Jenna's Wedding

It seems that First Daughter Jenna Bush is getting married, and she and the groom, showing some class and good sense, have chosen not to make their wedding a huge public spectacle. According to The Washington Post, the American people are very upset about this.

I've certainly got my share of gripes with the Bush administration (disastrous war, determination to give inequality a boost, catastrophic approach to climate change, illegal surveillance, systematic torture, etc.) but I'm gonna say they deserve a pass on this one. And, further, I'd hypothesize that I'm not alone. I haven't heard anyone complain about the non-public nature of the wedding, nobody's emailed to urge me to blog about it, indeed, I didn't even realize this was happening until the Post front page informed me that I felt deprived of the wedding photos I crave.

Comments

I agree with Matt, but her Dad's views on privacy rights leave a lot to be desired.

Faux outrage serving the interests of a journalist's career, yup, yup, nothing to see here.

Posted by nice strategy | May 10, 2008 2:45 PM

The press has be wacking this story for a few days now. Nobody cares except them, but apparently they think we should.
I wish the young couple well and hope they have the wedding they wanted. Afterall, Jenna can't help it her dad's the president. Why should she share it with the world press? Sensible girl.

Posted by linda | May 10, 2008 2:47 PM

The press is so in-sync with what the American public want, it's amazing!!

I desperately wanted to hear more about flag pins, Pastor Wright and Obama saying the word "bitter."

I couldn't get enough of that stuff.

Now I'm desperate to learn more about the fascinating Jenna Bush and her wedding.

Thank you, Washington Post!! It's like you can read my mind!!

/no, not really

Posted by WinSmith | May 10, 2008 2:51 PM

I don't get this. The person at the WaPo is obviously projecting. MY is right. Hardly anyone gives a crap about this. I hope O'Douls is being served. Then again they don't need anything that strong being served.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | May 10, 2008 2:56 PM

Sure, keep the president's daughter's wedding private.

Top rank bloggers, however, are under an obligation to post any rites-of-passage photos. I'm rather charmed by Josh Marshall's baby photos and expect similar from babies/weddings/etc from all the blogging big cheeses.

Posted by otto | May 10, 2008 2:58 PM

The media is just mad they won't have pics to fill in the time between showing pictures of fat people below the neck when talking about obesity and talking about how the media is going to talk about shark attacks this summer. We don't live in a monarchy where this type of thing would be hugely interesting. She was old enough when Bush came to office that she was in college for most of it, so we didn't watch her grow up. Who gives a fuck?

Posted by Reality Man | May 10, 2008 3:02 PM

The person at the WaPo is obviously projecting. MY is right. Hardly anyone gives a crap about this.

So true. What little we do know of the wedding is stuff I didn't need to be aware of. Texas-shaped coasters? Commemorative mugs with their photos? And that's what they're doing without turning it into a public spectacle.

Posted by Tyro | May 10, 2008 3:05 PM

I have no complaint about Jenna's wedding. My complaint is that there seems to be no news about what the cute daughter is up to. I don't even remember her name.

Posted by Jim W | May 10, 2008 3:11 PM

I saw the post and read on because I thought is was about a plot point for the TV show, "The Office" which stars among others, Jenna Fischer. I knew that Jim was just about ready to propose to Pam, but I had no idea that there was going to be a wedding.

It turns out that it was about some person who exists in real life. How boring.

Posted by EB | May 10, 2008 3:16 PM

Yes, indeed. The children should be left out of this. The press are just showing their own crassness.

Posted by Chris Dornan | May 10, 2008 3:16 PM

Speaking of The Office, is it just me, or does the show suddenly suck now.

Posted by thehova | May 10, 2008 3:22 PM

The press has be wacking this story for a few days now. Nobody cares except them, but apparently they think we should.

Is it really "the press", or a just a handful of pea-brained society columnists?

Posted by Dan Kervick | May 10, 2008 3:34 PM

I honestly can't think of a single person who gives a shit about this. Then again, the Washington Post's op-ed page has been pretty crappy for a while now so I guess I'm not surprised.

If they said "media disappointed that the wedding would be private because it means they have to actually go report on actual news" the headline would have been a bit more accurate.

Posted by Jim Crozier | May 10, 2008 3:46 PM

Tough to be a war criminal's daughter. Too bad she and her evil twin haven't taken the same pledge that Hitler's last known, living relatives in the States took, not to reproduce.

Posted by Egypt Steve | May 10, 2008 4:22 PM

I think the Post's headline is supposed to be more an ironic statement about the public's fascination with celebrity weddings than an accusation about Bush's obsession with privacy. Just my opinion.

Posted by AMP | May 10, 2008 4:36 PM

The press are just showing their own crassness.

I wouldn't say "crassness" exactly. It's more like a subconscious guilt over subjecting us to this crap. They are motivated by convincing us that celebrity gossip is some unstoppable scourge that be fulfilled.

Much like a drug dealer would tell you that if they weren't selling drugs some else would be doing it because people want to get high.

In this case it's somewhat true that if the Washington Post didn't cover Jenna Bush maybe some celebrity blogs would pick up the slack and get a few more readers, but that would of course be a much preferable situation.

Posted by Christopher Colaninno | May 10, 2008 5:01 PM

It turns out that it's being kept private because it's a nudist wedding, and they want to keep cameras away from Barbara Bush Sr's withered, flappy paps and Dick Cheney's cardiac scars and the giant Snoopy tattoo Dumbya has on his ass.

