The Bush Administration has provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with guidelines on how to weave positive messages about Iraq into their briefings. More ludicrous still, there's a scoreboard being updated weekly to shame less enthusiastic folks into getting on message.
Last week USDA speechwriter Heather Vaughn sent an email to about 60 undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and other political appointees.
"The President has requested that all members of his cabinet and sub-cabinet incorporate message points on the Global War on Terror into speeches, including specific examples of what each agency is doing to aid the reconstruction of Iraq," Vaughn wrote.
The mandate was accompanied by an attachment (PDF) that contained "specific examples of GWOT messages within agriculture speeches. Please use these message points as often as possible and send Harry Phillips , USDA's director of speechwriting, a weekly email summarizing the event, date and location of each speech incorporating the attached language. Your responses will be included in a weekly account sent to the White House."
In case anybody at the USDA has trouble getting a hang on how to be part of an effective propaganda machine without raising suspicion, there are examples of how to causally mention the war while talking about US farming.
Several topics I'd like to talk about today -- Farm Bill, trade with Japan, WTO, avian flu . . . but before I do, let me touch on a subject people always ask about . . . progress in Iraq.
One wonders how often the undersecretary of potatoes is asked about the Global War on Terror.
Permalink
Last week USDA speechwriter Heather Vaughn sent an email to about 60 undersecretaries, assistant secretaries and other political appointees.
"The President has requested that all members of his cabinet and sub-cabinet incorporate message points on the Global War on Terror into speeches, including specific examples of what each agency is doing to aid the reconstruction of Iraq," Vaughn wrote.
The mandate was accompanied by an attachment (PDF) that contained "specific examples of GWOT messages within agriculture speeches. Please use these message points as often as possible and send Harry Phillips , USDA's director of speechwriting, a weekly email summarizing the event, date and location of each speech incorporating the attached language. Your responses will be included in a weekly account sent to the White House."
In case anybody at the USDA has trouble getting a hang on how to be part of an effective propaganda machine without raising suspicion, there are examples of how to causally mention the war while talking about US farming.
Several topics I'd like to talk about today -- Farm Bill, trade with Japan, WTO, avian flu . . . but before I do, let me touch on a subject people always ask about . . . progress in Iraq.
One wonders how often the undersecretary of potatoes is asked about the Global War on Terror.
Permalink