Excerpt from Scott McClellan's June 24th, 2005 White House press briefing:
Q: And yesterday after your explanation of Mr. Rove's remarks the night before at the Conservative Union in New York, Democrats went to the Senate floor, held a news conference, pretty much teed off on this, calling for either an apology, one that they said had to be a profound apology. They called it gutter politics, nauseating and vulgar, and said that if Karl doesn't apologize appropriately, he should be resigned and even suggested the President should apologize. What's the thinking on it lately here?
MR. McCLELLAN: There's no reason -- no reason for that. It's still puzzling why Democratic leaders were coming to the defense of liberal organizations like moveon.org and people like Michael Moore. Karl was talking about the conservative philosophy and the liberal philosophy when it comes to the war on terrorism. And I think that he -- again, go back and look. He was speaking to a political organization, the New York Conservative Party, and he was talking about different political philosophies. I think that's what you do when you speak to political organizations.
And it's just puzzling why Democratic leaders are trying to defend the views of people like Michael Moore and organizations like moveon.org that took a very different view after the attacks of September 11th, after the attacks on the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon here in Washington, D.C. And you can go back and look at some of the comments that they made. But moveon.org had urged restraint and understanding, and they had said that we shouldn't be using instruments of war, that we should look at international law, human rights law, and international organizations to indict people.
The President took a very different view, and conservatives have a very different view. And that's what Karl was talking about. And many of the leaders who came out and, for whatever reason, started launching into attacks and trying to twist things around, stood with us in the aftermath of September 11th. There was a very united Congress when it came to how we proceed forward in the war on terrorism, in the aftermath of September 11th. So it's just puzzling that they're sitting there trying to defend these liberal views.
Q: But insofar as the administration, the President clearly disagreed with those views, insofar as it's a philosophy, what is the conservative view of the liberal anti-war pacifist philosophy?
MR. McCLELLAN: What is the view --
Q: Not just right or wrong, but is it a legitimate -- is it a legitimately debatable philosophy?
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, and I think it's important for the American people to know what the different philosophies are. And that's all Karl was pointing out in his remarks. And the American people can judge for themselves. We have great confidence in their judgment, and we'll let them judge for themselves.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releas...For more news about people who still have their jobs, check out
http://www.michaelmoore.com
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
