Bush decides free press is not a ‘cornerstone’ of democracy.
By on Jul 12th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Bush decides free press is not a ‘cornerstone’ of democracy.
A Reuters photographer yesterday took a picture of President Bush’s speech welcoming journalists to the new White House briefing room. As On Deadline notes, “As you can see, the speech has been marked up and includes a large ‘X’ through this section: ‘And there’s no truth to the rumor some of those new seats can be ejected by pressing a button at Tony’s podium.’”
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The White House needs new writers. Not only are they stealing policy ideas from Stephen Colbert, but now they’re taking all his jokes.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:53 amI’m a little suspicious of this. Everyone knows Bush can’t read.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:54 amI’m a little suspicious of this. Everyone knows Bush can’t read.
Comment by bob’s your uncle — July 12, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Now that’s not true - remember a little book called My Pet Goat? I’d say he’s at least at a first-grade level.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:56 amWhat is the word written in above the marked out “one of” in the second paragraph?
July 12th, 2007 at 10:57 amGDumbya may wish that he could find that button to eject Helen Thomas right now. She asked the question at the beginning of the Q & A.
As usual, GDumbya chose to ignore and obfuscate the “war of choice” question. He outlined the four “phases” of the war according to him. Here is the truth:
phase 1 — initiate an avoidable invasion
phase 2 — screw up occupation of the country
phase 3 — set up a weak puppet government incapable of resolving political problems
phase 4 — throw good money after bad and pile up more bodies in vain pursuit of an unnecessary intervention
The result of all this continues to be squandered resources, lives, diplomatic leverage and national reputation.
Somebody needs to start phase 5 — remove GDumbya and Darth Cheney from office and put the adults in charge.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:58 amNow that’s not true - remember a little book called My Pet Goat? I’d say he’s at least at a first-grade level.
Comment by toasterhead — July 12, 2007 @ 10:56 am
Sure I remember the photo of him with the book, but I don’t recall him actually ever reading it. He probably had one of his aides prompting him through an earpiece.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:00 amWhat is the word written in above the marked out “one of†in the second paragraph?
Comment by Zooey — July 12, 2007 @ 10:57 am
If you look closely, you’ll notice it says, “I can’t read.”
July 12th, 2007 at 11:01 amWhat is the word written in above the marked out “one of†in the second paragraph?
Comment by Zooey — July 12, 2007 @ 10:57 am
Whatever it was, he didn’t say it. There’s no mention of a free press in the transcript:
July 12th, 2007 at 11:01 amhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/ news/ releases/ 2007/ 07/ 20070711.html
There’s no mention of a free press in the transcript…
No free press, no problem.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:02 am“Bush decides free press is not a ‘cornerstone’ of democracy”
This just in…Thinkprogress is pathetic to even care about this joke that did not make the final draft of the president’s speech. The title could not be more innacurate, truly sad.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:05 amIn his presser now, GDumbya has twice referred to those who have “perpetuated” (I think he means perpetrated) attacks on civilians and military in Iraq as being the same people who attacked us on 9-11.
When is someone going to take this little tin cowboy by the throat and talk some sense into him? What a total phuck-up! He just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get it at all.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:05 amThanks bob’s your uncle & toasterhead. :-)
July 12th, 2007 at 11:06 amI’ve gotta wonder about the validity of this, when does anybody get an opportuntiy like this? I mean really, does anybody remember any such previous episode like this? He left the speech on the podium to be photographed, or the picture was supposedly taken from behind?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:07 amIn Bush’s reality the press is free to reprint the press releases it is given by the White House. See, free press!
I am really tired of wondering when Bush and Cheney will be impeached. I guess the Dems are waiting for a sex scandal?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:08 amMaybe he couldn’t read what he wrote, either.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:08 am#8 - toasterhead
That transcript makes me sick — the press corpse laughing and joshing with the King….
July 12th, 2007 at 11:10 amIt wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Bush wouldn’t support a free press, even though the first amendment makes it clear:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM of speech, or OF THE PRESS; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
After all, this is the guy who said in 2005 that the Constitution is only a “g-d d-mn piece of paper” — making it clear that he has nothing but contempt for something he swore to uphold when he took office.
Unfortunately, I can’t make out the handwritten note that accompanies the scratched out “one of the cornerstones”. Can anyone help me out here?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:11 amWait, does that mean there IS a button on the podium that can eject seats?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:11 amHardy,
Remember that the pressure on Nixon was brought primarily by his own party to save their skins. Although I’m a die hard Democrat I gotta say they are a feckless spineless bunch when it comes to aggressively pursuing traitors of this country.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:12 amThe second statement was changed to read “…a free press is critical to our democracy.”
