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Heaven knows that, for the most part, I am no fan of George W. Bush. However, as a citizen, and as a mother of a soldier, I do appreciate the fact that President and Mrs. Bush visited our soldiers at Fort Hood last night. No fanfare. No photo ops. They just went and visited with the soldiers. Thank you both.
Now how do you know about that if there were no press?
Not necessarily. We do have freedom of the press in this country. That means the press is free to go and photograph the president if they wish (albeit what anifani said as well). The pres. does not necessarily 'invite' the press to go with him.
I meant there was no press for the visits to the hospitals or with the families.
The Thanksgiving day trip was ultra secret-but yes the visit was filmed. It was incredible seeing the troops reaction as he came out, completely unannounced, to spend a couple of hours with them in Iraq.
As far as Obama's Dover trip-he invited the press, not just the WH photographer. There was a thread earlier about that. It was planned.
Certainly you understand that freedom of the press doesn't mean that press has free access to any and every function, anywhere, anytime?
Dover doesn't ring a bell?
Not to mention that if he was visiting the troops in a hospital ward then the hospital can legally prevent the press from taking photos on the grounds of patient privacy.
I'm glad he didn't try to use it as a photo op. Most military service members can tell an insincere photo op when they see one. One of the reasons why Congress is loathe to close US bases in foreign countries is because it gives members of Congress an excuse to take the family on a tax paid vacation. Was stationed in Italy when some Congressman stopped by our ship. We'd spend several days scrubbing, painting, and waxing to get the ship ready for his visit. They even had us doing all this in the engine room on the off chance he would want to take a peek at the engines. The big day arrived. He came aboard, the captain and admiral met him at the quarterdeck. The admiral took him to his stateroom. They had a chat. During lunch, the congressman suddenly appeared on the messdecks with a photographer. He'd grab people's hand, turn to the camera, wait for the photo, then grab someone else's hand. This went on for 4 or 5 sailors and then he and his cameraman vanished. Sometimes we'd see him out in town with his family seeing the sights. We later found out he claimed to have spent 2 weeks visiting the troops and bases. He actually spent one day with the Admiral, a few minutes taking photos with the enlisted, and the rest of the time was on tax payer paid vacation.
Bush did that throughout his 8 years...he would quietly visit injured troops, meet with families, no press.
But if we know about these, than it wasn't a secret. Pleasant surprise, yes.
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There were no posters in the photos saying "mission accomplished". 
