Screening for TV

Just a quick reminder, something that everyone watching the news coverage of Bush's visit to the disaster area should bear in mind:

There is nothing that Bush does that isn't set up in advance. Some of this is simply necessary. It's part of being President. No one talks to him without talking to the Secret Service first. But it's known, from Bush's history with other areas, with how he handles other speeches and events, and from the orders that the Secret Service gives to local officers, that Bush's people screen everyone who appears with him for political beliefs as well.

What this means is that everyone you see on TV having talked to him will agree that he's compassionate, that he's taking control of the situation, and that everything the White House says is true. This doesn't mean that everyone believes this. This is simply because anyone who doesn't believe that is screened out by the invisible people around Bush that you don't see on the TV cameras.

One certainly can hold mixed feelings about what Bush truly thinks and how he's truly reacting, how much of the smirk is a nervous tick versus a real indication of his feelings, how much of his apparent tin ear to certain aspects of the disaster (note, for instance, that he didn't approve of "the response" not "our response") is just accidental. It's really hard to tell what the truth is.

But there's absolutely no way that you'll see any of the unvarnished truth on TV. Everything involving Bush on TV is staged.