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        Volume CCXXXIV, Number 43        March, 2004              Page 3

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Meet the Press
Copyright© 2004, National Broadcasting Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
MEET THE PRESS WITH TIM RUSSERT
INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
THE OVAL OFFICE, FEBRUARY 7, 2004
BROADCAST ON NBC’S MEET THE PRESS
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2004
PLEASE CREDIT ANY EXCERPTS TO NBC’S MEET THE PRESS
Don't worry; we'll give you all the credit for this one

Tim Russert: And we are in the Oval Office this morning with the President of the United States.  Mr. President, welcome back to Meet The Press.

President George W. Bush: Thank you, sir.

Russert: On Friday, you announced a committee, commission to look into intelligence failures regarding the Iraq war and our entire intelligence community.  You have been reluctant to do that for some time.  Why?

President Bush: Well, first let me kind of step back and talk about intelligence in general, if I might. 
[Successful effort to avoid Russert's question omitted]

Russert: Prime Minister Blair has set up a similar commission in Great Britain.

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: His is going to report back in July.  Ours is not going to be until March of 2005, five months after the presidential election.

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: Shouldn't the American people have the benefit of the commission before the election?

President Bush: Well, the reason why we gave it time is because we didn't want it to be hurried. 
[Pettifoggery omitted]

Russert: Will you testify before the commission?

President Bush: This commission?  You know, I don't  testify?  I will be glad to visit with them.  I will be glad to share with them knowledge.  I will be glad to make recommendations, if they ask for some.

I'm interested in getting  I'm interested in making sure the intelligence gathering works well.

Listen, we got some five  let me  let me, again, just give you a sense of where I am on the intelligence systems of America. First of all, I strongly believe the CIA is ably led by George Tenet.  He comes and briefs me on a regular basis about what he and his analysts see in the world.

Russert: His job is not in jeopardy?

President Bush: No, not at all, not at all.  We've got people working hard in intelligence gathering around the world to get as good an information as possible.

Intelligence requires, you know, all kinds of assets to bring information to the President, and I want that intelligence service to be strong, viable, competent, confident, and provide good product to the President so I can make judgment calls.

Russert: There is another commission right now looking into September 11th.

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: Will you testify before that commission?

President Bush: We have given extraordinary cooperation with Chairmen Kean and Hamilton.  As you know, we made an agreement on what's called "Presidential Daily Briefs," and they could see the information the CIA provided me that is unique, by the way, to have provided what's called the PDB, because 

Russert: Presidential Daily Brief?

President Bush: Right.

And see, the danger of allowing for information that I get briefed on out in the public arena is that it could mean that the product I receive or future presidents receive is somewhat guarded for fear of  for fear of it being revealed, and for fear of people saying, Well, you know, we're going to second guess that which you told the President.

I need good, honest information, but we have shared this information with both those gentlemen, gentlemen I trust, so they could get a better picture of what took place prior to September the 11th.

And again, we want  I want the truth to be known.  I want there to be a full analysis done so that we can better prepare the homeland, for example, against what might occur.

And this is all in the context of war, and the more we learn about, you know, what took place in the past, the more we are going to be able to better prepare for future attacks.

Russert: Would you submit for questioning, though, to the 9/11 Commission?

President Bush: Perhaps, perhaps.

Russert: Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican 

President Bush: Yes.

Russert:   said he is absolutely convinced we will capture Osama bin Laden before the election.

President Bush: Well, I appreciate his optimism.  I have no idea whether we will capture or bring him to justice, may be the best way to put it.  I know we are on the hunt, and Osama bin Laden is a cold blooded killer, and he represents the nature of the enemy that we face.

These are  these are people that will kill on a moment's notice, and they will kill innocent women and children.  And he's hiding, and we're trying to find him.

There's a  I know there is a lot of focus on Iraq, and there should be, but we've got thousands of troops, agents, allies on the hunt, and we are doing a pretty good job of dismantling al Qaeda   better than a pretty good job, a very good job.  I keep saying in my speeches, two thirds of known al Qaeda leaders have been captured or killed, and that's the truth.

Russert: Do you have a pretty good idea where Osama is?

President Bush: You know, I'm not going to comment on that.

Russert: Let me turn to Iraq.  And this is the whole idea of what you based your decision to go to war on.

