BCT Editorial – 2/28/05

This page was last updated on March 2, 2005.

Salutes & Boots; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 28, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Boot: To Doug Wead, an old friend of President Bush, for secretly recording private telephone conversations he had with Bush in 1998 and then revealing them as part of the promotion for a book he had written. No matter what your opinion of Bush and his policies, there is simply no way to justify or reason to relish the taping and release of the contents of their private conversations. Wead has backtracked since the initial splash of his release of his talks with Bush, but it’s too late. Secretly taping someone and then exploiting the situation for one’s own gain can’t be justified.”

[RWC] I’ve read too many Times editorials to take this “Boot” seriously. Here’s my take.

The “boot” isn’t for “secretly recording private telephone conversations he [Wead] had with [President] Bush.” The boot is really for Mr. Wead not getting something on tape the anti-Bush crowd could use against President Bush.

Here’s what I mean. In an editorial of its own, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette admitted, “The message the tapes convey about Mr. Bush is that what you see is what you get” and “Mr. Bush comes off as a sincere man and no hypocrite.”¹ Revelations like these dealt a blow to detractors who constantly try to portray President Bush as a liar and phony.

For most of us, “what you see is what you get” is “So what?” stuff. That’s not the case in politics. Most politicians can’t even keep their public record straight. Forget about most of them keeping their private and public positions consistent.

Call me a cynic, but I believe we’d be reading a “Salute” for Mr. Wead had his recordings even remotely supported the view of President Bush liberals want us to believe. In my opinion, this boot of Mr. Wead was simply intended to make the Times look understanding with respect to President Bush. I believe the Times editorial board assumes its readers won’t figure this out.

1. Bush on tape / The president survives a secret recording; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; February 24, 2005.