Today's McClellan: "It's time to move on. I just addressed your questions"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050729-5.html

Q I have a follow-up and then another question. You've said that the President does not support the further destruction of human life through creating new embryonic stem cell lines. Does he think it should be criminal to destroy frozen embryos that are not used in fertility clinics?

MR. McCLELLAN: Jessica, no, this is relating to the taxpayer dollars. That's the President's decision.

Q But if the President believes that's the destruction of life, why doesn't he make an effort to oppose it?

MR. McCLELLAN: Jessica, the decision that he made was relating to taxpayer dollars. He's the President, and this is taxpayer money. This is federal funding.

Q So what should happen to the 400,000-plus frozen embryos that are sitting in fertility banks not being used, waiting to be thrown out?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in fact, he just had an event a short time ago, talking about how there are embryo adoption families, people that can adopt these embryos and --

Q But that's a nominal -- nominal -- number compared to the hundreds of thousands of embryos --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, no, no, go back and look at what I said at the time, because I gave out some statistics. I think that you need to look at the statistics I gave out at the time. But this --

Q But you never came up with a policy on what should be done. Do they all have to be given up for adoption?

MR. McCLELLAN: Are you going to let me respond?

Q Sure.

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay, thank you. No one seems to want to talk about the great progress this week in Congress, but -- (laughter.)

Q There's been great progress. There's been great progress.

Q You do.

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sure it will be reported. (Laughter.)

The President's decision was based on federal funding of taxpayer dollars. That's what it was based on. He's the President of the United States, the President of all Americans, and I think many Americans understand and appreciate the decision that he came to, because this is a difficult issue. It is their taxpayer dollars, and that's where -- but that's where he drew the line and that's the decision that he made.

Q So should all those embryos be given up for adoption -- must they be?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I addressed that question a long time ago.

Q But no answer.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I did address it, Jessica. Go back and look at that briefing. I addressed it, and you can go back and pull up all those quotes and comments from that time. I laid out the facts -- some of your facts, I think that you are trying to cite are not exactly accurate.

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Q So should all those embryos be given up for adoption -- must they be?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I addressed that question a long time ago.

Q But no answer.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I did address it, Jessica. Go back and look at that briefing. I addressed it, and you can go back and pull up all those quotes and comments from that time. I laid out the facts -- some of your facts, I think that you are trying to cite are not exactly accurate.

Q Scott, when I asked this morning what David just asked about the fact that Senator Frist is making it very clear that he believes that not only are there fewer lines available, but that the lines available, many of them have been contaminated, and that he believes -- your answer to that question has been, well, we're at the early stages of science right now. But he made very clear on the Senate floor today, sort of the whole purpose of his speech and his position is that we're not at the early stages and that what we need right now in order to --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think everybody recognizes we're at the basic research stage.

Q But what he -- the whole point of his policy now is that you need to modify because you're slowing research, you're slowing science if you don't. So my question is, are we just at a point now where the President disagrees with Dr. Frist on the science?

MR. McCLELLAN: I just pointed out some of the facts. There is substantial amount of funding, both in the public and private sector, going to stem cell research -- that's adult stem cell research and embryonic stem cell research. I talked about how the President was the first one to allow the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research --

Q I understand that. Where we are right now --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and I made the point that we believe that the lines that are available now will allow us to do the basic research to understand the potential of stem cell research, of embryonic stem cell research.

Q Just one quick follow up. Was the President taken by surprise by this? And, also, I know that he made an effort to talk to Senator Frist at the event this morning and they walked down together. Did they talk privately --

MR. McCLELLAN: No, this is something that Senator Frist stated over four years ago, as he indicated earlier today.

Q He hasn't stated it -- he actually said that he -- he has not said that he would, sort of, defy a veto threat until today. He actually made it pretty clear that he was going to go along with the President until today.

MR. McCLELLAN: His views, though, he stated more than four years ago.

Q I know, but this is about legislation --

MR. McCLELLAN: Understood.

Q -- and this is about the President issuing a veto threat.

MR. McCLELLAN: But I'm just pointing that out just like he pointed out earlier today. And he also pointed out that -- he praised the President for being the first one to allow for this kind of research through federal tax dollars.

What the President's focus is on is the public money, and that's the decision that he made.

