Elizabeth Bumiller is a WASTE of space!

Dutifully softening Bush's image with every fluff piece she writes. What the fuck is she doing in the NY Times, anyway? :grr:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/politics/02letter.html?ei=5094&en=1f2f93d085c1dc4c&hp=&ex=1115092800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=

When Laura Bush wisecracked at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner on Saturday night that she was a "desperate housewife" married to a president who was always sound asleep by 9 p.m., the popular first lady accomplished two things. She brought down a very tough house, and she humanized her husband, whose sagging poll numbers are no match for her own.

Judging from the laughter in the Washington Hilton ballroom at Mrs. Bush's words - "George's answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chain saw, which I think is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well" - Mrs. Bush has a future in political stand-up comedy.

Whether her cheeky one-liners will shore up her husband as he struggles with Social Security, gas prices and combative Democrats is another question entirely. But her zingers showed how much the White House relies on her to soften her husband's rough edges at critical moments, much as she did with her extensive travels and fund-raising in the 2004 campaign.

"The deprecation of her husband was eye-popping," said Kenneth M. Duberstein, a chief of staff in Ronald Reagan's White House, who had a front-row seat at the dinner. "Every husband and wife who hears the story that she told about him last night, that he's asleep at 9 p.m., can relate to that. And if you can get people to relate to you as president, it's a step forward. Last night George Bush became more likable because of his wife."

"Last night George Bush became more likable because of his wife."

uh huh. get your wife to read a few scripted gags, suddenly people are willing to destroy social security. check.

where Bumiller berated a questioner with the line "its not our job to question what the administration says!" ( or words very similar)...the audience in the room was stunned needless to say.



...and as for Xanax-lady....what she meant was ;

"George's answer to any problem (delete - at the ranch) is to cut it down with a chain saw, which I think is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well"

the candidates, "quick, what do you think of religion?" when there was something like half a minute left in the show. :eyes:

She's the master of the puff piece, the one assigned to 'humanize' the monsters. "Cheeky one-liners"..."zingers"...."Last night George Bush became more likable because of his wife"...

It's worked in the past, this narcotic drumbeat of false impressions, but by looking at the approval polls it's no longer effective. Perhaps that's why Bumiller's pieces are becoming more hysterical, more piled on, more ridiculous. You can't humanize evil.