President Bush: Sure, sure.

Russert: The night you took the country to war, March 17th, you said this:  "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."

President Bush: Right.

Russert: That apparently is not the case.

President Bush: Correct.

Russert: How do you respond to critics who say that you brought the nation to war under false pretenses?

President Bush: The – first of all, 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, intelligence that not only our analysts thought was valid but analysts from other countries thought were valid.

And I made a decision based upon that intelligence in the context of the war against terror.  In other words, we were attacked, and therefore every threat had to be reanalyzed.  Every threat had to be looked at.  Every potential harm to America had to be judged in the context of this war on terror.

And I made the decision, obviously, to take our case to the international community in the hopes that we could do this  achieve a disarmament of Saddam Hussein peacefully.  In other words, we looked at the intelligence.  And we remembered the fact that he had used weapons, which meant he had weapons.  We knew the fact that he was paying for suicide bombers.  We knew the fact he was funding terrorist groups.  In other words, he was a dangerous man.  And that was the intelligence I was using prior to the run up to this war.

Now, let me  which is this is a vital question

Russert: Nothing more important.

President Bush: Vital question.

And so we– I expected there to be stockpiles of weapons.  But David Kay has found the capacity to produce weapons.  And when David Kay goes in and says we haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where the weapons went.  They could have been destroyed during the war.  Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq.  They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll find out.  That's what the Iraqi survey group  let me  let me finish here.

But David Kay did report to the American people that Saddam had the capacity to make weapons.  Saddam Hussein was dangerous with weapons.  Saddam Hussein was dangerous with the ability to make weapons.  He was a dangerous man in the dangerous part of the world.

And I made the decision to go to the United Nations.

By the way, quoting a lot of their data  in other words, this is unaccounted for stockpiles that you thought he had because I don't think America can stand by and hope for the best from a madman, and I believe it is essential  I believe it is essential  that when we see a threat, we deal with those threats before they become imminent.  It's too late if they become imminent.  It's too late in this new kind of war, and so that's why I made the decision I made.

Russert: Mr. President, the Director of the CIA said that his briefings had qualifiers and caveats, but when you spoke to the country, you said "there is no doubt."  When Vice President Cheney spoke to the country, he said "there is no doubt."  Secretary Powell, "no doubt."  Secretary Rumsfeld, "no doubt, we know where the weapons are."  You said, quote, "The Iraqi regime is a threat of unique urgency." Saddam Hussein is a threat that we must deal with as quickly as possible."

You gave the clear sense that this was an immediate threat that must be dealt with.

President Bush: I think, if I might remind you that in my language I called it a grave and gathering threat, but I don't want to get into word contests.  But what I do want to share with you is my sentiment at the time.  There was no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a danger to America. [CROSSTALK]

Russert: In what way?

President Bush: Well, because he had the capacity to have a weapon, make a weapon.  We thought he had weapons.  The international community thought he had weapons.  But he had the capacity to make a weapon and then let that weapon fall into the hands of a shadowy terrorist network.

It's important for people to understand the context in which I made a decision here in the Oval Office.  I'm dealing with a world in which we have gotten struck by terrorists with airplanes, and we get intelligence saying that there is, you know, we want to harm America.  And the worst nightmare scenario for any president is to realize that these kind of terrorist networks had the capacity to arm up with some of these deadly weapons, and then strike us.

And the President of the United States' most solemn responsibility is to keep this country secure.  And the man was a threat, and we dealt with him, and we dealt with him because we cannot hope for the best.  We can't say, Let's don't deal with Saddam Hussein.  Let's hope he changes his stripes, or let's trust in the goodwill of Saddam Hussein.  Let's let us, kind of, try to contain him.  Containment doesn't work with a man who is a madman.

And remember, Tim, he had used weapons against his own people.

Russert: But can you launch a preemptive war without iron clad, absolute intelligence that he had weapons of mass destruction?

President Bush: Let me take a step back for a second and  there is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of iron clad absolutely solid evidence.  The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon.

Russert: But it may have been wrong.

President Bush: Well, but what wasn't wrong was the fact that he had the ability to make a weapon.  That wasn't right.

Russert: This is an important point because when you say that he has biological and chemical weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles 

President Bush: Which he had.

