Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
President About to Leave for Europe
Aired November 18, 2003 - 08:05 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To this point, he has been very frank about how he feels the right to free speech should be protected. And with that, the president will get an earful throughout the week.
Dana Bash live at the White House.
The president just about to leave for Europe -- Dana, good morning there.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And the president has been dealing with the protesters that are going to greet him as he makes his way across the Atlantic, essentially, the only way that he can, and that has been to embrace it. He has said over and over in interviews with the British press and also to the White House press corps in the days leading up to this trip that freedom is a beautiful thing and he has said that these demonstrators are performing the rights of democracy, the same rights that he and Tony Blair fought the war in Iraq to give to the Iraqi people.
But White House officials do know that these images coming back of the president in the nation of the U.S.'s closest ally with tens of thousands of protesters are not likely to help him here. But it is also important to note that the protesters will be limited to the streets. Unlike presidents before him, Reagan and Clinton, Mr. Bush will not be addressing the British parliament, where he would undoubtedly get an earful from British officials who don't agree with him on the Iraq war and a whole host of other issues -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, the president consistently says he doesn't pay any attention to poll numbers. But there are new numbers to talk about a bit lower than we've seen. Fifty percent now approve of how the president is handling his job.
What's the reaction there at the White House for this?
BASH: Well, they have consistently said about the president's poll numbers that those numbers are higher than predecessors like Reagan and Clinton, who went on to win overwhelmingly in their second term. But it is interesting to note that those numbers are still a lot higher than Tony Blair's are back in his own country and that it will be interesting to watch the way the relationship, which has been quite close -- they have been bound together by this war in Iraq -- will evolve during this visit, because there are issues where the two men disagree -- steel tariffs, the issue of global warming and the fact that there are nine Britons held in Guantanamo Bay. Tony Blair wants to deal with some of these issues and a lot of people in Great Britain are looking to see what Tony Blair can get out of this relationship after this visit.
HEMMER: Dana Bash, thanks, from the White House this morning.
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 November 18, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To this point, he has been very frank about how he feels the right to free speech should be protected. And with that, the president will get an earful throughout the week.
Dana Bash live at the White House.
The president just about to leave for Europe -- Dana, good morning there.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
And the president has been dealing with the protesters that are going to greet him as he makes his way across the Atlantic, essentially, the only way that he can, and that has been to embrace it. He has said over and over in interviews with the British press and also to the White House press corps in the days leading up to this trip that freedom is a beautiful thing and he has said that these demonstrators are performing the rights of democracy, the same rights that he and Tony Blair fought the war in Iraq to give to the Iraqi people.
But White House officials do know that these images coming back of the president in the nation of the U.S.'s closest ally with tens of thousands of protesters are not likely to help him here. But it is also important to note that the protesters will be limited to the streets. Unlike presidents before him, Reagan and Clinton, Mr. Bush will not be addressing the British parliament, where he would undoubtedly get an earful from British officials who don't agree with him on the Iraq war and a whole host of other issues -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, the president consistently says he doesn't pay any attention to poll numbers. But there are new numbers to talk about a bit lower than we've seen. Fifty percent now approve of how the president is handling his job.
What's the reaction there at the White House for this?
BASH: Well, they have consistently said about the president's poll numbers that those numbers are higher than predecessors like Reagan and Clinton, who went on to win overwhelmingly in their second term. But it is interesting to note that those numbers are still a lot higher than Tony Blair's are back in his own country and that it will be interesting to watch the way the relationship, which has been quite close -- they have been bound together by this war in Iraq -- will evolve during this visit, because there are issues where the two men disagree -- steel tariffs, the issue of global warming and the fact that there are nine Britons held in Guantanamo Bay. Tony Blair wants to deal with some of these issues and a lot of people in Great Britain are looking to see what Tony Blair can get out of this relationship after this visit.
HEMMER: Dana Bash, thanks, from the White House this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
