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CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL President Bush Holds Town Hall Meeting Aired December 4, 2001 - 15:18 ET
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is down in Orlando, Florida at the Orlando Convention Center. He is about to begin a town meeting on the economy, although a lot of questions, presumably, will come on other issues including the war on terrorism. The president will open up with some remarks, then continue with questions from the audience. Let's listen to the president and his guests down in Orlando.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you all very much. I'm really happy to visit Florida. QUESTION: How you doing, Mr. President?
BUSH: Pretty darn good.
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: First thing you can do is make sure people of all faiths are represented at your prayer session. It sends such a strong signal.
(APPLAUSE)
It reminds people of the greatness of America. The evil people we fight, they don't believe in religious freedom. They want it their way or no way. And if you're not their way, they'll treat you harshly.
That's why, by the way, when we liberated cities throughout Afghanistan, people lined the roads and cheered out of joy and happiness.
Secondly, you need to pray for the good Lord to protect America, to provide a shield over our country, to prevent us from harm.
(APPLAUSE)
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QUESTION: One thing, Mr. President, is that you have no idea how much you've done for this country, and another thing is that how did you feel when you heard about the terrorist attack?
BUSH: Well...
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you, Jordan (ph).
Well, Jordan (ph), you're not going to believe what state I was in when I heard about the terrorist attack. I was in Florida. And my chief of staff, Andy Card -- actually I was in a classroom talking about a reading program that works. And I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower -- the TV was obviously on, and I use to fly myself, and I said, "There's one terrible pilot." And I said, "It must have been a horrible accident."
But I was whisked off there -- I didn't have much time to think about it, and I was sitting in the classroom, and Andy Card, my chief who was sitting over here walked in and said, "A second plane has hit the tower. America's under attack."
And Jordan (ph), I wasn't sure what to think at first. You know, I grew up in a period of time where the idea of America being under attack never entered my mind -- just like your daddy and mother's mind probably. And I started thinking hard in that very brief period of time about what it meant to be under attack. I knew that when I got all the facts that we were under attack, there would be hell to pay for attacking America.
(APPLAUSE)
I tried to get as many facts as I could, Jordan (ph), to make sure I knew, as I was making decisions, that I knew exactly what I was basing my decisions on. I've got a fabulous team. A president can't possibly be president without a good team. It starts with having a great wife, by the way.
(APPLAUSE)
And so I got on the phone from Air Force One asking to find out the facts. You've got to understand, Jordan (ph), that during this period of time, there were all kinds of rumors floating around. Some of them were erroneous. For example, there's a news report saying that the State Department had been attacked. I needed to know what the facts were.
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