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Apropos the Blog Princess' rage against the machine (above)

By The Armorer on March 19, 2009 | | Comments (8)
I would note another window into the military world employed by President Bush was... someone in the White House was reading the milblogs.  And paying attention.

Remember this?

President George W. Bush meeting with military bloggers in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Friday, Sept. 14, 2007. White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
President George W. Bush meeting with military bloggers in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Friday, Sept. 14, 2007. White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

 

President Bush observed, that as far as he knows, this was the first time that a sitting President had hosted a group of bloggers for a chat at the White House.

Present from the White House were:

President Bush
General Lute
Kevin Sullivan
Mark Pfeifler
Dana Perino
Tony Snow.

The milbloggers present were:

The Armorer of Argghhh!
Matt Burden of Blackfive
Mrs. Greyhawk of Mudville Gazette, standing in for the deployed Greyhawk
NZ Bear of the TTLB and the Victory Caucus
Steve Schippert of Threats Watch
Ward Carroll of Military.Com
CJ from A Soldier's Perspective
Mohammed of Iraq the Model

Linking in from Iraq were:

Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal
Bill Ardolino of INDC Journal.

No, of course I don't expect President Obama to have done something similar at this point in his Presidency - he has bigger fish to fry, some of which keep hopping out of the pan and away from the fire.  But given the tabula rasa nature of some of the fawning press as laid out by the Princess, above, I thought it useful to drag this up again.

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8 Comments

By Mr Wolf on March 19, 2009 12:22 PM
Teh One does this daily.  Just look at all the guys on the list put out earlier this week- that 'coordinate' messages with primary people from his staff.

He's got 'bloggers in residence' there- someday, you may see the press corps replaced by bloggers...

Wolf
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 19, 2009 12:27 PM
Yeah, but how many of us have been invited, I wonder? 
 
By Josh on March 19, 2009 12:46 PM
Why are the faces whited out?
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 19, 2009 12:50 PM
Because, at the time I first published the picture, the people with white faces didn't want their faces on the Internet in this context. 

Lookit what I did with them in this post.
 
By Argent on March 19, 2009 8:17 PM
What precisely were they afraid or ashamed of?
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 19, 2009 10:06 PM
In one case, there was an issue with bosses. In the other, there were business-related negotiations going on.  There were also some pre-event restrictions imposed by the White House, for their own purposes.

I was asked, I complied.  The blanked faces are CJ Grisham and Rob Neppel.
 
By Argent on March 19, 2009 10:35 PM
Remarkable concept to hide being seen with the President.  There's so much I don't know i discover everyday.
 
By John of Argghhh! on March 19, 2009 10:46 PM
Argent  - I agree. One reason I blog openly.  It keeps me honest, and it keeps things above board.

As for CJ, he was having issues with his bosses, which were later resolved in his favor.  As for Rob, he was working with people who would just as soon burst into flames spontaneously than to be in the same room with someone who had met President Bush, *especially* by invitation.

Things have improved in that regard for both of them.