Today the President spoke with a group of U.S. soldiers based in Tikrit, Iraq via a nationally televised teleconference. The transcript from the White House is here. Obviously it's not impromptu and it's not a real means for the president to get information. So it's obviously staged for viewers to see the president doing something and troops saying good things.
But this time, we saw extra stuff before the teleconference (I'm not sure how this happened), In particular, Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Allison Barber, instructing the soldiers before the conference. NPR has the audio of the rehersal. She clearly says: "But if he gives us a question that is not something that we have scripted Captain Kennedy you are going to have the mic and that’s your chance to impress us all." It's one thing to stage an event like this. It's another thing to ask soldiers to be actors. Then again, it's another thing to back peddle when your found out, as Scott McClellan did in the afternoon Press Briefing (CNN's The Situation Room shows some of the video).
I wonder if we see Ms. Barber get reassigned soon.I
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