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George W. Bush: Remarks at the White House Correspondents' Dinner - May 4, 2002
Full Transcript
George W. Bush
00:00:00-00:00:47 (47.44 sec)Thank you very much, Steve. Mr. Vice President, members of the White House Correspondents' Association, ladies and gentlemen, Laura and I are honored to be here tonight. Thanks for the invitation. What a fantastic audience we have tonight: Washington power brokers, celebrities, Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne. [Laughter]
Note
00:00:47-00:00:47 (0.12 sec)[Mr. Osbourne bowed and blew kisses to the crowd.]
George W. Bush
00:00:47-00:02:44 (116.92 sec)Okay, Ozzy. [Laughter] Might have been a mistake. [Laughter] The thing about Ozzy is he's made a lot of big hit recordings: "Party With the Animals"; "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath"; "Face in Hell"; "Black Skies"; and "Bloodbath in Paradise." Ozzy, Mom loves your stuff. [Laughter] And Drew Carey is our entertainment tonight.
George W. Bush
00:02:44-00:03:19 (35.24 sec)Drew has a fun TV show called "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" which is totally improvised. Drew, got any interest in the Middle East? [Laughter] Last year at this dinner, I showed some photos straight out of the Bush family photo album. Tonight I'm going to show you some actual, never-seen-before photos taken by the White House photographers over the past 15 months.
George W. Bush
00:03:19-00:04:35 (75.76 sec)We've created, just for you, this little slide show of what life is really like inside the Bush White House. So Karen, if everyone's in the seats you've assigned them—[Laughter]—hit the projector. [First slide.] When I look back over the last year, I think I've grown in office. I'm much more focused. [Laughter] [Slide change.] I feel relaxed. [Laughter] [Slide change.] I mean, occasionally there are moments where I feel a little stress. [Laughter] [Slide change.] I may have aged a bit. [Laughter] [Slide change.] One of the great things about being in the White House is having Laura close by.
George W. Bush
00:04:35-00:04:55 (19.64 sec)Whenever she drops by my office, my day is brighter. [Slide change.] She helps me in a million ways. Here she is helping me pronounce "Azerbaijanis." [Laughter] [Slide change.] We have two dogs. This is our dog Barney. I tell him with eyebrows like that, he ought to be a Senator. [Laughter] [Slide change.] You can tell Barney's in some trouble here.
George W. Bush
00:04:55-00:05:24 (29.04 sec)This is the day he chewed up the list of undisclosed locations, and we couldn't find Dick. [Laughter] [Slide change.] The little guy keeps a lookout like this hour after hour. [Laughter] I kind of wish Tom Ridge had never had that talk with him about homeland security. [Laughter] [Slide change.] Now, this is our dog Spot.
George W. Bush
00:05:24-00:06:15 (51.12 sec)People often ask me how I came up with that name. [Laughter] I don't know; I'm just kind of a creative guy. [Laughter] [Slide change.] The thing about Spot is that she is -- she actually thinks she's the President. [Laughter] Here she is coming back from a fundraiser for the American Kennel Club. [Laughter] [Slide change.] But she is truly a great canine American, and I value her counsel—[Laughter]—just as I value the counsel of others on the staff. [Laughter] We have a very experienced, mature team of professionals down at the White House. [Slide change.] This is Josh Bolten. [Laughter] He's the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
George W. Bush
00:06:15-00:06:50 (35.36 sec)America should sleep better at night knowing that this calm, level-headed man—[Laughter]—is helping to guide our Nation. [Slide change.] This is Nick Calio, the head of our Office of Legislative Affairs. I had just said to him, "So, Nick, what are the chances of the Senate passing ANWR?" [Laughter] [Slide change.] Nick really prepares me well when congressional leaders come down for meetings.
George W. Bush
00:06:50-00:07:40 (50 sec)Here he is testing out a whoopee cushion that we're going to use on Senator Byrd. [Laughter] But we really have a highly motivated group down at the White House. No matter what the task at hand, each of us gives 110 percent. [Two slide changes.] [Laughter] The truth is, the door to the Oval Office has a little peephole.
George W. Bush
00:07:40-00:08:21 (40.68 sec)This is Karen Hughes peeping in on me. [Laughter] [Slide change.] This is Karl Rove peeping in on me. [Laughter] [Slide change.] This is Condi Rice peeping in on me. [Laughter] [Slide change.] Spot has her own peephole. [Laughter] [Slide change.] This is Andy Card peeping in on me. [Laughter] [Slide change.] And ladies and gentlemen—[Laughter]— this is the Vice President of the United States, looking through a peephole.
George W. Bush
00:08:21-00:08:46 (25.52 sec)And Dick, I hope you're not doing what it looks like you're doing. [Laughter] [Slide change.] This photo actually has nothing to do with anything. [Laughter] I thought I'd show it to you, however, because it's the only known photo in existence of Alan Greenspan smiling. [Laughter] [Slide change.] This is Ari Fleischer, of course.
George W. Bush
00:08:46-00:09:33 (46.96 sec)I was chewing him out here. [Laughter] I'm saying, "Ari, I am sick and tired of you not fully answering all the wonderful questions asked by our hard-working White House press corps. Are you sure, Ari, we're not leaking enough?" [Laughter] "Are you sure that we've given them enough access to me? I've got an idea, I'll do more inter-views—with 'Baseball Tonight."' [Laughter] Now, part of the job of a President is to meet with representatives of special interest groups. [Slide change.] [Laughter] Here I am meeting with representatives from the American Cloning Council. [Laughter] [Slide change.] I try to work with Republicans and Democrats alike.
George W. Bush
00:09:33-00:10:01 (27.36 sec)For political reasons, some Democrats prefer that it not be known they are working with a Republican President, so they slip in the back door -- like Hillary Clinton here. [Slide change.] [Laughter] It's not all work, of course. One day, I decided to show some of the staff the White House bowling alley.
George W. Bush
00:10:01-00:10:35 (34.48 sec)Boys and girls, there is a reason you wear those special bowling shoes. [Three slide changes.] [Laughter] Of course, another job of the President is dealing with the White House press corps. You ask some pretty tough questions, but to tell you the truth, I don't think you've laid a glove on me. Here I am after our last press conference. [Slide change.] [Laughter] In closing tonight, I thought about turning serious and talking about all we've been through since I was here last year.
George W. Bush
00:10:35-00:11:07 (32.08 sec)But then I decided this wasn't the time or the place. You came to have a good time; we've got Drew Carey waiting to entertain us. So instead, I'm going to leave you with one last thought and one last photo of our dog Spot. [Slide change.] I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, is this a great country or what? [Laughter] Thank you very much.