Posted on 08/03/2007 5:23:47 PM PDT by silent_jonny
President Bush signed the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 in the Oval Office this morning.
The president, along with Vice President Cheney and other members of his administration, then met with the counter-terrorism team at the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington.
Afterwards, the president made a statement to the press, saying he wants the Democrats in Congress to stop playing politics with our national defense and send him an intelligence bill that he can sign, forcing Congress to stay in session through the August break if necessary. The president does have that authority. (Transcript)
First Lady Laura Bush arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota and met with officials, volunteers and workers who are dealing with the collapsed I-35W bridge.(Transcript)
The president left the White House this afternoon for Camp David.
Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island
Quote of the Day:
President Bush: It's important for the American people to understand there are cold-blooded killers who want to come to our homeland and wreak havoc through death. And that's what we were discussing today.We take a clear-eyed view of the world. The people on this team, assembled in this building see the world the way it is, not the way we hope it is. And this is a dangerous world because there's an enemy that wants to strike the homeland again. …The terrorists we face are sophisticated, they are cold-blooded, they are changing tactics and we must always stay ahead of them.
Photos of the Day:
One of the helicopters in the entourage of first lady Laura Bush flies over the collapsed wreckage of the I-35W freeway bridge in the Mississippi River, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, in Minneapolis, Minn.
First lady Laura Bush is embraced by Minnesota first lady Mary Pawlenty as Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, top, and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, right, look on Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, at the site of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
Hi!
Good evening!
Hi, Kas :) How are you?
Standing behind the president, from left to are, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
Looking on are (L-R) Congressman Bernie Thompson (D-MS), Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Senator Susan Collins (D-ME) and Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK).
Standing behind the president, from left are, Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.
President Bush shakes hands with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., left, as Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, looks on.
I’m doing great, Thanks for asking. How are you?
Behind the president, from left are, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney, Admiral Mike McConnell, director National Intelligence, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security Adviser Fran Townsend.
With FBI Director Robert Mueller
President Bush: Part of the effort to do our job, part of the effort for this federal government to do the job the American people expects us to do in protecting you is to close intelligence gaps. We have such an intelligence gap in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The act needs to be modernized so that all of us engaged in protecting the American people say we have the tools we need to protect you.The Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has provided the Congress with a narrow and targeted piece of legislation that will close the gaps in intelligence. In other words, he's working on the Hill and he's told members this is what we need to do our job to protect the American people. It's the bare minimum the DNI said he needs to do his job.
When Congress sends me their version, when Congress listens to all the data and facts and they send me a version of how to close those gaps, I'll ask one question, and I'm going to ask the DNI: Does this legislation give you what you need to prevent an attack on the country? Is this what you need to do your job, Mr. DNI? That's the question I'm going to ask. And if the answer is yes, I'll sign the bill. And if the answer is no, I'm going to veto the bill.
And so far the Democrats in Congress have not drafted a bill I can sign. We've worked hard and in good faith with the Democrats to find a solution, but we are not going to put our national security at risk.
Time is short. I'm going to ask Congress to stay in session until they pass a bill that will give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect the United States.
First lady Laura Bush talks with first responder and Red Cross volunteer Jay Reeves, who helped rescue children from a school bus, as she visits the site of the I-35W bridge collapse, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, in Minneapolis.
I don’t have a life and I refreshed at just the right moment!
First lady Laura Bush is embraced by Minnesota first lady Mary Pawlenty as Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, top, and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, right, look on Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, at the site of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
The now infamous school bus is visible on the left.
Mrs. Bush: Well, this gives me an opportunity to thank you all for what you do all the time, for being trained volunteers for the Red Cross, and especially what you've done over the last couple of days in this tragedy here in Minnesota. I've met, as you might imagine, with Red Cross workers many a time since my husband has been President -- a lot on the Gulf Coast, in a lot of different towns across the Gulf Coast after the hurricanes.And our country really, really depends on you. We depend on you to come in at all the toughest times in our country, from 9/11 -- when George has been President -- to the hurricane to this now. So I want to thank you all for that. Thank you for being prepared and ready to step in when the time comes.
I know that it's -- even though you're trained, it's hard. And it's hard for you, and I know it's hard for you psychologically, as well, to watch and to see the people who are grieving. And I know you grieve with them.
So I want to thank you very, very much for helping all the people here and for serving our country the way you do.
I’m doing better :) Thank you.
LOL
Hello Silent One!
& T Y!
A Bump for You...
Another Bump for The Dose, and for the rescue workers both paid and civilian who selflessly step up. And also a Bump for F L Laura’s speech to/for/about the Red Cross Worker’s!
& of course a Bump for Pres.B. F L Laura & The US Troops & Allies!!!!!!!
That’s a lotta bumpin’ ;)
Some late arriving White House pics coming in ... stand by ...
Thank you silent_jonny for posting and especially for the portait. I didn’t know Gretchen was an artist too.There are several of my friends here that are praying for Mark and Mike and Sabrina too.
Mrs. Laura Bush greets members of Minnesota Task Force 1-Urban Search and Rescue and other first responders at an Emergency Operation Command Center at the site of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Friday, Aug. 3, 2007
Where’s Rush??
Mrs. Laura Bush surveys the wreckage of the I-35W bridge collapse with Deputy Chief of Police Robert 'Rob' Allen in Minneapolis, Friday,Aug. 3, 2007. Mrs. Bush also visited an Emergency Operation Command Center and met with volunteers and first responders.
