Hugh Hewitt played Bush’s speech tothe troops at Fort Campbell yesterday–twice. He bemoans the fact that Big Media fail to show much interest in the military and their relationship with their Commander in Chief. In fact, Dana Milbank says soldiers were ordered to cheer:
Before Bush appeared, small U.S. flags were handed out, and an officer gave instructions to the troops on how to receive the commander in chief. “We’re going to show him a lot of love by waving flags,” the officer said. Telling the troops not to salute, he added: “You’re going to wave and clap and make a lot of noise. . . . You must smile. We are happy campers here.”
I’ve only seen this happen once in my military career. During the Panama Canal Treaty negotiations, Jimmy Carter visited. All soldiers at Fort Clayton were ordered to attend a speech by Carter because it was quite clear not enough would show up on their own. I’ve never heard of that happening with any other President, including Bill Clinton. I can assure you that isn’t the case with George Bush. GIs will show up to hear him anywhere.
As an aside to this, I flew Mondale around the Zone when he visited before Carter. At one point he asked, “You mean we’re going to give all this to the Panamanians?”