Suzanne and the Wizard of Oz

Suzanne Malveaux just delivered a surprising report in the Situation Room on CNN.  She revealed that before Bush spoke today via teleconference with selected soldiers in Iraq, in what the White House had advertised heavily beforehand as an "unscripted event", a woman had described what questions Bush would ask and suggested possible responses to the troops.

I wasn't paying attention closely to the report when I first noticed it, but I think that the woman was identified as a Pentagon employee.

What surprised me is that both Ms. Malveaux and the anchor referred to the Bush administration's preference for sucfh scripted events (a topic usually ignored by the MSM media, which barely mentioned it during last year's campaign) and that Ms. Malveaux, while tape of the "practice session" played on a split screen, said that "the curtains had been pulled back" because CNN had seen the satellite feed of those preparations.  Catch it if you can--you'll be reminded of that scene in The Wizard of Oz when the curtain was pulled aside.

•  Suzanne at Harvard

  Ms Malveaux was at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Tuesday and it was interesting as there weren't too many questions for her.  Usually, these things have more hands in the air than there is time for answers.

  Ms Malveaux was tanned and rested from Cancun.  She informed us that she has a new three year contract, a "very good deal."  She's a tiny woman, very pretty, and also probably very smart.  Certainly, she has the benefits (and disabilities) of a Harvard education.

  Good to see that she is beginning to act like Toto and pull the curtains back.  Now to take a gander at "the man behind the man who operates the Soft Machine."

  by gmoke on Thu Oct 13, 2005 at 01:51:20 PM PDT

•  Wow

  They're reporting it was scripted on CNN and in an MSNBC online news article? I'm speechless.

  by Silly Goose on Thu Oct 13, 2005 at 01:52:37 PM PDT