Friday, April 29, 2005

Which Transcription is Correct?

Doing a bit of fact checking, I clicked on over to the Whitehouse web location to review the same segment I and noticed the word "not" strategically located in the text. The NYTimes version of what happened is remarkably different.

Was anyone there to witness this portion of the Q & A and can testify that W said one thing or the other. Now, I am conflicted. I don't know whom to believe, the NYTimes transcriber or the Whitehouse version. Isn't that a shame?

Slice from the Whitehouse:

Q Do you think that's an inappropriate statement? And what I asked is --

THE PRESIDENT: No, I just don't agree with it.

Q You don't agree with it.

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think people oppose my nominees because -- because of judicial philosophy.

Q Sorry, I asked you what you think of the ways faith is being used in our political debates, not just in society --

THE PRESIDENT: No, I know you asked me that. Well, I can only speak to myself, and I am mindful that people in political office should not say to somebody, you're not equally American if you don't happen to agree with my view of religion. As I said, I think faith is a personal issue, and I get great strength from my faith. But I don't condemn somebody in the political process because they may not agree with me on religion.

The great thing about America, David, is that you should be allowed to worship any way you want, and if you choose not to worship, you're equally as patriotic as somebody who does worship. And if you choose to worship, you're equally American if you're a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim. That's the wonderful thing about our country, and that's the way it should be.

4 comments:

MG said...

I would bet C-SPAN has the entire speech... You could probably get the answer there :)

Anonymous said...

Did he, or did he not?

Do you want to believe the worst about the President, or not?

More importantly, you'll find these elaborated in Bush's April 28 Press Conference where he contradicts himself.

:Clip

TalkingPointsMemo


(April 28, 2005 -- 10:09 PM EDT // link // print)

There was so much bamboozling going on tonight in that press conference that it was easy to miss one essential contradiction in the president's argument. You don't have to worry about private accounts, he said, because if you want you can fill your account with US Treasury bonds which have no risk at all. They're backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. But he says that the very same Treasury notes, when they're in the Trust Fund, are just worthless IOUs.

-- Josh Marshall

:endClip

Sar said...

If he weren't at the helm of so much adversity here and overseas, I'd say his "speeches" would make for wonderful entertainment, akin to those of Captain Lassard of the '80s movie series "Police Academy". Camadar Bush, anyone?

Anonymous said...


English as Bush's 4th language

Alcohol is his first. His conversion to Christianity gave him a canned repertoire to replace it. ''Texas'' conversion gave him one. His speech writers yet another, with which he is unfamiliar but trying. Yale, Harvard, Kennebunkport and the military left him untouched. The man is a caricature, a King of the Hill president.