God forbid it be allowed “cornerstone” status.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:13 am“One of the cornerstones of our democracy” crossed out. “Critical to our democracy” written in.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:14 amDon’t want to press to think they anything as substantial as a “cornerstone”
My guess is the scrawl says: “critical to our Democracy”.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:14 amhe’s just so funny and cute. Except for the pall cast by all those dead people, I’d love to have a beer with him.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:15 amThis prooves McChimpy is a Hitler Nazi Devil.
Got them all in one post.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:15 amThis just in…Thinkprogress is pathetic to even care about this joke that did not make the final draft of the president’s speech. The title could not be more innacurate, truly sad.
Comment by yep — July 12, 2007 @ 11:05 am
I’ve gotta wonder about the validity of this, when does anybody get an opportuntiy like this? I mean really, does anybody remember any such previous episode like this? He left the speech on the podium to be photographed, or the picture was supposedly taken from behind?
Comment by Texas Democrat — July 12, 2007 @ 11:07 am
It’s a set-up joke by the White House. We know it’s just a joke. Har de har. They’re playing up their buddy-buddy/faux-adversarial relationship with the press.
#8 - toasterhead
That transcript makes me sick — the press corpse laughing and joshing with the King….
Comment by Zooey — July 12, 2007 @ 11:10 am
It’s funny if you take it out of context. But in-context it’s just kinda sickening. When you look at it in the context of the media’s complicity in getting us into the ludicrous Iraq war and the administration’s general contempt for oversight, hard questioning, and the truth. It would be funny in peacetime. It’s not funny right now.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:18 amNo problen…Sara Taylor thought she swore an oath of allegiance to George Bush - rather than to the constitution…We all know where their ultimate loyalty lies.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:25 amWhat about that 36-point font type? Looks like Sony’s, “My First Press Room Speech.”
July 12th, 2007 at 11:27 amThis photo demonstrates one of the advantages of the new…
White House Propaganda Center.
See my prediction of how the new facility would look at the link above. I wasn’t far off.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:29 amThey’d write “turn” at the bottom of the page for Bush, but the first time they did, he spun around!
July 12th, 2007 at 11:30 amZOOEY you are soooo right !! levitiy certainly helps…but, in reality the state of affairs under George W. Bush makes one nauseated. JAN. 20, 2009 HANG IN THERE AMERICA !!
July 12th, 2007 at 11:30 amSara Taylor thought she swore an oath of allegiance to George Bush
I for one can’t wait until they all start biting down on the cyanide capsules.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:33 amOsama Bin Laden was on vacation he was seen sucking on a margarita on Miami Beach. He looked well and tanned and surprising relaxed. He was asked if he had gave up on his jihad he was quick to respond no the fight was still on but his number one man was doing such a good job that he (Osama) could take a little vacation.
He said look at America she is in total disarray the country is divided and fighting among each other. Over 3610 have died and over 26,558 are injured, Billions have been spent on far away lands and they now have the largest deficit in its history. Their very freedoms are now being taken away. The government listens to their phone calls, checks their e-mail, and watches their bank accounts. They can now be jailed held indefinitely without trial, their homes can be searched without warrants. They almost have to be striped search to fly on airplanes. The very Constitution that made their country is nothing more than a piece of paper with no meaning now. I now have many new cells throughout the world ready to fight the infidels everywhere. And most of the world now looks down upon them.
He has kept my enemies away so I may rebuild my network and re-establish my training camps, allowing me to plan future attacks. He has fired everyone who has given proper advice and plans on how to get me and my followers. He has broken the very Army that would find and kill me, they are tired and most of their equipment is now junk.
Yes my number one man and his crew has done a fine job and I could not have done all of this without him and his supporters. My only concern is how I can keep George Bush and Dick Cheney and republicans in charge.
They are my best sleeper cell that I ever have had.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:33 amBush is sick.
Freedom of speech, not just freedom of the press is the cornerstone of democracy.
Without it there is no democracy.
Bush has systematically retalliated against everyone daring to speak out against him trying to suppress freedom of speach.
From ordering the military not to blog or even freely send email to their family, to the marine with an honorable discharge that was changed to a dishonorable because he dared to protest publicly. To the outing of a covert cia agent whose husband had the gall to point out a lie by this adminstration.
