Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Staged voter riots in Miami. The "Mission Accomplished" flightsuit landing. The for-show-only turkey. Faked news releases with actors for journalists. Do you detect a theme developing? Batter up!
Watching George W. introduce Laura Bush last night, I was watching the softball game behind him more than him, because, well, it was more interesting. And not just interesting because it's a version of the American pastime, but because of the way the game worked. First, there were only bleachers set up on one side of the "field", which seemed to only be grass - no dirt. If bleachers had been set up on the other side, we wouldn't have been able to see the players.
And why did we have to see the players? Well, if you'll notice, they were all wearing "43" jerseys. The first guy who batted (left-handed, of course) had on a 43 jersey - Bush is the 43rd president. The next batter? A "43" jersey. The batter after that? Facing the opposite direction (I guess they burned through the other two too fast), but with a "43" jersey. The pitches were wild, and weren't going anywhere - and if you'll notice, Bush made no reference to the game behind him, who was playing, or why he was there.
Suh-WING!
TrackBackI was telling Rah last night that I really, really wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the pitch (ha!) meeting for this idea. I want to have a memory of the looks on other people's faces when this was sold to them: "We set up a fake set, we do a fake softball game, and we have them all wear 43. Huh? You like it? Just running it up the flagpole, guys, but I think I see salutes."
I mean, seriously. How many people had to hear this idea and agree to it? Who wrote a check for those uniforms? Every one of those people had the chance to say, "Hey, wait a second - this is kinda weird. In fact, it's kinda freaky. This is some weird-ass 1984 BS isn't it? I mean, when you stop and think about it..."
So. Incredibly. Strange.
Posted by: Michael at September 2, 2004 10:21 AM