed. Even though Bush, when he was president, and the present leaders of the Republican establishment, offered and offer the mildest possible opposition to the communists, he and they must be destroyed. It's that simple.

Chip Ahoy said...

When I read "10 years ago" I assumed the post would refer to the Blackfive item "Ten Thanksgiving Ago."

A very touching report by a soldier who was there. He describes the heightened activity. The sly introduction that threw all the soldiers off balance and had them roaring their approval. He emphasizes his respect and his awe for a commander in chief who takes seventeen hours to fly into a dangerous zone where a plane had been shot down the day before, to spend just a few hours with the men under his command. They all loved it, truly loved it and the writer was struck with the awareness that the cic loved every second of it too.

Spoiler: everybody cries.

Then seventeen hours to fly home. He says it was the best Thanksgiving of his life.

sakredkow said...

More proof that I'm a low-information voter. This is the first I ever heard of it.

Michael Haz said...

Come on, take it easy. The MSM has only had ten years to research this story. Give them a little more time.

The only time Obama visits the troops is when he lets them hold his umbrella.

GWB and Laura still meet nearly every aircraft that lands at DFW bring troops home from deployment. They stand in the crowd with everyone else, clapping and cheering. And nearly every soldier stops for a hug and a photograph.

Good people.