Bush has systematically undermined freedom of speech in this country in a deliberate fascist way, just like he has politicized the entire executive branch, even the VA.
congress must impeach these fascist so we can return this country to the rules of the constitution it was built on.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:34 amThey’d write “turn†at the bottom of the page for Bush, but the first time they did, he spun around!
Comment by Dago T — July 12, 2007 @ 11:30 am
Yeah, Dago — and when they saw that happen and tried writing “over” on the bottom of the page instead, he left the podium halfway through his speech…
July 12th, 2007 at 11:36 amAnybody know who wrote the remarks? Is that chimpy’s handwriting?
July 12th, 2007 at 11:37 amMost impressive. Mr. Bush’s judgement and vision surpasses that of the Founding Fathers. When will he set up a Department of Truth? Will that be before or after he voids the 22nd Amendment? Then he can become President for Life in the finest tradition of real leaders like Idi Amin.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:37 amImpeach Bush and Cheney and Save the Constitution!
“‘Bush decides free press is not a ‘cornerstone’ of democracy’
This just in…Thinkprogress is pathetic to even care about this joke that did not make the final draft of the president’s speech. The title could not be more innacurate, truly sad.
Comment by yep”
The fact that it was written down for him to say, then he *crossed it out* is the whole point. lil’ bush *had* the final draft, he chose to edit it further by refusing to acknowledge that a free press is a cornerstone to democracy–at least, not what *he* considers democracy, which is what the rest of us would consider monarchy.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:42 amYes my number one man and his crew has done a fine job and I could not have done all of this without him and his supporters. My only concern is how I can keep George Bush and Dick Cheney and republicans in charge.
They are my best sleeper cell that I ever have had.
Comment by wolf58
Creepy…..and sadly, true.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:43 amI am not surprised. No, not at all.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:50 amOK — if “cornerstone” was replaced with “critical to our democracy” I really don’t see what all the fuss is about. I have too many real problems with the way our current white house administration goes about its business to get worked up over minor semantic issues like this.
And they could have kept the joke in, too. It wouldn’t have bothered me — not like a sick “bomb Iran” joke would have.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:51 amIs that chimpy’s handwriting?
Comment by hit_escape — July 12, 2007 @ 11:37 am
No. His preferred writing tool is Crayola #49–Macaroni and Cheese.
July 12th, 2007 at 11:59 amWhy does the dumbass require these juvenile notes be printed using a 60 point type-face ?
July 12th, 2007 at 12:02 pmTo xegar:
Probably because Snow doesn’t want to have to wear his “cheaters” on camera. As an “over 50″ myself, I understand the challenges of reading small print.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pmLooks like he wrote in “critical to our Democracy”. Anyone?
July 12th, 2007 at 12:07 pmNon story TP sorry try harder.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:15 pmAlthough I’m a die hard Democrat I gotta say they are a feckless spineless bunch when it comes to aggressively pursuing traitors of this country.
Comment by Texas Democrat — July 12, 2007 @ 11:12 am
I can’t disagree with your assessment of the current crop of Democratic congresscritters, but I think you’re being a little too severe in your generalization.
The truth is, Republicans will always have more power to go after a president of their own party than Democrats will, and vice-versa. Look at the Clinton impeachment; Republicans were pretty solidly behind the effort, but because no Democrats signed on (with the exception of turncoat Holy Joe) the public saw it for what it was — a blatantly partisan witch hunt. Clinton weathered the storm and his approval rating rose.
The situation isn’t exactly reversed now — Bush’s sins far exceed an extramarital blowjob, and the public knows that. But we still need a significant block of Republicans to support any kind of impeachment. And I don’t mean “say one thing, vote another” Republicans like Specter or Lugar. I mean Republicans who recognize the damage this administration has wrought on the nation, or at least on their own party.
Even if that happens, BushCo will still try to spin it as a partisan fishing expedition and the 26%ers will swallow that line and repeat it on these boards. But if it really is bipartisan, that line will be hard to sell.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:27 pmTo xegar:
Probably because Snow doesn’t want to have to wear his “cheaters†on camera. As an “over 50″ myself, I understand the challenges of reading small print.
Comment by missmolly
That’s what I was thinking. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Not that I’m old or anything.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:27 pmMaybe he actually wanted to write “too critical of” and got distracted.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:28 pmThe fact that it was written down for him to say, then he *crossed it out* is the whole point. lil’ bush *had* the final draft, he chose to edit it further by refusing to acknowledge that a free press is a cornerstone to democracy–at least, not what *he* considers democracy, which is what the rest of us would consider monarchy.
