John Shepp :: Blog: Cowboy Diplomacy or Just a Lost Cowboy?

Cowboy Diplomacy or Just a Lost Cowboy? · 11 March 06

US President George Walker Bush addressed the National Newspaper Association Government Affairs Conference today. What was interesting was the fact that he took several, albeit softball questions from the audience. Remember, this president has given less press conferences that any previous. But currently his approval rating is said to be a miserable 34% and could possibly even drop further if he doesn’t show some clear direction for his administration prior to the Congressional elections coming in November of this year.
Most, if not all, of the journalists in attendance were from small cities and towns in the US and asked easy questions but a couple of his answers stood out. Being that all indicators are pointing to a terrorist attack in the U.S. by the end of March, there have been the familiar rumblings, Condolezza Rice at the Foreign affairs commitee, John Bolton at a recent AIPAC speech, and the current de facto leader of Al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahir all giving the world messages as a pre staging to another middle eastern conflict. The American Press are trumpeting that it’s not a matter of if, but when, the US will be seeing a mushroom cloud as the result of a terrorist attack. It is said by some that the only thing that can divert the course of this Administration in a positive direction is another terrorist attack.
After all, if we review the previous five years, we’ve seen a number of attacks that have fed the presumption that prevention can only create a cure if the enemy is engaged before they attack us. The two questions below are quite revealing. They are a direct and unaltered transcription of the President’s comments to which I have attempted to preserve both his vernacular, and his missteps.

Question: Jeffrey Cochran Aurora Colorado, and in own town a teacher was suspended for remarks critical of your State of the Union message, made the talk shows etc, compared you to Hitler and actually I’ve heard the tape and he did, he said "Hilteresque" and it’s …not..

President Bush: (Laughs) He not the only one you know?...(Laughter)

Question: ..and it is not the content of my question. My question is about your stance of the free speech right in the classroom or in public to criticize you without being considered unpatriotic.

President Bush: Yeah I think people should be allowed to criticize me all they want, and they do. (Laughter) Now what are you all laughin’ at over there? (Laughter) Don’t cheer him on..(Laughter) Look I think the great thing about..Look..the uh…there’s some certain basic freedoms the we’ve gotta protect. The freedom to people to express themselves must be protected. The freedom of people to be able to worship freely. That freedom is valuable, I tell people all the time…you’re equally American if you’re a Christian, Jew, or Muslim, you’re equally American if you believe in an almighty or don’t believe in an almighty I mean that’s a sacred freedom, the right for people to express themselves in the public square is a freedom. Obviously there’s limitations, for example if someone is inciting violence, or the destruction of property, or public, uh, you know, causing somebody harm…but the right, the idea of being able to express yourself, is a sacred part of our society, and this is what distinguishes us from the Taliban! And that’s important for Americans to understand. We’re in an ideological struggle. And one way for people to connect the ideological struggle with reality is to think about what life was like, uh, for people under the rule of the Taliban. If you didn’t agree with their view of religion, you were, you know…punished! If you tried to send your little girl to school you were punished. These people have a backward view. I don’t believe, I believe religion’s peaceful. I believe people have religion in their heart are peaceful people and I believe these people have subverted a great religion to accomplish a political end. And uh, so thank you for bringin’ that up, I appreciate, look I, you know, people say to me, my buddies in Texas, "How do you handle all this stuff?" you know, just, after a while you get used to it! (Laughter)..But you have to believe in what your doin’! See? You have to believe, uh, in certain principles and beliefs! And you can let the public opinion polls and focus groups, uh, want cause you to abandon what you believe, and become the reason for makin’ decisions. My job is a job that, where I make a lot of decisions. Uh..I decide big things, and little things. And there’s certain principles to decision making..you make decisions…you know you have to make a lot of decisions. And you don’t put your finger in the air to figure out how to make a decision, and neither should the President of the United States. And you have to know what you believe. Certain good decision making rests on certain basic principles, I believe in the universality of freedom, I believe democracies lead peace. I believe people aught to worship freely. I do believe there’s an almighty God…that has spread freedom, making freedom available for everybody. I believe in private enterprise. I believe in free enterprise, I believe in high standards in education. These are basic beliefs that I’m not gonna change, I know some would like me to change…but you can’t be a good decision maker if you’re trying to please people. You gotta stand on what you believe! That’s what you got to do. If you’re gonna make decisions that are solid and sound. And I understand some of the things I’ve done are unpopular…but that’s what comes with the territory. If you’re afraid to make decisions and you only worry about, you know, whether people in the classroom will say nice things about you, you’re not leadin’! And I think we’ve gotta lead, we’ve gotta lead, to spread the peace, we gotta lead to protect this country, and we gotta lead to make sure we’re the preeminent economic power so our people can benefit. Yes sir?