Russert:   and they could come and attack the United States, you are saying to the American people: we have to deal now with a man who has these things.

President Bush: That's exactly what I said.

Russert: And if that's not the case, do you believe if you had gone to the Congress and said he should be removed because he's a threat to his people but I'm not sure he has weapons of mass destruction, Congress would authorize war?

President Bush: I went to Congress with the same intelligence  Congress saw the same intelligence I had, and they looked at exactly what I looked at, and they made an informed judgment based upon the information that I had.
[Prevarication omitted]

Russert: There is a sense in the country that the intelligence that was given was ambiguous, and that you took it and molded it and shaped it  your opponents have said "hyped" it  and rushed to war.

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: And now, in the world, if you, in the future, say we must go into North Korea or we must go into Iran because they have nuclear capability, either this country or the world will say, ˜Excuse you, Mr. President, we want it now in hard, cold facts.™

President Bush: Well, Tim, I and my team took the intelligence that was available to us and we analyzed it, and it clearly said Saddam Hussein was a threat to America.

Now, I know I'm getting repetitive, but I'm just trying to make sure you understand the context in which I was making decisions.

He had used weapons.  He had manufactured weapons.  He had funded suicide bombers into Israel.  He had terrorist connections.  In other words, all of those ingredients said to me:  Threat.

The fundamental question is:  Do you deal with the threat once you see it?  What  in the war on terror, how do you deal with threats?  I dealt with the threat by taking the case to the world and said, Let's deal with this.  We must deal with it now.

I repeat to you what I strongly believe that inaction in Iraq would have emboldened Saddam Hussein.  He could have developed a nuclear weapon over time  I'm not saying immediately, but over time  which would then have put us in what position?  We would have been in a position of blackmail.

In other words, you can't rely upon a madman, and he was a madman.  You can't rely upon him making rational decisions when it comes to war and peace, and it's too late, in my judgment, when a madman who has got terrorist connections is able to act.

Russert: But there are lots of madmen in the world,  Fidel Castro –

President Bush: True.

Mr. Russert: in Iran, in North Korea, in Burma, and yet we don't go in and take down those governments.

President Bush: Correct, and I could  that's a legitimate question as to why we like felt we needed to use force in Iraq and not in North Korea.  And the reason why I felt like we needed to use force in Iraq and not in North Korea, because we had run the diplomatic string in Iraq.  As a matter of fact, failed diplomacy could embolden Saddam Hussein in the face of this war we were in.  In Iraq  I mean, in North Korea, excuse me, the diplomacy is just beginning.  We are making good progress in North Korea.

As I've said in my speeches, every situation requires a different response and a different analysis, and so in Iran there is no question they're in danger, but the international community is now trying to convince Iran to get rid of its nuclear weapons program.  And on the Korean peninsula, now the United States and China, along with South Korea and Japan and Russia, are sending a clear message to Kim Jung Il, if you are interested in a different relationship, disclose and destroy your program in a transparent way.

In other words, the policy of this administration is to be  is to be clear and straightforward and to be realistic about the different threats that we face.

Russert: On Iraq, the vice president said, "we would be greeted as liberators."

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: It's now nearly a year, and we are in a very difficult situation.  Did we miscalculate how we would be treated and received in Iraq?

President Bush: Well, I think we are welcomed in Iraq.  I'm not exactly sure, given the tone of your questions, we're not.  We are welcomed in Iraq.

Russert: Are you surprised by the level and intensity of resistance?

President Bush: No, I'm not. 
[Time-wasting filibuster omitted]

Russert: If the Iraqis choose, however, an Islamic extremist regime, would you accept that, and would that be better for the United States than Saddam Hussein?

President Bush: They're not going to develop that.  And the reason I can say that is because I'm very aware of this basic law they're writing.  They're not going to develop that because right here in the Oval Office I sat down with Mr. Pachachi and Chalabi –
[Pointless anecdote, followed by more batting practice, omitted]

Russert: Before we take a break, now that we have determined there are probably not these stockpiles of weapons that we had thought, and the primary rationale for the war had been to disarm Saddam Hussein, Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Defense Secretary, said that you had settled on weapons of mass destruction as an issue we could agree on, but there were three.  One was the weapons of mass destruction, the second is the support for terrorism, and third is Saddam's criminal treatment of his Iraqi people.

