LiveBlog: President Bush's July 15 News Conference

Photo of Ken Shepherd.

Update (13:40 EDT): You can see in bold some of the questions I thought particularly biased. I've clipped Mark Smith's first question about turning the thermostat down and driving less and posted that video on EyeBlast.tv. You can find it embedded at right. [Official White House transcript available here.]

10:17 EDT: President Bush will hold a press conference in a few minutes, I'll be watching and live-blogging questions from the press corps. I'll update the blog post after the fact (assuming President Bush takes questions) with a link to the official White House transcript. If warranted, we may also post video of the most biased questions.

11:09 | President thanks reporters for their time, closes conference.

11:06 | Olivier (sp?): "Is President Karzai correct and do you think the new government in Pakistan is willing to combat terrorism?"

11:02 | Ryan: Do you think it [the economy] changes before you leave office?

10:59 | April Ryan, American Urban Radio Networks: "When in your guestimation will this country see a turnaround on the soft economy?" Also asks about what's happening in Sudan.

10:57 | Compton presses again on oil company question.

10:55 | Ann Compton, ABC Radio: "You never mention oil companies. Are you confident that American oil producers are Mark Smith, AP | NewsBusters.orgtapping all the sources they have out there, including offshore?" Compton also asks about Iraq and what Bush will leave his successor.

10:53 | Smith of AP Radio asks if President Bush sees the "value" of a campaign to push for conservation.

10:52 | Mark Smith, AP Radio: "Mr. President, understanding what you say about energy supplies being tight and the debate over energy, which has gone on for years and will continue long through the campaign and into the next administration -- one thing nobody debates is that if Americans use less energy the current supply/demand equation would improve. Why have you not sort of called on Americans to drive less and to turn down the thermostat?"

10:50 | Roger Runningen, Bloomberg News on a second stimulus: "Is it too late to consider a second one?"

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10:48 | Baier asks if Americans should expect a surge of troops in Afghanistan

10:46 | Bret Baier, Fox News asks two questions on Iraq/Afghanistan. 1) are troop levels in Iraq hurting war in Afghanistan, 2) asks for reaction from prepared remarks Sen. Obama will deliver on the war today.

10:45 | Unid'd reporter on Zimbabwe.

10:43 | reporter named Stevenly (sp?) "I wonder in light of the Supreme Court's decison what you plan on doing about Guantanamo?"

10:41 | John McKinnon, Wall Street Journal: "In the past, when oil prices have gone up a lot, they wound up going down a lot afterward," asks if Bush can predict price drop in the future

10:39 | Ed Henry, CNN: "I wonder if you felt betrayed by Scott McClellan's assessment of the war in Iraq?" Henry also asks about advice for politicians visiting Iraq, meeting with military commanders.

10:38 | De Nies asks about opening the strategic petroleum reserve

10:35 | Yunji De Nies, ABC News notes that president didn't think gas prices would reach $4 in February and that now they are "approaching five dollars," she then asked, "What is the short term advice for Americans about gas prices?"

10:35 | Plante asks if Fannie and Freddie will continue to be publicly guaranteed by the federal government

10:34 | Bill Plante, CBS News asks if rules governing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be changed so they are not as insulated from market forces as they have been

10:32 | John Yang, NBC News: "Are there other entitites in the economy" that are crucial to the economy that they require "government action to show support for them"?

10:31 | Matt Spetalnick, Reuters: "Given the latest economic data" is the president concerned about recession, would he consider a second stimulus package?

10:30 | Hunt, AP: "Do you think the [banking] system is in trouble?"

10:28 | Terence Hunt, AP asks "Are American banks in trouble?" and if more bailouts are inevitable under the theory that some financial institutions are "too big to fail"

10:28 | President Bush: "The bottom line is this we are going through a tough time" but says "we can have confidence in the long-term foundation of our economy"

10:26 | President Bush says "economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience"

10:26 | President Bush laments congressional inaction on ending ban on offshore oil drilling

10:24 | President Bush opens conference by addressing how Treasury and Fed Reserve's work to shore up mortgage lenders.

—Ken Shepherd is Managing Editor of NewsBusters


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I am watching and listening

I hope the president will be positive on banking and angry at drilling

The banking system would be alright if the government stays out of it.

