Photo Op Red Alert: "Bush puts his arm around Hurricane Katrina survivor"

[Human Torch]

U.S. President George W. Bush puts his arm around Hurricane Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella at the White House August 23, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Young (UNITED STATES)

[pazuzu]

A variation on the Ashley ad? EOM

[Ezlivin]

1. Did the other survivors get voted off?

Let's send Bush on an IED hunt....

[Blue_In_AK]

2. May I just say...

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[peace13]

3. Is this the guy that pulled his FEMA trailer to DC to meet with *?

This seems a bit of a set up to me. Funny how he gets an audience and Cindy is still waiting. Peace, Kim

[Howardx]

13. not a fema trailer

http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/local_state/article.aspx?storyid=69594

"Greensboro, NC -- A Katrina survivor making a journey from New Orleans to the White House in a trailer stopped in Greensboro.

Rockey Vaccarella left New Orleans planning to meet the president and join him for a Cajun dinner.

Vaccarella decorated a private trailer and calls it his "Honorary FEMA Trailer."


probably much nicer than a fema trailer

[peace13]

14. Thanks for that!

[Marie26]

4. Remember this?

[Rude Horner]

6. Oh yes. Remember it well.

That's where Bush kept trying to turn those girls to face the camera to make for a better photo op. You could tell he wasn't listening at all to what the girl was saying. Just nodded his head and looked for where the camera was, thinking...."heh heh...this will make me look...heh heh...you know..compassionate to the Amercun people...hehe heh....you know...like I care....heh heh. Now somebody get me a wash cloth because I just touched poor people".

[goclark]

10. I thought I heard they were the children of a rich donor, no?

[Marie26]

15. It was sickening

The most obvious photo-op ever. His handlers brought those two girls into a completely closed-off area for that little photo-op, because Bush was too afraid to speak to the actual crowds of desperate, anguished people. His aides obviously told him to hug them for the cameras. But Bush's body language is all off - like you said, he's hugging them, but he won't look at them or listen to them. He really looks likes he wishes he were back at the ranch. The whole thing was done to create a certain image of Bush's "compassion". Those girls were just props for Bush's public realations effort. It was so fake and calculated.

[Rude Horner]

7. dup post.

[Double T]

5. Cajun bush-bot hybrid..........

"KKKarl's PR plan with the FEMA mobile home trailer worked just as we expected. Good job stretch!"

[Tanuki]

9. Something VERY fishy here

There is a link between the film production company orchestrating this guy's trip and Monsanto, Chevron, Texaco, etc.:
http://www.ghostriderpictures.com/pgm-tps2.htm

from the "About us" tab at the above link: "Steven Scaffidi's documentary feature film "The People's Story" has received national and international acclaim and he was the creator and executive producer of "First Date" which was sold to New Line Cinema. His other programs include "Timmy's Travels", "Find Your Date" and "Faces, Places and Music of America" for television, and film projects "Execution", "Crossing the Line" and "Final Shot." Regional projects have been produced for commercial and industrial clients including, Hibernia National Bank, Plantation General Hospital, Chevron, Monsanto, Texaco and Fat Tuesday."

[Double T]

11. Staged and Scripted Photo-op...........

bush should start non-reality TV where everything is fake, fabricated or just plain old bullshit.

[gratuitous]

8. Mr. Vaccarella, Republican plant

Will Bunch of Attytood nailed him:

http://www.attytood.com/archives/003647.html

In fact, we had a hunch -- that maybe, just maybe, Rockey Vaccarella had a background himself in GOP politics.

And, whaddya know? Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella -- a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry -- is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999. We don't have a good link, but here (via Nexis) is part of his bio that ran in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Oct. 15, 1999:

ROCKEY VACCARELLA
PERSONAL
Republican
35. Born in New Orleans. Grew up in Arabi and Chalmette. Lived 11 years in
Meraux.
Married, two children.
Graduated from Chalmette High, 1982. Attended St. Bernard Community
College.
Director of operations, Lundy Enterprises, as manager of 31 Pizza Hut
restaurants and 450 employees. Former general restaurant manager of Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits on East Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette.

And in fact, Vaccarella seemed very confident that he would be meeting with Bush when he left home, to the point where he had a date scheduled and everything:

Dinner with the President is planned for the evening of August 22nd.

* * *

Now, George can't break away five minutes of his valuable time to explain to Cindy Sheehan what the "noble cause" allegedly was that her son gave his life for. But Rockey Vaccarella? Hell, come on in, boy! Where ya been? How ya doin'? How's the wife and kids? Hey, has it been almost exactly one year ago that you were flooded out of your house by Hurricane Katrina? Where does the time go?

[citizen snips]

12. He is no doubt a republican

because Bush would never be that cordial or meet with someone who disagrees with him.