He said the third one by itself is a reason to help Iraqis but it's not a reason to put American kids' lives at risk, certainly not on the scale we did.

President Bush: Um hmm.

Russert: Now looking back, in your mind, is it worth the loss of 530 American lives and 3,000 injuries and woundings simply to remove Saddam Hussein, even though there were no weapons of mass destruction?

President Bush: Every life is precious.  Every person that is willing to sacrifice for this country deserves our praise, and yes.

Russert: But

President Bush: Let me finish.

Russert: Please.

President Bush: It's essential that I explain this properly to the parents of those who lost their lives.

Saddam Hussein was dangerous, and I'm not gonna leave him in power and trust a madman.  He's a dangerous man.  He had the ability to make weapons at the very minimum.

For the parents of the soldiers who have fallen who are listening, David Kay, the weapons inspector, came back and said, In many ways Iraq was more dangerous than we thought.  It's  we are in a war against these terrorists who will bring great harm to America, and I've asked these young ones to sacrifice for that.

A free Iraq will change the world.  It's historic times.  A free Iraq will make it easier for other children in our own country to grow up in a safer world because in the Middle East is where you find the hatred and violence that enables the enemy to recruit its killers.

And, Tim, as you can tell, I've got a foreign policy that is one that believes America has a responsibility in this world to lead, a responsibility to lead in the war against terror, a responsibility to speak clearly about the threats that we all face, a responsibility to promote freedom, to free people from the clutches of barbaric people such as Saddam Hussein who tortured, mutilated  there were mass graves that we have found  a responsibility to fight AIDS, the pandemic of AIDS, and to feed the hungry.  We have a responsibility. To me that is history's call to America.  I accept the call and will continue to lead in that direction.

Russert: In light of not finding the weapons of mass destruction, do you believe the war in Iraq is a war of choice or a war of necessity?

President Bush: I think that's an interesting question.  Please elaborate on that a little bit.  A war of choice or a war of necessity?  It's a war of necessity.  We-- in my judgment, we had no choice when we look at the intelligence I looked at that says the man was a threat.  And you know, we will find out about the weapons of mass destruction that we all thought were there.  That's part of the Iraqi survey group and the group I put together to look at.

But again, I repeat to you, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but David Kay, who is the man who led the Iraqi survey group, who has now returned with an interim report, clearly said that the place was a dangerous place.  When asked if President Bush had done  had made the right decision, he said yes.  In other words, the evidence we have uncovered thus far says we had no choice.

Russert: We are going to take a quick break.

President Bush: Thank you.

Russert: We are going to come back and talk to the President a lot more about our world and our economy here at home and the presidential election of 2004.  We are in the Oval Office with President George W. Bush.

(Commercial for one of those pills that promise to put new hope in your rope)

Russert: And we are back in the Oval Office talking to the President of the United States.

Mr. President, this campaign is fully engaged.  The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terence McAuliffe, said this last week:  "I look forward to that debate when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard.  He didn't show up when he should have showed up."

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: How do you respond?

President Bush: Political season is here.  I was  I served in the National Guard.  I flew F 102 aircraft.  I got an honorable discharge.  I've heard this  I've heard this ever since I started running for office.  I  I put in my time, proudly so.

I would be careful to not denigrate the Guard.  It's fine to go after me, which I expect the other side will do.  I wouldn't denigrate service to the Guard, though, and the reason I wouldn't, is because there are a lot of really fine people who served in the National Guard and who are serving in the National Guard today in Iraq.

Russert: The Boston Globe and the Associated Press have gone through some of their records and said there's no evidence that you reported to duty in Alabama during the summer and fall of 1972.

President Bush: Yeah, they re  they're just wrong.  There may be no evidence, but I did report; otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged.  In other words, you don't just say "I did something" without there being verification.  Military doesn't work that way.  I got an honorable discharge, and I did show up in Alabama.

Russert: You did  were allowed to leave eight months before your term expired.  Was there a reason?

President Bush: Right.  Well, I was going to Harvard Business School and worked it out with the military.

Russert: When allegations were made about John McCain or Wesley Clark on their military records, they opened up their entire files.  Would you agree to do that?

