Government Agencies Pre-emptively Spin the Bush Years

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"An e-mail went out last week to government agencies to get working on a project to lay out 'THE BUSH RECORD,'" reports Al Kamen. The e-mail tells agencies to "provide a one or two paragraph summary on the overarching communications strategy for your Department," listing any plans to produce "a document listing your Department's major accomplishments over the past eight years, a video of Department successes, etc." It also asks agencies to categorize accomplishments as one of the "three main themes of 'Kept America Safe & Promoted Liberty Abroad,' 'Lowered Taxes & Reformed Government,' and 'Stood on Principle / Tackled Tough Issues / Showed the Way Ahead.'" Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said it's "only natural to collect data" to help reporters writing retrospectives on the George W. Bush [6] administration. Otherwise, the public may not be aware that "minority education test scores went up or that teenage drug use is down 18 percent," he added. Kamen concludes, "Looks like a pretty big PR blitz."