Bush at Correspondents Dinner 2007

I'm certainly not the first person and probably not the last to wonder how Bush could make fun of WMD at the 2004 Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner (remember the video of him running around looking for WMD? ) without apparent thought to the American troops who were at that moment fighting and dying in Iraq. And why were they in Iraq? Because he and his pals had essentially faked evidence that Saddam was hiding Weapons of Mass Destruction and was involved with Osama bin Laden.

Maybe he learned something from that experience and all the criticism he received because at this year's dinner on Friday instead of joking around making fun of himself he said: "...in light of this tragedy at Virginia Tech I decided not to be funny".

But why not suspend the humor for the troops who have died? Maybe he thinks that it's different with soldiers who should know that dying is always a possible result of doing their jobs. However many of the soldiers were under the impression they were going to war because the U.S. was in eminent danger from Saddam's WMD. And thousands of National Guard troups that are going back to Iraq beginning in December for their second tour of duty only signed up for the one tour that was part of their original contract. Some regular military have been to Iraq three and four times, and now there is talk of extending the tours of five brigades by up to four months. So clearly our troops are experiencing a very different enlistment that what they thought they were signing up for.

At the 2003 Dinner he was also serious but primarily in remembrance of two journalists who died during the invasion of Iraq. I guess my problem is that if Bush is going get solemn for journalists, college students and college professors, I really think that he should do so also for the soldiers in Iraq who are in harms way primarily because he insists that they be there. He is the single person publicly most responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians. Yet despite his often mentioning the troops in his speeches I don't really think he understands the huge sacrifice they and their families are making for him.


Other Links:

History of Bush at Corresondents Dinners
http://www.centredaily.com/128/story/75315.html

2007 Dinner
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003574772

Sheryl Crow confronts Karl Rove at 2007 Dinner
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurie-david-and-sheryl-crow/karl-rove-gets-thrown-und_b_46501.html