Comment by mongo — July 12, 2007 @ 11:42 am
Yeah, who do they think they are joking and editing. We have a right to see every draft of every speech. We need more fodder for our need to spend every minute of every day whining and complaining. Who does Bush think he is changing “cornerstone of democracy” to “critical to democracy”. We want him to say cornerstone not critical! *stomping feet* Impeachment! Impeachment! ;)
July 12th, 2007 at 12:32 pmI don’t want to be a wet blanket or anything but, seriously, this is a story? The edit of that paragraph actually improves the language and doesn’t change the meaning. Much more the active voice. I would have made the same edit, personally, which would kind of lead me to think that’s not Dubya’s handwriting at all.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pmhe wasn’t reading my pet goat either. if you look at the video he was holding the book upside down.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:37 pmyou guys are blinded by hate. He says a free press is “critical to our democracy”
July 12th, 2007 at 12:46 pmWell, that speechwriter is probably history. How dare he tried to add a little humor. And if the first amendment is not the cornerstone, which amendment would that be? Bush v. Gore?
July 12th, 2007 at 12:56 pm“Critical to MAINTAINING our democracy” IMHO.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:03 pmWow! some of you dumbasses need to learn to read ….
The script, IN BIG LETTERS has the words “one of the cornerstones of democracy…” crossed out. In case you need EVERYTHING explained to you like the children you obviously are, the poster assumed you would read the script, read the crossed out part and make the connection to the headline and the assertion.
Damn, no wonder you idiots worked to elect him twice (with DieBold and Karl Rove’s invaluable help of course)
July 12th, 2007 at 1:09 pmhttp://www.c-span.org/ watch/ cs_cspan3_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3
c-span 3 on Cheney’s creation of new “secret” classification investigation.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:25 pmPast time to put the Bush in the ejection seat.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:30 pmDamn, no wonder you idiots worked to elect him twice (with DieBold and Karl Rove’s invaluable help of course)
Comment by phoebe moon — July 12, 2007 @ 1:09 pm
Let’s not forget the U.S. Supreme Court’s part in 2000.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:17 pmBush’s cronies were clever enough to co-opt most members of the mainstream press, who feel so lucky to be in with the in crowd that they refuse to ask the tough questions. Two people not laughing during the josh session were Helen Thomas and Bill Plante of CBS. You can now see the press IS the cornerstone of democracy. Because we don’t have much of a free press, we don’t have much of a democracy.
DID ANYBODY HEAR HIM SAY THAT HE DID NOT ADHERE TO POLLS, THE PEOPLE WANTED SOMETHING ELSE .. DUH…. AND ALSO HE SAID IT WAS NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST … HE CALLED POLLS A POPULARITY CONTEST.. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL HIM TO LOOK UP THE WORD DEMOCRACY WHICH HE LIKES TO SPEAK ON SO MUCH…….
July 12th, 2007 at 2:25 pmBaby Bush is the real sicko.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:34 pmwell put
July 13th, 2007 at 10:31 amThe handwritten portion says “critical to our American”.
So it reads, “and a free press is critical to our American democracy.”
July 13th, 2007 at 10:32 amuntil i see more than this “photo shopped” image im gona have to say inaccurate.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:13 pmI am not a fan of Bush, but this post is idiotic. “Cornerstone,” “critical,” does it really matter. Also, the photo is without context. Even if it were real, from this image, the veracity should be doubted. Thinkprogress should not be sinking to this level.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:13 pmIt just implies that Bush changed the talking points of his speech to better reflect his personal opinion/agenda, not that he disagrees with any amendments of the constitution/four freedoms/etc.
Basically, he hates the press. I mean…he hasn’t been getting exactly the best coverage lately after the whole Libby thing. Now there is something people should be angry about.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:57 pmThis is clearly edited after the fact. The text doesn’t appear to be an original print on the page, and the lines are something out of “paint” … this is crap to stir up more drama, which, don’t get me wrong, I love… but… why fake it when there’s so much real stuff to talk about?
July 13th, 2007 at 9:09 pmMost of the extreme left-wing nut jobs don’t vote and don’t report all their income (if they have one.) You people need to get a “real” candidate and forget this petty crap.
July 15th, 2007 at 11:17 pm