A day in the life of President Bush (1/21/06): photos

White House, Google Photos ^ | 1/21/06

[Wolfstar]

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY The first family is spending the weekend at Camp David. Next week, the President, Vice President and others in the administration will be pushing back on the issue of monitoring international phone calls potentially connected with terrorism.

THE WEEK AHEAD: Once again Scott McClellan did not announce the week-ahead schedule at his press briefing. However, a search of news articles yielded the following:

President Bush will speak Monday at Kansas State University about U.S. efforts to fight terrorism. His address will be part of the university's Landon Lecture series and is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CST in Bramlage Coliseum on the Manhattan campus. GWB is the third sitting president to give a lecture, following Ronald Reagan in 1982 and Richard Nixon in 1970.

President Bush will visit the ultra-secret National Security Agency on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday a sports team that never was invited to the White House will finally do so nearly 40 years after they won their championship.

'66 Miner title team to finally visit Washington
Bill Knight
El Paso Times
Friday, January 20, 2006

The 1966 Texas Western NCAA championship basketball team, the team that was never invited to the White House, will meet with President Bush there Feb 22.

"The White House has invited Coach (Don) Haskins and his wife (Mary), the players and their spouses to have dinner and to see a screening of 'Glory Road,' at the White House on February 22," said Steve Tredennick.

Tredennick, who played on Haskins' first Texas Western team, is a lawyer in Round Rock, Texas, who has been handling everything for the 1966 team.

"This is pretty exciting after 40 years," Haskins said. "I think everyone's excited. I just called Eddie Mullens (the sports information director in 1966) and he was ecstatic. George W. is a special guy, as far as I'm concerned."

Harry Flournoy, a starter on the 1966 team, lives in Los Angeles. He, too, was excited by the news.

"Yes, it is exciting," Flournoy said Thursday night. "We should have been the ones to start that tradition in 1966. But better late than never. Seriously, all this is just something I could never have dreamed ... not even in my wildest dreams. I know we're going to have a good time. I know I am. I love all those guys (teammates). We love getting together, hashing out things, telling some lies and hoping people's memories are not too good."

And, on Wednesday night, Feb. 22, the men from 1966 will tell their stories in the White House.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: The First Lady gave an interview to the BBC's Sir David Frost after her return from Africa. Following are excerpts from the transcript.

First Lady recalls 9/11 challenge
By Matthew Davis
BBC News, Washington

The United States' First Lady Laura Bush has told the BBC that the "war on terror" has made her job more challenging than she ever anticipated.

"Obviously we didn't expect what happened on September 11th, we never expected we would be in a war, and that is very, very difficult," she said.

Mrs Bush, just back from Africa, made the comments during an interview with the BBC's Sir David Frost.

Such is her popularity that some have speculated that she might follow in the footsteps of her predecessor as First Lady, now-Senator Hillary Clinton, and seek elected office.

In a speech on Thursday President George W Bush said his wife would never run for office, and Mrs Bush confirmed it was "absolutely unlikely".

She also said that her friend, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - who despite her denials is still being tipped as a potential 2008 presidential candidate - had "fully decided" not to run.

Mrs Bush spoke instead of the challenge of being a first lady in a country divided by the war in Iraq.

"I watched people that I love very much in this job - my mother-in-law and my father-in-law - and I had a real idea of the weight of it, the weight of the job.

"I remember during the Gulf War when President Bush, my husband's father, was president, and the very start of it when the body bags went over to Kuwait - and the whole worry of that, the whole gravity of that.

"The choices that a president makes, for instance, are so consequential, there are so many consequences - and so I knew that, even though that doesn't always help when you are in the midst of it yourself.

"Many people are very, very sincerely anti-war, everyone is anti-war, the president is anti-war, no-one wants war, but no-one wanted what happened on September 11 either."

In the homespun way that has endeared her to the US public, the first lady also revealed what first attracted her to Mr Bush.

"One of the first things I liked about him when I met him was his sense of humour," she said.

"And to be married to someone who can be funny at the dinner table - we had two teenage girls at the dinner table - it was really very nice, he was always able to defuse moments of tension when 13-year-old girls are acting like 13-year-old girls - he's a really wonderful father to our girls."

[Wolfstar]

Thanks. I'm delighted people are enjoying this group of pics.

[Wolfstar]

So....where can we get one of these?

I don't know. Don't even know if they are still in production since they were made for the '04 campaign.

[EmilyGeiger]

Fine thanks. :) And you? Are you doing ok?

[Wolfstar]

IIRC, it was even before the 1st anniversary. It was at the annual remembrance of fallen firefighters......maybe in the spring of 2002?

I think you may be right, OWF. Great memory!

[snugs]

Good evening

[EmilyGeiger]

Which thread?

[Wolfstar]

So many showing how much this President can relate to people from all walks of life without seeming to be condecending. He is just a people-person!

So true. The man is so genuine.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

they are definitely not always civil, gentlemen always, but not always civil

... and there my dear lady is what makes us Curmudgeons!

OH BTW High Tea

is really a poor man's dinner. Tea is the proper term and I have been to Tea many times in England, Scotland and South Africa. Done correctly it is a very nice affair, though one is required to be civil.

[luvie]

Sure was cute! :o)

[Wolfstar]

Hi apples. You're so welcome. Good to "see" you tonight.

[silent_jonny]

I couldn't find any Carrie/Jeff pics either, but I did find a Jeff Gordon TV interview from the event. Here's a link to the video.

http://www.wcsh6.com/show_207/article.asp?id=30632

[Wolfstar]

Don't you love being lectured to?

Yeah. Since the [blank] doesn't like pronouns, I came thisclose to posting a series of rather choice adjectives. Then I figured the guy was getting his [blank] off each time I responded, so decided not to give him any more satisfaction.

[silent_jonny]

Aw, stop :)

Hi, Apples!

[ohioWfan]

LOL! Good enough, then. As long as you're fair. :)

[Wolfstar]

No YOU are a prize, the lecturer was the booby-prize.

Grin...apples, you're right. You realize we are all on that dolt's evil list for using you, your, and probably other pronouns.

[silent_jonny]

I'll mail the link to you.

[Wolfstar]

Hi snugs! How are you and your dad doing this evening?

[mystery-ak]

Wow!....kinda creepy..

[Kate of Spice Island]

I am super tired from surgery, but otherwise I am doing well...

I love that pic with the WTC in the background.

Here's one of mine from a personal collection that I have shared before. It was taken on 7/4/86 and it is Marine One with RWR inside.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Perhaps because LBJ was a Texas Democrat -- an East Texas Democrat. Although he pushed Civil Rights a lot for the national scene with his Great Society programs, he soft-pedaled it at home where it was still a very touchy subject -- especially in east Texas. (That's mentioned in the movie.)Actually, it was George Bush, the father, who lost his Congressional seat in Houston because he voted for a Bill to nullify segregation in housing around that time. Houstonians didn't like that and voted him out of office as a result.

Or, perhaps the custom of champion teams visiting the WH hadn't started yet. Note the player who said, "Our team should have been the ones to start that tradition."

I do not even remember this team and this championship. I was busy raising 4 children under age 5, worrying about how to make my husband's paycheck stretch (Johnson told us all to eat black eyed peas and ham hocks, instead of steak every night) for all our needs, and watching the anti-war movement spin out of control in Bezerkley, CA. If this game was even on TV, we certainly didn't watch it in California.

This is a great movie, however, and I thoroughly enjoyed it -- especially the credits at the end where the real players appeared with additional commentary. Everyone should see it.