President Bush: Yeah.  Listen, these files  I mean, people have been looking for these files for a long period of time, trust me, and starting in the 1994 campaign for governor.  And I can assure you in the year 2000 people were looking for those files as well.  Probably you were.  And  absolutely.  I mean, I

Russert: But would you allow pay stubs, tax records, anything to show that you were serving during that period?

President Bush: Yeah.  If we still have them, but I  you know, the records are kept in Colorado, as I understand, and they scoured the records.

And I'm just telling you, I did my duty, and it's politics, you know, to kind of ascribe all kinds of motives to me.  But I have been through it before.  I'm used to it.  What I don't like is when people say serving in the Guard is  is  may not be a true service.

Russert: Would you authorize the release of everything to settle this?

President Bush: Yes, absolutely.

We did so in 2000, by the way.

Russert: Were you favor of the war in Vietnam?

President Bush: I supported my government.  I did.  And would have gone had my unit been called up, by the way.

Russert: But you didn't volunteer or enlist to go.

President Bush: No, I didn't.  You're right.  I served. I flew fighters and enjoyed it, and we provided a service to our country.  In those days we had what was called "Air Defense Command," and it was part of the air defense command system.

The thing about the Vietnam War that troubles me as I look back was it was a political war.  We had politicians making military decisions, and it is lessons that any president must learn, and that is to the set the goal and the objective and allow the military to come up with the plans to achieve that objective.  And those are essential lessons to be learned from the Vietnam War.

Russert: Let me turn to the economy.

President Bush: Yes.

Russert: And this is one of my charts that I would like to show you.

President Bush: I was hoping to see one of them.

Russert: The Bush Cheney first three years, the unemployment rate has gone up 33 percent, there has been a loss of 2.2 million jobs.  We've gone from a $281 billion surplus to a $521 billion deficit.  The debt has gone from 5.7 trillion, to $7 trillion    up 23 percent.

Based on that record, why should the American people rehire you as CEO?

President Bush: Sure, because I have been the President during a time of tremendous stress on our economy and made the decisions necessary to lead
[Usual excuses follow]

The economic stimulus plan that I passed, or I asked the Congress to pass, and I worked with Congress to pass, is making a big difference.

Russert: But when you proposed your first tax cut in 2001, you said this was going to generate 800,000 new jobs.  Your tax cut of 2003, create a million new jobs.  That has not happened.

President Bush: Well, it's happening.  It's happening.  And there is good momentum when it comes to the creation of new jobs.

Again, we have been through a lot.  This economy has been through a lot, which is why I'm so optimistic about the future because I know what we have been through.

And I look forward to debate on the economy because I think one of those things that's very important is that the entrepreneurial spirit of this country be strong and the small business sector be strong.  And the policies I have laid out enhance entrepreneurship, they encourage small business creation, and I think this economy is coming around just right, frankly.

Russert: The General Accounting Office, which are the nation's auditors

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert:   have done a study of our finances.

President Bush: Um hmm.

Russert: And this is what your legacy will be to the next generation.  It says that our "current fiscal policy is unsustainable."  They did a computer simulation that shows that balancing the budget in 2040 could require either cutting total Federal spending in half or doubling Federal taxes.

President Bush: Um hmm.

Russert: How  why, as a fiscal conservative as you like to call yourself, would you allow a $500 billion deficit and this kind of deficit disaster?

President Bush: Sure.  The budget I just proposed to the Congress cuts the deficit in half in five years.

Now, I don't know what the assumptions are in the GAO report, but I do know that if Congress is wise with the people's money, we can cut the deficit in half.  And at that point in time, as a percentage of GDP, the deficit will be relatively low.

I agree with the assessment that we've got some long term financial issues we must look at, and that's one reason I asked Congress to deal with Medicare.  I strongly felt that if we didn't have an element of competition, that if we weren't modern with the Medicare program, if we didn't incorporate what's called "health savings accounts" to encourage Americans to take more control over their healthcare decisions, we would have even a worse financial picture in the long run.

I believe Medicare is going to not only make the system work better for seniors but is going to help the fiscal situation of our long term projection.

We got to deal with Social Security as well.  As you know, these entitlement programs need to be dealt with.

We are dealing with some entitlement programs right now in the Congress.  The highway bill.  It's going to be an interesting test of fiscal discipline on both sides of the aisle.  The Senate's is about $370, as I understand, $370 billion; the House is at less than that but over $300 billion.  And as you know, the budget I propose is about $256 billion.

