W Slaps Down Snot Reporter Hard During French Press Conference!!

BBC TV Live ^ | 5/25/02 My six key is broken. | me

[Paul Atreides]

I remember, a few months ago, W was walking along a street somewhere shaking hands with people and some guy walked up to him and told him that he didn't think much of him (or something like that) and W responded "No one cares what you think."!

[Bonaparte]

...that darn "nuc U lur" pronunciation...

A good part of Bush's appeal to the average Joe, who hates snobs, is his mispronunciations. Remember how relentlessly the media ragged on Reagan for the same sort of thing? The more they did it, the more they turned off the man in the street. IMO, the best strategery is to let Bush be Bush. ;-)

[baseballmom]

Yess!!! I saw this and thought Yes!!! Go get 'em W. What a little jerk Gregory is. Bad enough that the press are always trying to make the President look bad here in the U.S., but trying to demean him in France, of all places, is really despicable. And make NO mistake; this is their mission. Tear down President Bush, any way, any place. I wish President Bush would make Gregory, and that bitch, Maureen Dowd, swim back from France. Are there ANY real reporters out there?? Anyone????

[callisto]

Gregory's four french words: "Je suis un idiot".

ROTFLOL!!!! Priceless.

[ao98]

Here's the transcript>

Q You said in reaction to demonstrations against you and your administration during this trip in Europe that it's simply a healthy democracy exercising its will, and that disputes are positive. But I wonder why it is you think there are strong -- such strong sentiments in Europe against you and against this administration? Why, particularly, there's a view that you and your administration are trying to impose America's will on the rest of the world, particularly when it comes to the Middle East and where the war on terrorism goes next?

(Asked in French.) And, Mr. President, would you maybe comment on that?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Very good. The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he's intercontinental. (Laughter.)

Q I can go on.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm impressed. Que bueno. Now I'm literate in two languages. (Laughter.) So you go to a protest, and I drive through the streets of Berlin seeing hundreds of people lining the road, waving. And I'm -- look, the only thing I know to do is speak my mind, to talk about my values, to talk about our mutual love for freedom and the willingness to defend freedom. And, David, I think a lot of people on the continent of Europe appreciate that. Appreciate the fact that we're friends; appreciate the fact that we've got -- we work together; that there's a heck of a lot more that unites us than divides us. We share the same values; we trade $2 trillion a year. I mean, there's -- so I don't view hostility here. I view the fact we've got a lot of friends here. And I'm grateful for the friendship. And the fact that protestors show up, that's good. I mean, I'm in a democracy. I'm traveling to a country that respects other people's points of view.

But I feel very comfortable coming to Europe; I feel very comfortable coming to France, I've got a lot of friends here.

Q Sir, if I could just follow --

PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you.

PRESIDENT CHIRAC: Look, the demonstrations you've been referring to, sir, are indeed, as the President has just said, healthy and normal in democracies. That is one of the means of expression that people have. And it's only normal and important that people should respect that. Of course, there are limits, there are constraints that have to be enforced, and that is what is being done. But I think that it is only normal that, in the face of a very important political event, those who have a different understanding of things should express their diverging view.

The right to demonstrate is a fundamental right intertwined with democracy. And there's no need to tell Americans about that, they know it. But what I just wanted to say is that these demonstrations are really marginal demonstrations; that you shouldn't give too much credit to these demonstrations. They do not reflect a so-called natural aversion of such-and-such a people in Europe to the President of the United States or to the U.S. people as a whole.

Yes, we do have diverging views on this or that issue; it's only normal. And that is the result of interests, of our national interests, and they're not always converging. And I think it's only healthy that these demonstrations should occur, that we should express our diverging points of views, and that we should find democratic answers to these questions.

As for the relationship between Europe and the United States, it is a very old relationship, as you know. It is a fundamental relationship for the balance, for the equilibrium of our world. But I would also add that it's an increasingly important relationship and it's -- it would be the sign of short-sightedness to refuse to acknowledge that.

[baseballmom]

What a week ....Dan Rather comes unglued on Imus and now the President hands Gregory his head.....LOL

I saw this on Friday am. Imus was doing a remote show from Portsmouth, NH. Joe LIEberman comes on the air and the audience REALLY booed. Joey was obviously taken aback and tried to ingratiate himself with Imus and the audience. They were having NONE of it. Imus mildly chastised his audience a bit, by saying that his mission was to lull the caller (Joey) along for a while and then basically, have him "step in it." And if the audience was hostile to the caller from the get-go, the caller was on the defensive and wouldn't be so easy trap.

Then Dan called in - (the story that Bernard told was that RATHER was the one who asked to be back on, after stepping in it earlier in the week).He was, of course, SO concerned about what President Bush knew ahead of time..blah blah blah. Then he started in on Ashcroft. He accused John Ashcroft of double standard by flying on gov't planes (instead of commercial) because of 9/11 - something the public didn't have as an option. This was BS; Jim Mik..(sp?)..(NBC Pentagon corres.) called in to Imus and said that Ashcroft was flying gov't planes long before 9/11 because of PERSNAL threats against his life - nothing to do with 9/11. So Rather is again exposed as a LIAR. Ah Yes, it was a very satisfying Imus show.

[Bonaparte]

At least half of all Parisians speak very fluent English. Chirac is among them. There was absolutely no need for Gregory to say anything in French, except to be rude to Bush and draw attention to himself. And everybody there knew it. These press conferences with American presidents are always conducted in English with translation for French viewers/listeners who don't speak that language. Straining to show his "sophistication" and one-up the President, Gregory exposed himself as a wanker. LOL! Ya gotta love it!

[alnick]

Thanks!

[humblegunner]

"Jane what did I say about the reporters only worrying about the protests.. I hear that only 1500 protestors turned out in France in a country with millions of people..."

(AP) French Protestors surrender to 5-year-old boy
who claims "Barney won't like this" ...

[lonestar]

It doesn't rally matter how many languages David Gregory speaks fluently. His problem is that he is not a good reporter-- in English, Russian, French, German ...

[finnman69]

LE PUTZ

[varon]

5/25/02 My six key is broken.

5/25+1/02 ;-)

[JulieRNR21]

I missed this exchange but have enjoyed reading the transcript & the accounts of others who saw it.

Score another win for Super Dubya!

[JessicaDragonet]

David Gregory sees himself as intellectually superior to Bush. That is David's REAL problem.

[Clara Lou]

OH, I recognize that little goober.... Phhhtttt!

[olliemb]

What happened with Dan Rather and Imus?