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Back to Kuo's book, here's an excerpt about supposed non-political "roundtable events" organized by the White House and paid for by the taxpayers, and how they were distorted and used by the politicians:
[During a similar event the next year in Atlanta] Ralph Reed surveyed the enormous ballroom with wide eyes. He looked back at me. "Do you realize what you've done here? Do you realize what this is? This is what Republicans have been trying to do for the last 20 years. For the last 20 years we've tried to find a way to get this kind of an audience into a room. "
Ralph knew why I invited him. He pulled out his cell phone, dialed a number and exclaimed, "Karl, I'm down here in Atlanta at the faith-based conference. You've won't believe what we've got here. You've got 3,000 people, mostly minorities, applauding a stinkin' video of the president. This is unbelievable. THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!"
More than a dozen conferences with more than 20,000 faith and community leaders were held in 2003 and 2004 in every significant battleground state, including two in Florida, one in Miami ten days before the 2004 election. Their political power was incalculable. They were completely off the media's radar screen.
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We will stay the course. [8/30/06]
We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]
We will stay the course *** We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]
And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]
And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. [4/16/04]
And so we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]
Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course” [10/21/06]
--- George W. Bush, President of the United States of America
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