NYT: Bush Confidante Finds Latest Role to Be Uphill Battle (Karen Hughes)

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/26/politics/26diplo.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1135617902-9QUbcqt+TQheHMwx4zWxuw&pagewanted=print

Bush Confidante Finds Latest Role to Be Uphill Battle

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 - Eager for a chance to spread good news from Iraq, Karen P. Hughes, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, sent a team to Baghdad last month to promote Iraq's elections to the world's news media. This past week, at a senior staff meeting, she outlined the limits of the team's success.

"Would any of you like to guess what was driving the commentary and all the chatter in all the talk shows in Western Europe that weekend?" Ms. Hughes said she asked. "You know what it was? It was the death penalty case in California!"

She was referring to Stanley Tookie Williams, the Los Angeles gang leader turned peace activist who was executed on Dec. 13, two days before a booming turnout of 11 million Iraqis went to the polls in what the administration said was a major vindication of its policies.

It was a reminder that Ms. Hughes's job - to improve the image of the United States and expand support for its policies abroad - is an uphill battle. A poll by the Pew Research Center this year found that the United States remained "broadly disliked" not only in the Middle East, but also in Europe and Asia.

[soothsayer]

1. I'm not crazy about the US either, under this misadministration.

[notadmblnd]

2. well it's obvious that the woman oozes charm and personality

I can't imagine anyone not hanging breathlessly on her every word:sarcasm:

[Hyernel]

3. Bullshit doesn't roll uphill very well, does it Karen!

[Secular Agent Man]

4. Catapulting the propaganda can be hard work!

:nopity:

[cliss]

12. And frustrating work!

There was an article in Time Magazine, right around the time of the presidential debates, last October.

The article said that the president's team was getting frustrated. They were sitting in a back room, watching Bush's performance on TV. There was Condi, Karl Rove, and also Karen Hughes. They looked upset. Hughes had said to Bush, "Sir, you were grumpy". Bush had snapped back, "NO, I wasn't!". It mentioned that Hughes was trying her best to get him to shape up and not blow it.

I laughed when I read the article, because you could read between the lines! These people have the horrible job of making the Village Idiot into a Statesman. What a job.

Karen Hughes understands this more than anyone. It's really a lost cause.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. unlike the US, the world is not a marketing op.

Unfortunately, she does not realize it.

The only real way to change is to change the policies we follow. And to do that, we have to change the leadership. Impeachment is the way to go.

[Solly Mack]

6. She's truly an idiot if she doesn't grasp why the DP

would be much discussed by nations that have moved away from a behavior that indicates a disturbing national character.

The DP is a mark of a nation that possesses an unstable psyche; filled with hate, revenge and other assorted petty desires. Developmentally arrested, the country that embraces the death penalty is locked into the mental struggle of the weak minded - whose feelings of helplessness cause them to strike out physically, and much like a child who has yet learned to control their anger,to engage in immature fantasies of "I'll show them" to bolster a false sense of well being.

The DP is a symptom - and just one symptom - of a nation that's sick.

[Bushies gotta go]

7. Yur doin' a heckuva job, Hughesy. n/t

[DemonFighterLives]

8. Hughly !1! Unsuccessful

Uh duh, the world doesn't especially like death and mayhem. Tell your clueless leader that clueless Karen.
:argh:

[pfitz59]

9. "Clue-less Karen".....

strikes out again! Being Georgie Boy's diaper-changer and overall clean-up person does not qualify her for international relations guru! Hard to see the real world with your lips firmly planted to your boss's posterior.......

[Wordie]

10. Karen Hughes appointment to such a position is just another example of

just how incompetent and out-of-touch the Bush administration really is. If he wanted to change "hearts and minds" in the ME, Bush should have appointed someone with at least a minimal knowledge of the region, and it should have been someone also willing to really listen, not just talk. The Hughes appointment was ludicrous.

[antonialee839]

14. Agreed! Just because Mama Hughes knows how

to pacify Little Lord Bushy Boy, doesn't mean it will work in the Middle East.

[0007]

16. ...as long as it works in the US the WH will be happy.

[SharonAnn]

15. General Zinni comes to mind. He knows the region and has

credibility there. Of course, he probably doesn't have credibility with * since he probably wouldn't follow *'s orders.