Also Condi Rice is known to get wasted at these things and start yelling, "I'm a squirter and I can prove it," and they don't want that on the record.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | May 10, 2008 5:12 PM

Heck, I wish her the best of luck. But Crawford seems like a cheesy place to have said the vows: Jenna never lived there, except maybe when home from college, and it was only bought in 1998, quite transparently as a backdrop for photo ops of Bush doing nothing in particular with a chainsaw. Getting married there is like if one of Reagan's kids got married on one of the sets where Kings Row or Hellcats Of The Navy was filmed.

Posted by kth | May 10, 2008 5:54 PM

The only time she was in the news was when she was a drunken party girl, and that time she laughed at some guy for asking her to dance. That doesn't exactly make for Americas sweetheart.

Posted by Soullite | May 10, 2008 6:03 PM

But Crawford seems like a cheesy place to have said the vows: Jenna never lived there, except maybe when home from college, and it was only bought in 1998, quite transparently as a backdrop for photo ops of Bush doing nothing in particular with a chainsaw

Mostly, I agree. Which presents an even greater reason for the Bush family to keep the ceremony private: coverage in the press would simply invite more of my dissection and mockery of the whole thing. At the same time, the media embargo is inexplicable: you'd think, given the chintziness of the entire event, they'd want more publicity. Shutting out the media would make sense only if the ceremony were private and tasteful, rather than the tacky, faux-west-texan nouveaux-riche extravaganza it looks like it's turning into.

Posted by Tyro | May 10, 2008 6:08 PM

At the very least, we can hope the Bushes actually learned a lesson - this one from the inauguration parties they threw after Bush won re-election. The press they got for throwing a HUGELY EXPENSIVE FIESTA at the height of the war was not good.

Posted by Adam | May 10, 2008 7:40 PM

MoeLarryandJesus wins the thread - and with a handle like that, he should.

"I'm rather charmed by Josh Marshall's baby photos and expect similar from babies/weddings/etc from all the blogging big cheeses."

Well, I don't particularly care about Josh's baby pictures (unless they were HIS baby pictures), and I damn sure don't want to see Matt's - which is unlikely anyway, since he can't even get a date with McMegan.

And if he did, the baby would probably be illegitimate - or not even his.

Besides, compared to the fact that Cameron will be back this fall, all this is completely meaningless.

So why did I post this?

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | May 10, 2008 8:06 PM

R.S. Hack,

Terminator is a great show, and Summer Glau is indeed comely (that adjective's for you, Psedomonas), but your obsession is starting to border on creepiness.

Posted by Fred | May 10, 2008 8:21 PM

No. As I just told El Cid in another thread, it's about drumming up support for the show so the fall debut of the second season doesn't tank in the ratings.

I believe a study was done in the last year or two that showed that people's choices in media and entertainment are significantly influenced by their perception of other people's choices. In short, if something has a lot of fans, more people are going to be motivated to check it out and possibly become fans. Common sense, actually. So if people see you promoting a show, maybe they'll check it out.

As I told El Cid, I'm not a "fan" of anything because being a "fan" means being "uncritical", to me, anyway. And I am rarely "uncritical" of anything.

But the show is great, probably the best sci-fi since the later seasons of "Highlander" (which went five seasons and generated a spin-off series and two movies in addition to the original three Highlander movies), so mentioning it or using aspects of it to make points - especially in joke posts in unimportant threads like this - is not unwarranted, especially if it leads to its continued existence.

Nothing creepy about it - well, unless you count the fact that I'm nearing sixty and Summer Glau is 26. Hell, I like Emma Watson and she's 18. I also like Stephanie Beacham and she's 61. Make of that what you will.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | May 10, 2008 9:15 PM

Make of that what you will.

Creepy.

Posted by StJoe | May 10, 2008 10:17 PM

They were smart not to have this at the White House.

She'll be mean drunk. Her gown will be full of cigarette burns and her left tit will be hanging out the armhole. She won't be wearing panties, she never does.

Jenna hates it when her mother gets that way at family functions.

Posted by reddog | May 10, 2008 10:24 PM

Hack,

Considering that the producers have already planned a tie-in between the Terminator show and the next movie, I'd say you have little to fear. With that, I'm going to have to take a break from the interwebs, so the domestic partner and I can watch Transformers.

Posted by Fred | May 10, 2008 10:48 PM

Who's Jenna Bush?

Posted by aleks | May 10, 2008 11:43 PM

I'd wager that the Americans who are truly disappointed in the coverage of Jenna's wedding are the same Americans who think torture is a good way to obtain reliable information.

Posted by bluestatedon | May 11, 2008 3:02 AM

I guess I have to give them this. I was kinda wondering why they didn't go for the Patricia Nixon White House Wedding. I always >try

Regards.

Posted by luko | May 11, 2008 8:27 AM

"I'd wager that the Americans who are truly disappointed in the coverage of Jenna's wedding are the same Americans who think torture is a good way to obtain reliable information.

Let's just hope they don't start torturing guests in an attempt to find out more info . .

Posted by Dan S. | May 11, 2008 9:46 AM

I appreciate the family desire for privacy, I just wish this administration had respected ours.

Posted by cheryl | May 11, 2008 9:48 AM

Private wedding for Bush daughter. Video.
Check this out.
http://jenna-bush.blogspot.com

Posted by jane | May 11, 2008 1:33 PM

The Century passed ball to wedding-web,but Who might be open the CAN to MONey+DAy!

Posted by JUSUK.HAN | May 11, 2008 6:45 PM

The Century passed ball to wedding-web,but Who might be open the CAN to MONey+DAy!

Posted by JUSUK.HAN | May 11, 2008 6:46 PM