I sure hope he doesn't ASK them. He should TELL them they're gonna stay their behinds in DC til they do their jobs!
This is a beautiful sketch Gretchen made.
There are so many talented Freepers here, you being one of them
LOL! Yup!
Members of the Three Affiliated Tribes Youth Dance Troupe perform at the Helping America's Youth Fourth Regional Conference in St. Paul, Minn., Friday, August 3, 2007. The dancers, ranging in age from 10 to eighteen, showcased six styles of Plains Powwow Dancing. Each style of dance represents a specific history and tells a story of American Indian culture. A segment of the conference addressed the unique challenges facing tribal youth.
All clear again!
I didn’t know Gretchen was an artist too.
Yep. She painted too. She posted one of her paintings the same night that she posted this drawing--I saved them both, but I could only find this one. She kept it framed and hanging on her wall :)
Rush Meets with President Bush
size:12px;color:#000000;">RUSH: Justin in Puyallup, Washington. Nice to have you, sir. You are first up.
CALLER: Good morning, Mr. Limbaugh. Mega dittos from the home state of the most unintelligent member of the US Senate.
RUSH: That would be Patty Murray.
CALLER: Yes, sir, indeed.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: I am a Rush Baby. I started listening to your show in 1994 at "Lunch With Rush," a restaurant I worked in in Wausau, Wisconsin.
RUSH: Well, I'm happy to hear that.
CALLER: I've been listening to you since, sir.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: My topic this morning is, I have heard the accounts of many of your colleagues meeting with the president Wednesday morning --
RUSH: Mmm-hmm?
CALLER: -- and I was wondering why the man who is running America, "you know it and I know it," was not there.
RUSH: Because I went yesterday afternoon and last night.
CALLER: So that was your super-secret meeting?
RUSH: Super-secret meeting at a far-away place, yeah. The president and I, Ed Gillespie in the room who took over for Dan Bartlett. We had cigars and beverages for a couple hours in the Treaty Room up in the residence. It was so much fun.
CALLER: Was this meeting off the record as well?
RUSH: This one, yes. Even if they had not told me this was off the record, this one was off the record. I'm just guessing here, but I don't think the things we discussed last night got discussed in these group things. I would be stunned if they did. Then I went in and had dinner with the president and Mrs. Bush and the first lady, but it was about two and a half hours in there, and it was cool. It was a tremendous amount of fun. I got up early. One reason I'm low on sleep, is I had to get up at 4:30 for breakfast in the White House mess today with Karl Rove and Pete Wehner.
CALLER: What a privilege for you, I'm sure.
RUSH: Well, it was a privilege for them.
| CALLER: (Laughing.) RUSH: You know, people have been asking me, "Well, what did the president tell you last night?" That's not it. "What did I tell the president?" is the correct question. CALLER: (Laughing.) So he also recognizes that you're the man running the country? RUSH: Well, who doesn't? I mean there are certain things that don't need to be said. Now, I'll just tell you this. Well, this is nothing new. I tell people this every time that I have been with him. He is the most confident man. He is a barrel of laughs. He is at ease. He is unfazed by any of the criticism that he gets. He doesn't care about it. One of the things he said to me is he was talking to a world leader. (It doesn't matter which one. It was a European world leader). The leader said, "You know, you Americans, you're the problem." Bush said, "We are not the problem. The United States of America is the solution, and the sooner you realize it and join it the better off you're all going to be." He loves the country. He has great belief and devotion to what he's doing. It was an honor. It was a thrill to be there. This is the third time I've been up in the White House residence and the second time that I've had dinner, and the first time I've had cigars in the Treaty Room. The Treaty Room, by the way, is pretty close to the Lincoln Bedroom, and it's the actual room where the treaty to end the Spanish-American War was signed, and the desk where the treaty was signed is actually in that room. I asked the president, "Cigars?" We were originally going to go on Truman Balcony, but it's hot out there. It's hotter than it was down in Florida, in Washington these days, same thing in a lot of the Northeast. I said, "I thought this was a smoke-free zone." He said, "Well, I saw your spot on the 1/2 Hour News Hour and you said it's not a smoke-free zone, so we're gonna go smoke cigars in the Treaty Room. When you were playing the president, you declared this a smokeable zone now." He was up to speed and clever. I went in, I guess I got in there about three o'clock yesterday afternoon, and got up pretty late. So in dribbles and drabs, ladies and gentlemen, I will divulge certain things that happened, but a lot of it would love to tell you but even if I had permission, I wouldn't. |
I like the picture too. I wish we had seen more.
Good evening!
Rush wasn’t picutured.
Oh I'm sure he will. He's not about to let them fool around with our national security.
Good evening!,in return, K.
Opps I thought Josh Bolten was at this breakfast.
Bet Tony Snow advised President Bush to meet with the conservative talk radio folks to help him get the message out on the WOT.
I think President Bush should go out and have speaking engagements with regular Americans as he did when he ran in 2004, letting them know how well the surge is going. Since, there's a black out by the lamestream media on how well the surge is going.
Good evening to you...hope you have a nice weekend!
One of the victims of the I 35W Bridge collapse in Minnesota was an American Indian
Thank you silent_jonny for remembering Gretchen on these threads. We all miss her so much.
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