[sushi]

18. I agree!

It's ridiculous to appoint this person to the job of changing people's mind. Has Ms Hughes ever lived outside the US? What does she know?

I saw her on TV and she said she went to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and she was holding this child....... So?:puffpiece:

[Wordie]

19. If I were a middle easterner, I think I would feel insulted by this. nt

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

28. Like naming political hack Rove to lead New Orleans reconstruction?

[Wordie]

30. LOL...yeah, rather like that. eom

[Divernan]

11. European TV stations gave massive coverage to capitol punishment execution

I was in Istanbul in early December and could watch stations from Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland and the BBC. There was coverage of an execution in the US - a single execution received coverage for five consecutive days on every newscast. U.S. protestors were shown and I'm sure got more coverage in Europe than in the States. Capitol punishment is seen by these countries as evidence that the US is a bloodthirsty society.

[justgamma]

13. " latest marquee clown in America’s circus diplomacy."

I posted this last night, but it's funny enough to bear repeating.

Behind the veil and beyond the hijab


"America’s circus diplomacy has arrived in the Middle East. The lady from Texas, grand emissary of the American Sultanate headed by Bush, has come to change the hearts and minds of people in the eastern caliphates, particularly those that hide behind the veils and beneath the scarves of Muslim women. Imagine: Karen Hughes proselytizing those daughters of the Qur’an… and with a Southern televangelical accent no less!


But irreverent comments aside, and in deference to the seriousness of the task at hand (changing hearts and minds in the Muslim world) let the circus have its day, and let the star clown perform."

"snip"

2005 Ben Tanosborn


http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=1...

[bpilgrim]

17. they are monitoring the blogs

In the rapid response center this past week, Omar Emmesh, an Arabic speaker whose family is from Syria, was sitting in front of computer screens looking at two satellite channels, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya; the Web site of Al Hayat, the leading Arabic newspaper; and a series of blogs and chat rooms.

"It's a good way to get raw reaction to the news items," Mr. Emmesh said, pointing to several electronic pages of Arabic chat forums.


wonder how many they got on DU :evilgrin:


peace

[onager]

33. I can just IMAGINE the translations...

Knowing how these clowns hate bad news and usually shoot/fire the messenger, I just bet this is what's happening...

Arabic headline: "Bush Fornicates With Swine"
Karen Hughes: "What does that say?"
Arabic Translator: "It says President Bush is working hard on the problem of American farm exports to the Middle East."

Headline: "Bush The Crusader Aims To Set Entire Middle East Aflame"
Translation: "Mr. Bush is a most excellent military leader."

Headline: "Bush Insults Every Muslim On Earth"
Translation: "President Bush wishes to speak with all Muslims world-wide about his Plan For Peace & Victory."

[PurityOfEssence]

20. Sheer brilliance: sending Margaret Dumont on a worldwide humor tour

This person has no warmth at all; the very idea of sending her out to promote a cuddly feeling about this country is like sending Kate O'Beirne on a humility tour, sending Ann Coulter out to spread tolerance or packing Dick Cheney off to stump for PETA.

Karen Hughes has a persona that's beyond dour: she never smiles, and the set expression on her squinty face is one of dyspepsia and irritation at having to bother with inferiors. Honestly, this administration simply doesn't get the personality side of PR, as witnessed by their sending Condi out to run interference for Junior in '02 and '03; she's the world's worst liar, with quavering voice and welling tears of terror.

The idea of sending an thuggish enforcer like Hughes out to engender love for us as a gentle and sweet people is beyond idiotic. It's a good thing these guys aren't slobbering imbeciles; if they weren't, they could run the table and take over the world.

[kskiska]

21. "…her main mistake was having taken American reporters."

who told the truth about what happened at those meetings.

(snip)

There were mixed reviews for Ms. Hughes's first Middle East trip, in September, where she repeated talking points, introduced herself as "a mom" and was confronted by criticism of the war in Iraq and American support for Israel. Some regional commentators described her as patronizing.

Ms. Hughes, on the other hand, said some colleagues told her that her main mistake was having taken American reporters. …

[ecoalex]

22. Bullshit is bullshit the world 'round, no sale Karen

[gulliver]

23. Blame it on Tookie. Pretty good move by Hughes actually.

She fails miserably but finds a way to blame it on Europe. Karen still has it.

