BUsh Visits Troops in Iraq for Thanksgiving
 

Have any of you seen this today on TV?

I think it is so great he has done this. It shoudl be an excellent morale booster for our troops there and around the world.

Obviously it had to have been done as a suprise for his safety........my only concern is his safety now while there and leaving :(

What are yall's thoughts on this wonderful gesture by the President?

I think it was great also.

As far as his safety, the visit wasn't announced until he was in the air on the way back to the US.

yeah i saw that after I posted :)

While it was a wonderful gesture, I think it's a shame that the most powerful man in the world had to sneak in and out of country that's occupied by our own troops. :(

I can definitely see the need for the secrecy for Bush's visit to the troops, afterall, they are in a war zone. I thought it was awesome that he went to visit the troops. What a morale booster.

I thought it was a great thing to do, and applaud it, but I will absolutely hate it if the video shows up on campaign commercials.

I agree, if it does show up in campaign commercials it was just a pr move on his part and not much for the troops. If it never ends up in commericals or ads I applaud him then.

if his reason for visiting the troops WAS that he felt bad that they couldn't see their loved ones at Thanksgivingv then I applaud what he did. I agree with Deltalum though, if it shows up in campaign ads then i will despise this president more than i already do.

Agreed

I thought it was a great gesture! I think it shows his sincere heart for those men and women in our armed forces.

Even though I like Bush, I do not think this trip needs to be part of his ads for reelection.

Thumbs up for Dubya!
 

It will be sooo hard for Bush haters to commend him for this move. Whether he did it for PR purposes (which i doubt) or just to see them..he still made a very good gesture. I doubt he'd go through all that just to get re-elected.. People that Hate Bush are going to hate him even more after this because he did something good. This won't change the minds of the good ol' Dubya haters

I like Bush and I'd like to think that he had sincere motives. He put his life in danger by flying into Bagdad, I can't imagine that he would do this JUST to be re-elected.

Re: Thumbs up for Dubya!
 

Maybe I've been around too long and am too cynical, but tonight all of the news organizations (even my conservative friends at FOX) are asking the same question.

I sure hope we're all wrong -- but unfortunately, I don't think so.

It's also interesting to me that FOX was the pool (only TV organization allowed to go along).

Now I don't like Bush much at all, and don't agree with most of the things he does. That said, I think this was a great gesture, for the young soldiers spending Thanksgiving away from their families. You know it had to have meant a lot to them and boosted their morale while they're away in a tough situation. In regards to this, good for Bush!

Don't ya'll see? This stuff doesn't have to show up on a commercial. Look at the pub it's getting without the campaign having to spend a dime.

Regardless of the President's intentions, this is great publicity, it's free and you'll probably never see it in a commercial. You don't need to. News organizations will run footage of this and his landing on the carrier for free throughout his election.

Of course, I think it was also a great gesture. Him announcing he was showing up would probably not really put his life so much in danger as the troops in his vicinity.

And what better place for the Commander in Chief to be than with his troops in the Area of Operations? The security measures were absolutely appropriate (one does not offer the bad guys a target of opportunity) and his action was superb. Having been deployed there I can tell you that the troops will have been delighted by his visit. The major combat phase was handled with great skill and success and now the "hard soldiering" phase of rooting out the relatively small number of die-hard thugs will have to go on as expected by all of us who served on active duty. These soldiers who are doing the really hard job deserve the morale boost they received by the President's visit. I salute them and I salute President Bush for his praiseworthy action. God bless our troops and God bless our Commander in Chief.
dekeguy
Captain, USAR
Home now but ready if needed again.

Excellent post. I'm glad that you have returned safely :)

Well, this morning on my local news a comment was made about the administration hoping the videos of the visit would help the ratings back home.

I agree with what was already said. They don't have to wait until the campaign to show the footage, the news agencies are doing it all for them, for free.

Oh, big deal. This is called the power of the incumbancy. Every single presidency does this.

My husband called yesterday...he's stationed at the Baghdad Airport. He was told to go and stand out at the runway and to wait for further direction. He said he almost pissed his pants when he realized what was going on!

Regardless of a 'publicity stunt' or not, it was a GREAT morale booster for the guys there! I think it says a lot to miss the majority of a holiday to be overseas for two hours!

aj

ajuhdg, my friend is also stationed there, along with a bunch of other people I know from school. On one of the photos that was on the Fox News site, we got to see a picture of her taking a picture of him! :)

And that doesn't make it right. That's the reason that it's very difficult to defeat an incumbant. Is that fair? Is it OK to use taxpayer dollars for that kind of publicity?

On the other hand, Dekeguy is absolutely right -- I have nothing but admiration for the CinC visiting the troops. I just won't like it if the "news" footage shows up in campaign spots.

I think it will, because the PR gained right now will be forgotten a few months down the road, and I will bet that there will be Republican commercials showing this trip.

Nor does it make it wrong. It simply is what it is. Unless the power of the incumbancy can be altered, without violating the First Amendment, or by diminishing necessary statuatory powers, this is more of a non-issue than any thing else.

See, in my opinion, it's questionable.

Given the use of Air Force One, all of the support folks, the security, etc., this costs the taxpayers lots of big bucks. By the way, that's true of every campaign trip, so I'm not just picking on this instance here. Although, I seem to recall that during the actual "campaign" season, the party has to repay some or all of those expenses. Anyone know if that's true?

on yahoo news I was able to see a picture of a friend of mine too! It made my thanksgiving.

Yes it is. I believe that it is a very small fraction of the operating costs of the two VC-25s (747s) used as Airforce One. The cost, if I remember correctly, is roughly equal to what charter flights carrying a similar number of people would cost in the civilian sector.

I know that the VC-25 is a very economical and high tech aircraft, however that cost is only a small part of the equation. There is also the cost of the other Air Force transports that take the Marine One copters and the limos, and the secret service cars and SUV's -- to say nothing of the WHCA (White House Communications Agency) and armed forces communications folks, etc.

I've televised every president (excepting Bush II) since Nixon, and have seen how many of our public servents travel with them. Many more than with a candidate, so by simply talking about the costs related to the aircraft is not apples and apples.

Of course they all have to go with the president, but what I don't understand is when a trip is clearly labled a "campaign" trip, outside of the campaign season (let's say the President is giving a speech to try to get some Senator elected) why we put up with it.

If the governor of Colorado was using state aircraft to fly all over the state to give campaign speeches, there would be hell to pay.

I agree. My brother has been stationed over there since March and was only home for 2 weeks and sent back to Iraq. He called shortly after Bush left and he was absolutely ecstatic about the whole thing. It just goes to show, if the troops can be away from their families on the holidays, so can Bush.

*edited typo

Good for President Bush and good for Senator Clinton and the Senator from Rhode Island who visited troops in Afghanistan over thanksgiving. :)