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American Morning
President's Media Blitz May be Paying Off
Aired October 14, 2003 - 07:32 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The president's media blitz may be paying off. President Bush has been trying to bypass the mainstream media, which he calls a filter, so that he can deliver news about the administration's successes in Iraq. The latest "USA Today"/Gallup poll shows improvements in the president's approval rating.
Dana Bash is live for us at the White House this morning with more -- hey, Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, that new poll is certainly welcome news at the White House. But the news coming out of Iraq, as you mentioned, is certainly a different story, as far as the president is concerned. It's something he complained about in a series of regional interviews he did late yesterday talking about the fact that he feels that the truth or progress in Iraq simply isn't coming out through the media.
He also pointedly took on critics who said that turf battles within the administration have left him with no clear strategy on Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've had a strategy from the beginning. Jerry Bremer is running the strategy. And we're making very good progress about the establishment of a free Iraq. And the person who's in charge is me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And even though no weapons of mass destruction have been found yet in Iraq, six months after major combat was declared over, the president still said that going to war against Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do at the right time because he was a gathering threat -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, Dana, we started by talking about these poll numbers. Let's get into those a little bit more. When asked if people approve of the job that the president is doing as president, 56 percent say they approve, 40 percent say they disapprove. So finally some good news for the White House to hang onto there, right, Dana?
BASH: That's right. And although you won't find anybody to publicly admit it, certainly the sliding poll numbers were part of the reason why the president and the administration wanted to go on this P.R. offensive to talk about Iraq over the past week. The poll numbers do show that his approval rating has gone up six percent.
It is unclear, though, whether or not or how much of an effect, what the White House has been trying to do has had on these numbers, since it was taken as the White House was gearing up in this P.R. campaign.
It will be interesting to see what the next set of poll numbers do show. Certainly the White House are going to be looking for those, as well.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Dana Bash at the White House for us this morning.
Dana, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 14, 2003 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The president's media blitz may be paying off. President Bush has been trying to bypass the mainstream media, which he calls a filter, so that he can deliver news about the administration's successes in Iraq. The latest "USA Today"/Gallup poll shows improvements in the president's approval rating.
Dana Bash is live for us at the White House this morning with more -- hey, Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, that new poll is certainly welcome news at the White House. But the news coming out of Iraq, as you mentioned, is certainly a different story, as far as the president is concerned. It's something he complained about in a series of regional interviews he did late yesterday talking about the fact that he feels that the truth or progress in Iraq simply isn't coming out through the media.
He also pointedly took on critics who said that turf battles within the administration have left him with no clear strategy on Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've had a strategy from the beginning. Jerry Bremer is running the strategy. And we're making very good progress about the establishment of a free Iraq. And the person who's in charge is me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And even though no weapons of mass destruction have been found yet in Iraq, six months after major combat was declared over, the president still said that going to war against Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do at the right time because he was a gathering threat -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, Dana, we started by talking about these poll numbers. Let's get into those a little bit more. When asked if people approve of the job that the president is doing as president, 56 percent say they approve, 40 percent say they disapprove. So finally some good news for the White House to hang onto there, right, Dana?
BASH: That's right. And although you won't find anybody to publicly admit it, certainly the sliding poll numbers were part of the reason why the president and the administration wanted to go on this P.R. offensive to talk about Iraq over the past week. The poll numbers do show that his approval rating has gone up six percent.
It is unclear, though, whether or not or how much of an effect, what the White House has been trying to do has had on these numbers, since it was taken as the White House was gearing up in this P.R. campaign.
It will be interesting to see what the next set of poll numbers do show. Certainly the White House are going to be looking for those, as well.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Dana Bash at the White House for us this morning.
Dana, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