Now she's probably back walking the Rottweilers at the ranch and stroking little Damien's hair before he goes on camera.

[MaggieSwanson]

29. ..."walking the Rottweilers at the ranch

and stroking little Damien's hair before he goes on camera."

Ain't that the truth! (Although Jean Schmidt bears a more striking resemblance to Damien's nanny if you ask me.)

[hatrack]

34. Typical - when in doubt, blame (your difficulty here) on scary black men

:eyes:

[fshrink]

24. The world is patiently

waiting for the Idiot to go. Nothing important will happen before that. The embarrassment and the dictatorship of the neo-fascist faction that still leads this country must end first.

[Lochloosa]

25. Would you buy a car from this women?

[Disturbed]

27. Is she an idiot or a liar?

When she claimed that our Constitution says "One nation under God" was she lying or just that stupid?

Middle Class taxpayers pay this person. No refunds?

[RazzleDazzle]

26. How utterly revealing

"Would any of you like to guess what was driving the commentary and all the chatter in all the talk shows in Western Europe that weekend?" Ms. Hughes said she asked. "You know what it was? It was the death penalty case in California!"

Is that the limit and scope and depth of her mission? Same as what she did for Bush in the U.S., only do it internationally (or try to)? Good God. I guess I should've realized, but somehow I had a REAL job, rather than a PR fluff job, in mind. I'm shocked, which makes me feel ridiculous because I shoulda known. In fact, I coulda known if I'd have thought it through: the thought actually kept bumping around in my head, "She doesn't have enough experience or education for this job..." and that's because "this job" -- the one I had in mind -- was not the job she was given, and the one she was given she was relatively adequately qualified for, since it's not a real job at all but a farking PR FLUFF JOB.

That's all there is to these people: no substance, never any substance, just illusion. Just manipulate appearances and opinions, that's the only reality.

[onager]

31. The Middle East makes fun of her, too

And unlike, apparently, anyone in the Bush Administration or crony-pack, I AM living here right now, in Egypt. I've also lived in Saudi Arabia.

I posted elsewhere about one of Karen's recent flubs in the Middle East, during her Bush Nasal Proctology World Tour '05.

During a speech over here, she kept bragging about her Close Personal Friends in "the intelligence agencies." She praised them as the only people who are keeping terra-ists at bay around the world, etc. etc. And of course, cautioned the audience that they should bend over backward to co-operate with Their Local Intelligence Agency.

But over here, "intelligence agency" usually translates as "secret police"--the folks who come and Disappear your relatives in the small hours of the night.

Judging by the article I read, in an Egyptian paper, Karen seemed to vaguely realize she had lost her audience, but had no clue why that was...as usual...and just kept yammering on.

:rofl:

If you haven't been in the Middle East lately, you can't imagine the distaste the locals have for the Bush Klan. I hear their comments every single day, and I associate with a pretty broad spectrum of Egyptians.

Here's a conversation from today, on our commute home, which takes us thru a series of little farm villages in the Nile Delta:

Egyptian Co-worker: "Many of these people have never seen an American, Mr. Onager. You are a celebrity here!"

Me: "Wow. In that case, I'm going to tell these fine people that I am Bill Clinton's brother."

ECW: "Not Bush's brother?"

Me: "HELL no! They will drag me out of the car and kill me."

ECW: (laughing) "You are probably right."

[silvermachine]

32. Repellent....

...Of all the people that Bush surrounds himself with, she is among the most repellent. And that's saying something, considering the cast of characters like:

Condi


Karl


Delay


Chertoff


Luntz


Quite the crew!

[Rob H.]

35. You forgot one

Donald "Skullface" Rumsfailed

[silvermachine]

36. Wait, there's more...

"Dick"


Bolton

[Rob H.]

37. Dang! How could I have forgotten them?

Especially U.N.-hating ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton! :P

Here's another:

Alberto "Hey, it's not torture when we do it" Gonzales



and a flashback to his predecessor...

John "Bring me the head of Tommy Chong!" Ashcroft

[agincourt]

38. That's why they are trying so hard to get control

of the overseas media. They figure after 5 years of everyone listening to dumbed down conservative media, everybody will be sheep shit eaters like so many Americans are now. That's why they are trying so hard to get Fox news in Canada.