Last night's speech

i dunno where you live but it was live and preempted all three major networks and all the other stations that normally keep us apprised of the current hour's high- or low-speed chases + cnn.

Northeastern United States.

IG

im truly surprised that they didnt bump regular programming considering it was spun as trotting out major new policy tweaks--altho i didnt really notice much new. maybe the networks were ticked cuz he moved it back a couple hours into primetime there. here in socal it was on at 5.

I'm in the NE U.S. and was actually trying to find it. I assumed it was going to preempt normal programming. I usually don't watch TV but ended up peeking at The Swan while waiting for the speech that never came. Boobies fascinate me.

As several network shows were having their finales... They're probably still smarting from "mission accomplished" pre-empting finales last May.

If I understood correctly, there are 5 more speeches planned before June 30th.

The major networks simply cater to the consumer drone will of the broadcast audience. If the majority of folks out there actually voted last night with their remotes and didn't watch the drivel broadcast in the place of the speech then next year maybe they will carry it. If not well.... "the mob is Rome!"

Actually, the "networks" are only required to air certain comments of the president. Usually they do whether they have to or not, if they didn't then something was up. By the by, Fox, except the news channel, rarely airs political events. I didn't see the presidential address, I didn't even know about it, so it's possible it was big enough for anyone to care.

Cheers

"But the President was talking about his plan for Iraq and our soldiers. "

Can you quote the specifics please?  I watched it and didnt hear anything new.

No, there was not anything new (except the new prison). but the networks did not know that befor ethe speech happened.

And yes, except for one local station, only Fox News, not the fox channel aired the speech.

IG

Here's the thing.....should the TV networks stop their programming anytime the president addresses a room full of people?   He must give at least one speech a week.  Sometimes people dont care about what's goin on "up there" and they just want to watch a funny show.

It's also dangeous during election time because a "speech" could easily be half of a campaign promotion at the same time which runs into all kinds of issues with "equal time" for canidates.

For those who missed it, a summary is at http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/24/bush.iraq.speech/index.html

Transcript ot the resolution in PDF format is at http://www.cnn.com/interactive/allpolitics/0405/un.sc.resolution/un.sc.resolution.040524.pdf

Hope this helps.

Actually, the "networks" are only required to air certain comments of the president

Actually I am pretty certain they don't *have* to air anything other than emergncy addresses or warnings. I could be wrong, but I am fairly certain I am not.

I got busy chasin' my kids so I missed half of the speech. However, I liked what I heard. I heard a man reminding us that war sucks. He was to the point. He wasn't bragging, but he could have. The United States has accomplished so much in Iraq in the little more than a year that has passed. Today I heard one of the Iraqi interim leaders praising the speech and emphazising how very important it is that the U.S.A. be successful. George Bush put forth a vision for Iraq and its neighbors and the rest of the world that could happen if more of us would join the effort. He is the best man for the job and deep down (any of you been deep down lately) you know he is. He went on to say it is hard work. Say what you will, but keep in mind that he is the one doin' the job. We need to trust our leaders and look for ways to support them. Kerry has no real plan for this most important issue. They (the democrats) are just tryin' to get that big ol' democratic 'rave' goin' again, and if anyone takes the time to listen to what they are saying (I guess that was 'The Swan", 'Fear Factor" and all that other crap) you'll know it's time to 'vote like a man...vote REPUBLICAN!!!' Right? Right.

you are not incorrect Greywar, I was refering to states of emergency and the like. For other events, the Press secretary requests and the networks typically oblige. Since Fox News is the only Channel dubya watches, that's his own admission, maybe it was a private heads up to Fox News and not some slight by the networks.

Cheers

I watched it on ABC (I'm in Texas), but what was really surprising was the lack of 'talking heads' afterwards to tell what the President 'really' said. No pontification, no Democratic response. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before.

There was nothing to comment on that hasnt been commented on a dozen times before

Interesting. We always hear from the left that President Bush doesn't communicate to the people enough. Here is a chance for the President to communicate on the war, and the media doesn't cover it. I wonder if this would have happened if it were Bill Clinton, or Al Gore, or John Kerry, or... Maybe the media doesn't really care about what is going on. Maybe they just want to show us what they think we should know. Are we all that blind to the liberal bias in the media? It's gotten to the point where I can't even watch the mainstream media anymore, (or CNN and MSNBC). We don't really get the whole story from them, only what they think you should know. I thought the responsibility of the media was to chronicle the facts. IMHO this isn't what happens.

"Plan" you say? I read the text (couldn't bear to listen). Here are the main parts:
1. It will get worse before it gets better (if it gets better at all with him around).
2. 9/11 terrorists were based in Iraq (yeah, and Hussein was a religious fanatic!), so keep me in power.
3. Turn Iraq over to the Iraqis in 45 days (!!!!???? -- In america it takes even longer than that just to change presidents after an election).
4. Reduce troop numbers by sending more."
5. Give the Iraqis sovereignty over their nation while keeping control of the military, police, and media in Iraq ("Sovereignty?!).
7. Make "truth" available to congress and the citizenry of America on a need-to-know basis ONLY!
8. .... otherwise, just keep up the good work he, Rumsfeld, and Cheney have been up to thus far.
9. .... Umm. I think that was it.

hey! i like fear factor and i think a beutiful mind is a great movie!

Hey, today there was a speech on all the networks where Bush said something about the new governmental officials in Iraq. After two minutes I was so bored I changed the channel.

Perhaps it's not the networks but the people who are the problem.

Or maybe it's the way Bush answers questions.

Who knows, who cares, but if you think Bush is slighted I've got stats floating around somewhere about a state of the Union where the majority of officials who attend such things didn't even show up.

Cheers