The Reaction: The terror campaign continues

By Creature

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the TV, just when you thought the terror-talk train had left the station, just when you thought it was time for the media to bring the national dialogue back around to the failed war in Iraq, the Bush administration stays on schedule, stays on message, stays in control of the news cycle, and most importantly, stays the course with their terror agenda.

Here is a glimpse of what this week's story-line will bring courtesy of MSNBC. Your host is Contessa Brewer, your White House correspondent is Jeannie Ohm, and your writer/director is Karl Rove. The spot begins with a clip from the president's Saturday address and leads into this bit of ass-kissing from your friendly GE affiliate:

BREWER: NBC's Jennie Olm is at the White House. Now, Jennie, we know that terrorism really is topping the president's agenda today, he's going to meet with a couple of key U.S. allies and he's always considered allies a very important part of the war on terror.

OHM: That's right, Contessa. In fact, if you look back, the president started this month by giving a series of speeches on the war on terror, well, now he's taking part in a series of meetings with key allies in that struggle. On Friday he meet with Pakistan's president, this Tuesday he'll meet with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and then he'll be sitting down mid-week with both these leaders to talk about the common goals in the area. He'll also try to smooth relations with the neighbors. Afghanistan has become increasingly critical Pakistan for not doing enough to crack down on the Taliban coming in into that country. In fact, Afghanistan has been dealing with a resurgence of militants, so much so that NATO is now considering sending more troops to that area.

Not only do we get Bush-is-stong-on-terror talk, but we also get the Bush-as-statesmen story-line. Our president relies on his allies (unless they're not "with us"). Our president will "smooth over" a dispute between neighbors (but he won't "smooth over" our dispute with Iran). I swear Karl Rove has this terror message mapped out right up to November 7th. Day by day, cycle by cycle, the script has been written. Whether it's a bogus torture fight in the Senate (and yes, I'm fully in the "it was all staged" camp) or a "bomb you into the stone-age" comment (and yes, I'm convinced Bush is pleased Musharraf said this, it makes Bush look strong), it's all part of the play and, so far, nobody has forgotten their lines.