Bush's job approval ratings still falling due to Iraq War

President Bush drew heat recently from Democrats and other government officials after an Oct. 13 videoconference with soldiers in Iraq appeared to be rehearsed and scripted.

Pentagon communications official Allison Barber was heard, and later seen, coaching the troops and reading Bush's questions before the actual conference occurred.

The live feed, obtained by ABC, also showed Barber coaching a female soldier on how to respond to Bush's claim of meeting her in New York City.

In no way should a war-time satellite press conference dealing with the status of one of the most corrupted countries in the world be anything less than genuine.

As Bush stammered his way through the phone call last Thursday, it was obvious that the pre-empted scripting did little to put the troops at ease as they stiffly and awkwardly answered his questions.

This opportunity for press coverage was most definitely scripted, not to prepare nervous soldiers for a face-to-face with Bush, but in an attempt to woo the American public back to a president who has been faltering in his duties as the leader of the "free world" as of late.

Since the beginning of September, Bush's job approval ratings, as shown by 12 independent political polls (such as the USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll), have plummeted after the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, an increase in insurgency in Iraq and, of course, the droning complaint of the never-found weapons of mass destruction, among other complaints. For these reasons, it was a great public relations move on Bush's part to show America, by way of fellow Americans fighting a questionable war in Iraq, that the commander in chief has things under control. The divided Iraq was now seemingly working with American liberators to promote good Democratic feelings where the hand of a dictator has only recently been lifted from every Iraqi's shoulder.

Also, with Bush's Republican party splintered over the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination, the president has added one more mark to his list of public embarrassments in this administration. Now the conservative right, who have mostly been behind Bush from the start, are questioning his decision to bring someone who may be a closet liberal to the highest court in the nation. But the Bush administration marches on. Of course, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan denies any scripting or rehearsing of Thursday's event. The New York Times reported McClellan accusing reporters who brought the subject up of getting "caught up in side issues."

This is another example of the administration throwing a PR curve ball at the American public when the evidence of scripting was clear as day. Morale over the Iraq War has dropped to record lows.

The American-trained Iraqi police force, which was leading the way in securing sites for last Saturday's election, as Capt. Brent Kennedy relayed to Bush during the conference, is being systematically infiltrated by insurgents. McClellan's accusation to the press is only following the Bush strategy of finding a way to stretch the truth and attempt to brainwash Americans into believing, and more importantly, trusting a president whose second term has had more trouble than success.

When Bush visited Cincinnati's Union Terminal in October 2002, he stood before a packed crowd and warned of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that could be used against the U.S. at any time. This was his case for a war.

Bush took that subject and hammered on it repeatedly until the start of the war in a clever technique that convinced a great deal of Americans that our lives were threatened by Saddam and his weapons.

Now, years after the start of the war, none of the aforementioned WMDs have been found and Bush seems to have returned to his old techniques of infiltrating the minds of Americans who easily believe everything they see and hear in the news media. Journalists who cover politics are smart, and often try to drill holes in the White House's official stances.

What the American public, both Democrat and Republican, need to know is to not believe the first thing the administration says. Read and watch multiple news outlets and pay attention to those who are criticizing Bush and his policies.

Even Bush supporters may find that careful attention to the media, with its various forms of reporting, will eventually weave together a tale of deceit and crafty PR that has taken the country down the road it is on today.