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CNN Live Today

Many of President's Blunders Cleaned Up Later On in Transcripts

Aired April 17, 2002 - 09:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Most of us get tongue tied once in a while, don't we? Never on this shift, never. Our mics go on to Pluto. They must rewrite history when they're talking about what we say here. Not so for the president; almost everything he says is recorded for historical purposes. that's almost everything. Many of the president's blunders have been cleaned up later on in transcripts.

CNN's Bruce Morton reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I appreciate lieutenant Governor Judi Kell for being here. Thank you very much Judi Rell.

BRUCE MORTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president called the Lieutenant Governor Judi Kell. Her real name is Jodi Rell. He got Rell right the second time, but she was still Judi. But the official White House transcript of his remarks omits the mistakes.

BUSH: So others around the country, if they are interested in -- if you're interested...

MORTON: The official transcript omits the hecklers. So did Bill Clinton's when he was president. Does this matter? Experts argue.

My impression is, when I look back over the public papers of the president, is that most presidents and their staffs try to give a pretty honest transcript, and then clean it up in the notes at the end of the speech, or the event.

MORTON: The Bush White House did that when, in Japan, the president said "devaluation" when he meant "deflation." They put an asterisk in the transcript and explained. Some gaffes are just funny -- Bush's "terriers and bariffs" for "tariffs and barriers." Al Gore's "a leopard can't change its stripes" meant spots, of course. Is it kind, or dishonest to clean up grammar? "I'm going to veto that, " instead of "I'm gonna." Of course, when cameras are there, you know what they really said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNTIED STATES: I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORTON: Reagan got the man's name wrong, but won the primary and the presidency anyway. Sometimes covering up the language makes it worse. When the Nixon White House released Watergate transcripts, they left out the cuss words. "what the 'expletive deleted' was that?" the transcripts read. Maybe the president only said "hell," but a reader could imagine much worse language.

It's complicated, reminds me of something George Herbert Walker Bush said when he was losing primaries to Reagan in 1980. "Nobody said it was going to be easy," Bush opined. "Nobody was right."

Bruce Morton, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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