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American Morning
Bush Fighting Back
Aired February 09, 2004 - 07:04 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: President Bush today is heading for an employee-owned factory in Missouri as part of the upbeat economic message that he is trying to convey to the country, after the nationally-televised interview aired yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press." The president also went on the program to fight charges that America invaded Iraq under false pretenses.
Dana Bash is live for us at the White House this morning.
Hey, Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And if you listened carefully to the president's hour-long interview, you could hear the themes he'll use this election year -- that he's a wartime president willing to make the tough decisions he thinks are necessary to lead the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): With his poll numbers sliding, the president thought it was time to hit back against Democrats, especially allegations he misled Americans by going to war in Iraq over stockpiles of weapons that may not exist.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I expected to find the weapons. Sitting behind this desk, making a very difficult decision of war and peace, and I based my decision on the best intelligence possible -- intelligence that had been gathered over the years.
BASH: Mr. Bush acknowledged some intelligence may have been flawed and some of his pre-war statements wrong -- like this one just two days before launching airstrikes.
BUSH: That the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
TIM RUSSERT, HOST, "MEET THE PRESS": That apparently is not the case.
BUSH: Correct.
BASH: With that concession, a new White House rationale for war: Saddam Hussein may not have had actual WMD, but was still a threat, and the war was necessary.
BUSH: He had the capacity to make a weapon and then let that weapon fall into the hands of a shadowy terrorist network.
BASH: Test driving his campaign message, the president repeatedly said his decision for war must be looked at in the context of fighting terrorism. But Democrats say links between Saddam Hussein and terrorists were overblown.
And Democratic front-runner John Kerry, who voted for the Iraq war in Congress, was quick to criticize the shifting reasons for military action.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, the president is giving us a new reason for sending people to war, and the problem is not just that he is changing his story now. It is that he -- it appears that he was telling the American people stories in 2002.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And another issue that came up during this interview is the president's service in the National Guard. The president defended it, saying that he showed up for all of the time, and he had an honorable discharge. But, of course, Democrats are saying that they want to see some records of that. The president promised he would do that. That's a promise you can be sure, Soledad, Democrats are not going to let go -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it will be interesting to see what degree this plays a role -- that issue plays a role in the election upcoming. Dana Bash for us at the White House. Dana, thanks a lot.
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 February 9, 2004 - 07:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush today is heading for an employee-owned factory in Missouri as part of the upbeat economic message that he is trying to convey to the country, after the nationally-televised interview aired yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press." The president also went on the program to fight charges that America invaded Iraq under false pretenses.
Dana Bash is live for us at the White House this morning.
Hey, Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And if you listened carefully to the president's hour-long interview, you could hear the themes he'll use this election year -- that he's a wartime president willing to make the tough decisions he thinks are necessary to lead the country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): With his poll numbers sliding, the president thought it was time to hit back against Democrats, especially allegations he misled Americans by going to war in Iraq over stockpiles of weapons that may not exist.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I expected to find the weapons. Sitting behind this desk, making a very difficult decision of war and peace, and I based my decision on the best intelligence possible -- intelligence that had been gathered over the years.
BASH: Mr. Bush acknowledged some intelligence may have been flawed and some of his pre-war statements wrong -- like this one just two days before launching airstrikes.
BUSH: That the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
TIM RUSSERT, HOST, "MEET THE PRESS": That apparently is not the case.
BUSH: Correct.
BASH: With that concession, a new White House rationale for war: Saddam Hussein may not have had actual WMD, but was still a threat, and the war was necessary.
BUSH: He had the capacity to make a weapon and then let that weapon fall into the hands of a shadowy terrorist network.
BASH: Test driving his campaign message, the president repeatedly said his decision for war must be looked at in the context of fighting terrorism. But Democrats say links between Saddam Hussein and terrorists were overblown.
And Democratic front-runner John Kerry, who voted for the Iraq war in Congress, was quick to criticize the shifting reasons for military action.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, the president is giving us a new reason for sending people to war, and the problem is not just that he is changing his story now. It is that he -- it appears that he was telling the American people stories in 2002.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And another issue that came up during this interview is the president's service in the National Guard. The president defended it, saying that he showed up for all of the time, and he had an honorable discharge. But, of course, Democrats are saying that they want to see some records of that. The president promised he would do that. That's a promise you can be sure, Soledad, Democrats are not going to let go -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it will be interesting to see what degree this plays a role -- that issue plays a role in the election upcoming. Dana Bash for us at the White House. Dana, thanks a lot.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