Question: John B. Montgomery from Purcell Oklahoma…
President Bush: Yes sir?
Question: Who do you think the biggest threat is? Iran, N. Korea, China?
President Bush: Interesting question, the biggest threat to American security, Iran, North Korea or China…Why did I call on you? no uh (laughter) You would be an Oklahoma guy you know? (laughter)
um…the biggest threat to American security short term is Al-Qaida. They uh…would like to attack us again. I-I think about Al-Qaida and their potential to attack all the time. All the time. That’s what you want your President doin’. My job is to..basically insulate people from some concerns..you don’t risk capital if you’r e worried about an attack coming tomorrow…you know? You don’t go confidently about your business….if an attack is right around the corner…I understand that, but I think about it a lot so step one, I’m changing your question..(laughter) Would you please order the threats…(laughter) Al Quaida (deadpan) um…I said in an early speech there was an axis of evil and it included Iran and North Korea I said that I think….help me out here April….2002 perhaps…yeah. State of the Union. If it’s not 2002 it’s April’s fault, she nodded her head. (laughter)..well relatively early in my presidency. I did that because I’m concerned about totalitarian governments that are not transparent..that…are..um..have stated their intention to develop nuclear weapons. One of the dangers, real dangerous threats of course is the Nexus of terrorist groups..non-state..um…you know, groups..that get a weapon of mass destruction which is their stated objective and so…I’m concerned about that. I’m concerned about…I would say they are equal, Iran and North Korea as for a security threat, because uh, every time there’s a non transparent regime without a free press to hold people to account it creates a unpredictability in the world. Um…the Iranian President has stated his desire to destroy our ally Israel. So when you start listening to what he has said to their desire to develop a nuclear weapon then you begin to see an issue of grave national security concern. A therefor, it’s very important for the United States to continue to work with others. To…solve these issues diplomatically….deal with these threats today…and we are. We’ve got uh…the EU 3. Great Britain, France and Germany. Diplomatic lingo sorry…are basically..um..taking the position for the free world to the Iranians and said you know "No Nuclear Weapon and No Knowlege….about how to make a nuclear weapon." The uh..talked to Vladimir Putin this week…or the Foreign minister from Russia this week about making sure that we’re..Russia says the same thing. Whereas we want the Iranians to hear loud and clear the world is speaking with one voice when it come to their…capacities…uh to..uh develop a nuclear weapon. Remember now, the reason we are where we are is because they had agreed to international norms and were caught…not adhering to the international norms…it was..they basically tried to pull one over on the world and uh, to me that’s a warning signal the we gotta take seriously. Uh, Korea the issue..uh..is one in which..try to alter the relationship with the Koreans to be more that just the voice of the United States saying to the Koreans the same thing and so we now got China, South Korea, Russia, Japan, and the United States involved in what’s called the "Six Party Talks". Ultimately I think it’s very important for the people in those countries to be able to live in a free society. If you believe Liberty is Universal then you would hope Liberty would spread to those countries as well. The uh..Chinese..uh..you know our relationship is uh..is a very interesting relationship with the Chinese…they’re uh..it’s an amazing country in many ways..it’s a country that has got..uh..it’s gotta create 25 Million new jobs a year to stay even..Think about that.. It’s a country that has chosen the path… by and large.. of.. of… markets and enterprise. They are an economic issue for us and that’s why we’ve got a huge defecit with them..I mean…and therefore it’s very important for the government to.. on the one hand reject protectionism but on the other hand insist that their markets open and they be traded freely and fairly like I answered the lady from Michigan….um..the..I-I don’t uh, I view, I don’t view uh..China is a more..uh..uh. China is a strategic partner when it comes to trade for example…and I can’t say that about the other two countries…and so the relationship is different. It’s a different uh…it’s a different uh relationship..um he’s giving me the hook cause I gotta go see President Toledo..but anyways….

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Cowboy Diplomacy or Just a Lost Cowboy? · 11 March 06