Post by Moses on Feb 25, 2005 11:44:42 GMT -5
....At a news conference in Thailand the other day, Clinton said that worldwide commitments for tsunami relief have reached a total of $7 billion from government and private sources combined. Meanwhile, U.S. media air continues to be filled with testimonials to the warm-hearted generosity of American society.
The president emeritus of an elite national-security club, the Council on Foreign Relations, has praised the PR game while urging that it be played more deftly. “People do watch and see what we do,” said Leslie Gelb. “Here’s an opportunity to remind people of the good we do, and he [President Bush] can do it without changing his policy on Iraq or terrorism.” In other words, good deeds worn on Uncle Sam’s sleeve can help to distract attention from the copious blood on his hands.
After a career that has spun through revolving doors of media and government, Gelb knows a lot about propaganda. At various times, he has worked as a press officer for the Defense Department, a “national security” reporter for the New York Times, the director of the U.S. government’s Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs and the editor of the Times op-ed page. Back in 1978, while at the State Department, he helped set up a covert CIA program to get the European press to write favorable articles about the neutron bomb, a weapon designed to kill people while leaving property intact....
Ex-Presidents as Pitchmen: Touting Good Deeds
By Norman Solomon