http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050909/pl_nm/bush_hughes_dc;_ylt=Aml8FGYVlAoNn9IiDoQE2ReWwvIE;_ ylu=X3oDMTA4NGRzMjRtBHNlYwMxNjk5

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Karen Hughes, a confidante of President George W. Bush who has long helped shape his policy, was sworn in on Friday with the new task of trying to improve the image of the United States in a world that often takes a dim, if not hostile, view of Washington.

After years of working as a political adviser known for her expertise in helping Bush put out his message to voters, Hughes formally took up the post of undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.

Bush called the job vital, saying it was needed partly to curb what he said were myths being spread by militants such as those behind the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"We're in a war on terror. We are still at war. And to succeed in this war, we must effectively explain our policies and fundamental values to people around the world," he said at Hughes' swearing-in ceremony.

A 16-country survey looking at attitudes toward the United States found that while anti-Americanism in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which had surged because of the war in Iraq, had lessened somewhat, the United States was "broadly disliked in most countries surveyed," said the Pew Research Center which issued the poll in June.

Critics accuse the Bush administration of emphasizing an agenda of spreading democracy in the Middle East and elsewhere as an after-the-fact rationale for invading Iraq in 2003. Weapons of mass destruction were never found there despite Washington's insistence before the war that they posed a threat.

Apart from the war in Iraq, U.S. policies such as the detention of foreign prisoners suspected of ties to terrorism at a camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been widely criticized abroad.

...

KATRINA EFFECT A FIRST TASK

One immediate task for Hughes will be countering the negative effects abroad of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Television images of desperate and mainly black survivors of the storm stranded in danger and squalor in flooded New Orleans fueled perceptions abroad that the United States was a racially divided country in which the government is unconcerned about its poorest citizens.

"People have seen things that no one likes to see," Hughes was quoted as saying in the San Antonia Express-News.

...

In other words, Bush and his team are going to speak out against the Leftwing MoonBat Swill spewed forth by The Haters.

Good.

Well, they have to do something. They can't drown/dehydrate us all. :|

Don't worry. The brown shirts are on their way to pick you up for the special super secret gulag detention center.

Glad to see they've got their priorities straight.

Potemkin villages always crumble sooner or later, and what their remains reveal is never pretty. But by the time that happens the Bush admin will most likely have left office so why should they care?

Don't worry. The brown shirts are on their way to pick you up for the special super secret gulag detention center.


i think black shirt fascists would do a better job :nice:

Brown is the new black - unless one is a metrosexual, in which case, pink is the new black.

:lol:

But seriously, I'd rather see Washington try to dispel the "myths" by actions instead of by misdirection. This smacks of political posturing with no epmirical evidince to support any claims made by the Bush admin.

:lol:

But seriously, I'd rather see Washington try to dispel the "myths" by actions instead of by misdirection. This smacks of political posturing with no epmirical evidince to support any claims made by the Bush admin.yes. and maybe they should start by convincing americans?

Bush administration: We don't like how the facts make us appear so we're going to disemminate more propaganda to make our image look good.

:nonono:


What's with the Republican ops here??

Responding to the left wing media propaganda with government policy is a mistake. The left wing establishment is so strong domestically and internationally, it is a waste of time. It is best to ignore them and do what is right to keep Americans free from the threat of insurgents in New Orleans to the Muslim Terrorists anywhere they take off their sheets..

KATRINA EFFECT A FIRST TASK

One immediate task for Hughes will be countering the negative effects abroad of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

Television images of desperate and mainly black survivors of the storm stranded in danger and squalor in flooded New Orleans fueled perceptions abroad that the United States was a racially divided country in which the government is unconcerned about its poorest citizens.

"People have seen things that no one likes to see," Hughes was quoted as saying in the San Antonia Express-News.People dying of dehydration/starvation didn't even cross her mind?? Maybe none of the violence would've happened if Bush and FEMA had done their jobs!!! I think the incompetence and (dare I say it)...actual genocide are probably doing more to harm our "reputation" around the world than people trying to find things to help them survive. Somebody better let Karen know our reputation was already damaged when we went into Iraq...

People dying of dehydration/starvation didn't even cross her mind?? Maybe none of the violence would've happened if Bush and FEMA had done their jobs!!!

I don't think people were shooting at rescue workers because there wasn't enough drinking water.

I don't think people were shooting at rescue workers because there wasn't enough drinking water.There were only a few incidences of that happening and most of the people arrested said they were just trying to get the attention of authorities to be rescued.

most of the people arrested said they were just trying to get the attention of authorities to be rescued.

....uh....suuuuure.
:p

There were only a few incidences of that happening and most of the people arrested said they were just trying to get the attention of authorities to be rescued.


If you honestly believe that well....

... blah, who cares anymore.

We all well know shooting at someone will make them run in the opposite direction. Noone in their right mind is going to think that "hey, Im going to wait to see whats going on" while bulletts are whizzing by their heads.

This whole thing, this vendetta against Bush it just short of absurd. As time goes on we will learn what really happened and it wont reflect well on you and your fellow compatriots when from the very beginning you have made this a political issue. "Its a conspiracy to kill the poor and black" isnt going to win you any supporters and it most ceartinly wont change anything. While you sit comfortably home behind your keyboard there and politisize this act of mother nature and I really emphasize the mother nature part, there are thousands of people who have lost loved ones, their homes, their jobs just about everything.

Its fairly obvious that the local authorites ****ed up. Maybe just once if you take off your political blinders, you will see the truth. Everyone should be held accountable.

Bush administration: We don't like how the facts make us appear so we're going to disemminate more propaganda to make our image look good.

:nonono:


What's with the Republican ops here??


What he said.

There were only a few incidences of that happening and most of the people arrested said they were just trying to get the attention of authorities to be rescued.


:bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl:

That is pretty damn funny.

It was on CNN. That was the explanation given by a family of people arrested for shooting at a police helicopter. Glad it provided humor. I didn't find anything funny about it...

what she said. :|

It was on CNN. That was the explanation given by a family of people arrested for shooting at a police helicopter. Glad it provided humor. I didn't find anything funny about it...

It is so stupid it becomes funny in a sad sort of way. If it was a military helicopter they might be up for a Darwin award right now...

Television images of desperate and mainly black survivors of the storm stranded in danger and squalor in flooded New Orleans fueled perceptions abroad that the United States was a racially divided country in which the government is unconcerned about its poorest citizens.


I just can't get over this one, there is nothing untrue about this, yet they refer to it as a "perception", who cares about the people affected by the storm, we just care about people not seeing us for who we really are..

This putrid administration gets the Orwell award for it's fact twisting..