Thoughtful Preparations: Media Spin Blog

So, I’m listening to the President’s post 2006 election press conference today on the radio, a bit more intently than usual, because I was assigned to write a news story about it for the Ohlone Network News. Much of the press Q & A seemed to be directed around what message the President had received from the sweeping Democratic Party victories.

As W is known to do, he lapsed into Texas talkin’ and mentioned this isn’t my first rodeo and it was a thumpin’. Amusing, colorful talk. Here is the NPR.org transcript:

“I mean, look, this is a close election. Race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close, it was a thumpin’. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together. That’s what they expect. And as I said in my opening comments, there comes responsibility with victory, and that’s what Nancy Pelosi told me this morning. She said in the phone call she wants to work together, and so do I. And so that’s how you deal with it.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo. In other words, this is not the first time I’ve been in a campaign where people have expressed themselves and in different kinds of ways. But I have learned that if you focus on the big picture, which in this case is our nation and issues we need to work together on, you can get stuff done.”

Here is the version from whitehouse.gov:

Look, this was a close election. If you look at race by race, it was close. The cumulative effect, however, was not too close. It was a thumping. But nevertheless, the people expect us to work together. That’s what they expect. And as I said in my opening comments, there comes responsibility with victory. And that’s what Nancy Pelosi told me this morning. She said in the phone call she wants to work together. And so do I. And so that’s how you deal with it.

This isn’t — this isn’t my first rodeo. In other words, I haven’t — this is not the first time I’ve been in a campaign where people have expressed themselves, and in different kinds of ways. But I have learned that if you focus on the big picture, which, in this case, is our nation and issues we need to work together on, you can get stuff done.

Not a great difference, but let’s face it, -ing is not used in Texas ranch slang speech. So, which information source do you really trust?

Funny, because later that night, a student in the news writing class called my use of the quote “totally innacurate.” It’s clear that Bush and many Republican faithful are still in a stubborn state of shock, awe and denial. Tough when the shoe is on the other foot, ain’t it pardner? Yee haaw!

BTW, gotta love the Huffington Post headline: “IT WAS THE WAR, STUPID…”

Plus Bye, bye Santorum.

No more “stay the course.” The American people voted yesterday to clean up the corrupt, unaccountable GOP Congressional war machine mess. In search of diversion, Republicans turned their attention to Britney Spears divorce of Kevin Federline. It’s a relief to see the American system still works. This is a vote for a movement towards government accountability and a more peaceful world.

Army Times newspaper editorial, “Time For Rumsfeld To Go”