Beat Me Hurt Me
For all those who are still breathless with appreciation at the White House press corpses performance yesterday, a commenter reminded me of this incident as an illustration of how the White House and the Press Corps normally interact. I remember writing about it at the time:
The story not told was that the president of the United States was acting like a 15 year old trash talking punk in the above mentioned restaurant and refused repeatedly to answer any of the questions posed by reporters by throwing his weight around and making stupid, juvenile jokes for about 15 minutes.
Maybe he was drunk, I don’t know. But he was certainly an asshole to David Gregory and Terry Moran, the two most tenacious questioners yesterday. In that little show of manhood, he’s calling both reporters “Stretch,” which he apparently think is hilarious:
Remarks by the President to the Press Pool
Nothin’ Fancy Cafe
Roswell, New Mexico11:25 A.M. MST
THE PRESIDENT: I need some ribs.
Q Mr. President, how are you?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m hungry and I’m going to order some ribs.
Q What would you like?
THE PRESIDENT: Whatever you think I’d like.
Q Sir, on homeland security, critics would say you simply haven’t spent enough to keep the country secure.
THE PRESIDENT: My job is to secure the homeland and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. But I’m here to take somebody’s order. That would be you, Stretch — what would you like? Put some of your high-priced money right here to try to help the local economy. You get paid a lot of money, you ought to be buying some food here. It’s part of how the economy grows. You’ve got plenty of money in your pocket, and when you spend it, it drives the economy forward. So what would you like to eat?
Q Right behind you, whatever you order.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m ordering ribs. David, do you need a rib?
Q But Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: Stretch, thank you, this is not a press conference. This is my chance to help this lady put some money in her pocket. Let me explain how the economy works. When you spend money to buy food it helps this lady’s business. It makes it more likely somebody is going to find work. So instead of asking questions, answer mine: are you going to buy some food?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, good. What would you like?
Q Ribs.
THE PRESIDENT: Ribs? Good. Let’s order up some ribs.
Q What do you think of the democratic field, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: See, his job is to ask questions, he thinks my job is to answer every question he asks. I’m here to help this restaurant by buying some food. Terry, would you like something?
Q An answer.
Q Can we buy some questions?
THE PRESIDENT: Obviously these people — they make a lot of money and they’re not going to spend much. I’m not saying they’re overpaid, they’re just not spending any money.
Q Do you think it’s all going to come down to national security, sir, this election?
THE PRESIDENT: One of the things David does, he asks a lot of questions, and they’re good, generally.
You should have seen the footage. It was unbelievable. Gregory and Moran looked like a couple of idiots. I’m sure they remember.
And then there was this one when Gregory addressed a question to Jacques Chirac in French:
NBC’s David Gregory, unwisely pushing Bush to explain “why it is you think there are such strong sentiments in Europe against you and your administration,” had the bad taste to ask President Chirac—in French, of all languages—if he also wanted to comment.
“Very good,” shot back a very petulant Bush, “The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he’s intercontinental.”
When Gregory offered to go on in French, Bush was determined to squelch the bilingual upstart: “I’m impressed—que bueno. Now I’m literate in two languages.” At the end of the press conference, the President of the United States called to Gregory: “As soon as you get in front of a camera, you start showing off.”
Richard Reeves reported:
It turned out that what set him off was Gregory’s turning to the French leader. Later Bush told Chirac: “I’ll call on the Americans.”
What Gregory said later was: “Well, that’s it for my career.”
Bush owns all the Americans, you see. It’s the ownership society thing.
If these guys are turning on lil’ Scotty McClellan now that Rove is injured and bleeding that’s nice. But let’s not kid ourselves that they haven’t allowed themselves to be treated like freshmen frat pledges for the last four and half years. It hasn’t been pretty to watch.
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