Actually, all would be well if the government steps out of the way.

Too late for Small business ie: "no income verification" loans

Two thumbs up. I really

Two thumbs up. I really liked his comment about the MSM not being economists. I need to find the actual wording he used though.

Bush: Scott who

10:39 | Ed Henry, CNN: "I wonder if you felt betrayed by Scott McClellan's assessment of the war in Iraq?" Henry also asks about advice for politicians visiting Iraq, meeting with military commanders.

Bush:  Scott Mcwho?  Never heard of him.  Next question... 

I wish I could have seen the

I wish I could have seen the look on Mark Smith's face when the President told him Americans can balance their own checkbooks and don't need the government to tell them how to live their lives. 

Me too. And after he says

Me too.

And after he says that, you know what the headline of Mike Allen's article on Politico is?

Bush Won't Demand Conservation

And the first sentence:

President Bush said Tuesday that he will not call on Americans to conserve gasoline
despite the rising price of oil, saying consumers are "smart enough" to
figure out for themselves that they should drive less
.

(all emphasis mine)

I just wish the President had said he wouldn't insult people's intelligence by implying that they wouldn't figure it out on their own!

 

90 seconds

That is how long it took the Oil President to beg for more oil.

 How about increasing the value of the dollar Bozoo?  That will bring the price down right now. 

 I can't believe so many of you continue to fall for the AGENDA Team.  You are still good for a laugh or two.  Keep it up!

 

An evening at the Hater

An evening at the Hater home:

Small hungry child:  "Granpa Hater, we're all out of corn, and it's too expensive to buy from the store.  We should plant some in our garden."


Granpa Hater:  "Well, if it isn't the little 'Corn King', begging for 'corn'.  How bout you just increase the value of your allowance BOZOOO and shut yer yapper!"
 

When asked if he went to war with Iraq  to derail the impeachment vote:  “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).

Crispy

20 seconds. How long it takes to ban silly libbies.

That's cold, Matthew

Funny, but cold.

David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive

 

→ 20 second solution

Zeus hath hurled his fiery thunderbolt.

  • LYDSEXICS UNTIE

Zeus hath hurled his fiery thunderbolt.

LOL-And nailed Hater right in the arse.

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:-)

The truth is insensitive. - Neal Boortz

I don't know what is bias

I don't know what is bias in asking about conservation -- altho I do know I never hear Bush talking about driving less, using public transportation, biking, walking, carpooling --- he NEVER talks about these alternatives and I guess we know why---

instead of looking for and developing alternatives, his only approach in drill, drill, drill

Whats Wrong With Drilling?

What's wrong with drill, drill, drill if it can be done with little or no environmental impact?

Why must drilling for oil and a clean environment be mutually exclusive?  If we can put a man on the moon by golly we can acquire oil without hurting bambi and thumper.

If you listened to President Bush's news conference he spoke about the newer technologies which allow for cleaner acquisition of oil.

Maybe you're more concerned about the back end of oil, when it gets burned, filtered and put into the atmosphere from the tail pipe. This is also a common concern among members of the "The Church of Global Warming."  I'm not a member of that faith, but the problem is that they are dead set at forcing me to bow down to their gods through high energy prices and other social engineering devices.  Members of the Church of Global Warming get a warm fuzzy feeling as they make these sacrifices to their gods, but for me it feels like I'm getting kicked in the teeth even though I didn't want it.

Whatever happened to separation of church and state?

leekat, alternatives are being worked on.

But they are still a few years off yet.

You cannot just "throw a switch" and suddenly oil becomes obsolete. It is probably going to take two or three decades to make any kind of viable switch to an alternative (and right now we don't really know what that "alternative" is even going to be) as there are going to be infrastructure issues that will have to be addressed.

This nation's network of gas stations did not just spring up over-night. 

Public transportation, biking, walking, etc. are all well and good, but for many of us, those are not viable options.

In the mean time, we have to use what we have, else the economy is going to tank and there will be no money to study, much less develop, any alternatives.

The truth is insensitive. - Neal Boortz

leekat, as I said above,

leekat, as I said above, maybe he thinks it would be an insult to people's intelligence to imply that they wouldn't conserve or change any of their habits without being told to by Daddy President.!

 

Shoot 'em all; let God sort 'em out! - Marge Simpson