Media reframes

Just noticed an interesting reframe of our fearless leader's press conference last week in USA Today . It begins with this headline:"Bush news conferences show ability to command attention". It was technically true; he did attract attention with his press conferences although I didn't know it was a news conference.

Continuing on:

After five quiet nights at his ranch, Bush put himself back in the spotlight as only a president can.

Yes, he truly did but he put himself back in the spotlight as only he could do. It was definitely an eye-catching performance.

Marlin Fitzwater, press secretary to Presidents Reagan and the first President Bush, said it is rare that the power of the office is wielded solely for political purposes.

Using the word "solely" makes this a deceptive sentence.

"As with many things in Washington, it's seldom a conspiracy the way people think it is," he said.

Funny, I interpret this sentence as people don't really know what is really going on in Washington. He's right; it's not the way people think it is.

Bush and his aides insist the president's actions are driven by his commitment to lead — not by political expediency or polls.

"As to whether or not I make decisions based upon polls, I don't. I just don't make decisions that way," the president said in his Tuesday night news conference.

Undoubtedly that is a true statement. I'm not sure who makes the decisions; it's not clear whether he makes the decisions. It's not clear if he even knows what the polls say.

Actually, I was surprised to find this AP article wasn't in the op/ed section of the paper.