Russert: But your base conservatives  and listen to Rush Limbaugh, the Heritage Foundation, CATO Institute, they're all saying you are the biggest spender in American history.

President Bush: Well, they're wrong.

Russert: Mr. President

President Bush: If you look at the appropriations bills that were passed under my watch, in the last year of President Clinton, discretionary spending was up 15 percent, and ours have steadily declined.

And the other thing that I think it's important for people who watch the expenditures side of the equation is to understand we are at war, Tim, and any time you commit your troops into harm's way, they must have the best equipment, the best training, and the best possible pay.  That's where we owe it to their loved ones.

Russert: That's a very important point.  Every president since the Civil War who has gone to war has raised taxes, not cut them.

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: Raised to pay for it.  Why not say, I will not cut taxes any more until we have balanced the budget?  If our situation is so precious and delicate because of the war, why do you keep cutting taxes and draining money from the treasury?

President Bush: Well, because I believe that the best way to stimulate economic growth is to let people keep more of their own money.  And I believe that if you raise taxes as the economy is beginning to recover from really tough times, you will slow down economic growth.  You will make it harder.

See, I'm more worried about the fellow looking for the job.  That's what I'm worried about.  I want people working.  I want people to find work.  And so, when we stimulate the economy, it's more likely that person is going to find work.  And the best way to stimulate the economy is not to raise taxes but to hold the low taxes down.

Russert: How about no more tax cuts until the budget is balanced?

President Bush: Well, that's a hypothetical question which I can't answer to you because I don't know how strong the economy is going to be.

I mean, the President must keep all options on the table, but I do know that raising the child  lowering the child credit thereby raising taxes on working families does not make sense when the economy is recovering, and that's exactly what some of them are calling for up on Capitol Hill.  They want to raise taxes of the families with children, they want to increase the marriage penalty.  They want to get rid of those taxes on small businesses that are encouraging the stimulation of new job creation, and I'm not going to have any of it.

Russert: We are going to take another quick break.  We will be right back with more of our conversation with the President in the Oval Office, right after this.

(Commercial)

Russert: And we are back.

Mr. President, last time you were on the show you said that you wanted to change the tone in the nation.

President Bush: Yes.

Russert: This is Time magazine:  "Love Him or Hate Him:  Why George Bush arouses such passion and what it means for the country."

President Bush: Yes.

Russert: Tom Daschle, the Democratic Leader in the Senate, said that you've changed the tone for the worse; that it's more acrimonious, more confrontations, that you are the most partisan political president he's ever worked with.

Our exit polls of primary voters, not just Democrats but Independents in South Carolina and New Hampshire, more than 70 percent of them said they are angry or dissatisfied with you, and they point to this whole idea of being a uniter as opposed to a divider.

Why do you think you are perceived as such a divider?

President Bush: Gosh, I don't know, because I'm working hard to unite the country. 
[Disingenuous nonsense omitted]

Russert: Two polls out this weekend show you --

President Bush: See there, you're quoting polls.

Russert:   you're trailing John Kerry in both U.S.A. Today and Newsweek polls by seven and five points.

President Bush: Yeah.

Russert: This is what John Kerry had to say last year.  He said that his colleagues are appalled at the quote "President's lack of knowledge.  They've managed him the same way they've managed Ronald Reagan.  They send him out to the press for one event a day.  They put him in a brown jacket and jeans and get him to move some hay or move a truck, and all of a sudden he's the Marlboro Man.  I know this guy.  He was two years behind me at Yale.  I knew him, and he's still the same guy.

Did you know him at Yale?

President Bush: No.

Russert: How do you respond to that?

President Bush: Politics.  I mean, this is, you know, if you close your eyes and listen carefully to what you just said, it sounds like the year 2000 all over again.

Russert: You were both in Skull and Bones, the secret society.

President Bush: It's so secret we can't talk about it.

Russert: What does that mean for America?  The conspiracy theorists are going to go wild.

President Bush: I'm sure they are.  I don't know.  I haven't seen the (unintel) yet. (Laughs)

Russert: Number 322.

President Bush: First of all, he's not the nominee, and  I look forward 
[We couldn't take any more of this . . . ]

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