Subject: [big campaign] Re: LAT: For Bush's staff, upbeat talking points on histenure
From: "Brad Woodhouse" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], "big campaign" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:55:29 +0000
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

We are at Americans United and as part of OUR Bush Legacy Project are pushing back hard on this.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: "Tara McGuinness" <[email-masked]>

Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:46:02 
To: big campaign<[email-masked]>
Subject: [big campaign] LAT: For Bush's staff, upbeat talking points on his
 tenure

President Bush and his allies are trying to re-write history.  We should
make sure they don't get away with this. Don't miss this story on a two-page
memo that has been sent to Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials
offering talking points on discussing Bush's legacy in yesterday's LA
Times<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-bush9-2008dec09,0,4145069.story>
.

LAT: For Bush's staff, upbeat talking points on his tenure

Email Picture<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fi-bush9-2008dec09_kbewcvnc,0,7933481,email.photo>

Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images

From left, Jay Groff, a survivor of Pearl Harbor from Springfield Virginia,
George Sullivan, the Chairman of the Arizona Memorial Museum Association,
Donald Winter, Secretary of the Navy, General James "Hoss" Cartwright, Vice
Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Dr. James B. Peake, Secretary of
Veterans Affairs, and Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior, listen as
US President George W. Bush speaks on December 5 in Washington, DC.

Administration officials get a memo from the White House suggesting what to
say about the last eight years: President Bush upheld 'the honor and the
dignity of his office,' for one.

By Peter Nicholas
December 9, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- In case any Bush administration officials have
trouble summing up the boss' record, the White House is providing a few
helpful suggestions.

*A two-page memo that has been sent to Cabinet members and other
high-ranking officials offers a guide for discussing Bush's eight-year
tenure during their public speeches.*

Titled "Speech Topper on the Bush Record," the talking points state that
Bush *"kept the American people safe" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
lifted the economy after 2001 through tax cuts, curbed AIDS in Africa and
maintained "*the honor and the dignity of his office."

The document presents the Bush record as an unalloyed success.

It mentions none of the episodes that detractors say have marred his
presidency: the collapse of the housing market and major financial services
companies, the flawed intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, the
federal response to Hurricane Katrina or the abuse of prisoners at Abu
Ghraib.

In a section on the economy, speakers are invited to say that Bush cut taxes
after 2001, setting the stage for years of job growth.

As for the current economic crisis, the memo says that *Bush "responded with
bold measures to prevent an economic meltdown."
*
The document is otherwise silent on the recession, which claimed 533,000
jobs in November, the highest number in 34 years.

A copy of the memo was obtained by The Times' Washington bureau. A spokesman
for Bush said Monday that the White House routinely sends out suggestions to
officials and allies on ways to talk about the administration's record.

"What we have in mind with these documents is we feel the president's many
accomplishments haven't been given the attention they deserve and in some
cases have been purposely ignored," said Carlton Carroll, a White House
spokesman.

No one is required to recite the talking points laid out by the White House,
Carroll said.

The memo closes with a reference to *Bush's 1999 memoir, "A Charge to Keep":
*

*"Above all, George W. Bush promised to uphold the honor and the dignity of
his office. And through all the challenges and trials of his time in office,
that is a charge that our president has kept."*

One accomplishment cited is passage of the *No Child Left Behind law, Bush's
attempt to improve education. "He promised to raise standards and
accountability in public schools -- and delivered the No Child Left Behind
Act," the talking points read.*

On the presidential campaign trail this year, Democratic candidates found
that any criticism of No Child Left Behind was a surefire applause line.

President-elect Barack Obama promised to revamp the program, contending that
it elevated test-taking at the expense of a well-rounded education.

Nicholas is a writer in our Washington bureau.

[email-masked]

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