All the World's a Stage and Everything I do is "Staged"

From the Hotline On Call:

What the Heck Was That?

Let's be clear: we are in NO way making fun of our brave men and women overseas.

But we have to agree with the Washington Post's Jim VandeHei, who called that live presidential telebriefing with troops in Tikrit just "bizarre."

VandeiHei: "It seemed very staged."

....But mostly, awkward, stilted exchanges. CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel carried it live. We think the Daily Show will have a month's worth of fodder.....

update:

WH Pool Report: Soldiers Knew Questions In Advance

Well, obviously.

WH Pooler Geoff Earle of the New York Post writes of the teleconference: "The soldiers, nine U.S. men and one U.S. woman, plus an Iraqi, had been tipped off in advance about the questions in the highly scripted event. Allison Barber, deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense for internal communication, could be heard asking one soldier before the start of the event, "Who are we going to give that [question] to?"