Q I understand that. But when the President of the United States issues a veto threat and the Majority Leader of his own party defies that, I'm just sort of wondering what his reaction -- aside from he understands he has to vote his conscience --

MR. McCLELLAN: We've worked very closely with Senator Frist to accomplish a lot of things in the last session for the American people. I know some people in this room don't want to ask questions now about it, they seem to ask --

Q No, but it's about an ally who we really rely on, on this issue --

MR. McCLELLAN: Two months ago everybody wanted to talk about how we weren't going to get things done.

Q I'm not talking about -- okay. Let's again just stick to this. This is somebody who he really relied on as a physician in terms of coming up with a policy --

MR. McCLELLAN: Let's stick to this, yes. That's exactly the point.

Q -- four years ago.

MR. McCLELLAN: Let's talk about the progress we've made over the last session. No, because you're talking about Senator Frist. I mean, you know, there may be issues where sometimes people disagree, but we have worked closely together to get a lot of things done for the American people. That's the point.

Q I understand that.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, then I hope that it gets back to the American people about the important progress that we have made and what we've accomplished this week, because just two months ago many of you in this room were saying, well, has he entered a lame duck status, can he get anything done? People in this room were saying that the nomination -- or the Supreme Court battle would prevent him from getting anything done on the domestic agenda. Well, this week we've gotten things done.

Q Well, I wasn't one of those people and I'm asking specifically about this issue.

MR. McCLELLAN: It's time to move on. And I just addressed your questions.

Q John Bolton, will there be a recess appointment announced before the President goes to Waco?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, first of all, any decision on any recess appointment would be made by the President of the United States. That's his decision to make and it would be his announcement to make when he's ready to do so. Now, in terms of this position, there is a vacancy at the United Nations for our ambassador. We need our permanent representative in place at the United States at this critical time. There is an effort underway to move forward on comprehensive reform. We have outlined the comprehensive reforms that we want to see put in place to make sure that the United Nations is an effective multilateral organization. And it's a critical time to be moving forward on this. The United Nations will be having their General Assembly meeting in September, and it's important that we get our permanent representative in place.

Go ahead, Carl.

Q First on Bolton, and then another question about today's discussion. Is the President concerned about the apparent error on Mr. Bolton's questionnaire to the Senate, in which he said that he had not been questioned in a federal investigation in the preceding five years, when now it has been revealed that, in fact, he was at least interviewed in the context of the Inspector General-CIA investigation of the uranium potential sale from Niger to Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think the State Department addressed that last night and it was John Bolton who pointed that out.

Q Is the President concerned about this?

MR. McCLELLAN: Do you have a follow-up?

Q So is the President concerned about it? (Laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: No. I just said, no. The State Department pointed out the --

Q Great, okay. So, moving on from that, since you want to talk about the economy -- in the context of the discussion we've been having here this morning, one gets the sense that you think that there's an "I told you so" coming here for the administration, because the press, in the past four months, has been writing the President off as a lame duck. Is that what you're doing? And, if so, why?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I wouldn't say that. But I remember being in this room, I remember all the coverage at the time, just two months ago, and, frankly, there hasn't been a whole lot of focus in the media this week on the significant accomplishments that are being achieved for the American people. This is important for the American people to know that this Congress has come together and gotten things done. That's what the President vowed to do in his second term. He did it in his first term, and he's doing it in his second term.

There are a lot of --

Q So, if I may -- pardon the interruption -- are you suggesting then that the absence of coverage to your standard is because the media is deliberately trying to suppress that information on behalf of the administration?

MR. McCLELLAN: All I know is that there was a lot of coverage saying, two months ago, that the President wasn't going to get anything done on the domestic agenda, that he was maybe entering lame duck status, and the facts say otherwise. We are getting things done for the American people, and the ones who are benefiting are the American people. Thank you.

Q I ran a calculation on my computer this morning and --

MR. McCLELLAN: Uh-oh. (Laughter.) That's not fuzzy math here.

Q -- 1,241 days after Pearl Harbor, Adolph Hitler was dead. And today, it's 1,417 days after 9/11 -- Osama bin Laden is still alive. We've got a pretty good idea that he's in western Pakistan. Why can't we get this guy? Is it Musharraf? Is it -- who is keeping us from --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, his safe haven in Afghanistan has been taken away. We went in and liberated the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban that was supporting his activities has been removed from power. The remnants of the Taliban and the al Qaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden are on the run. We have worked to bring to justice, in one way or another, some three-quarters of the al Qaeda leadership and management structure. So we are dismantling the al Qaeda network.

But this is an ideological struggle that we are engaged in. It is a long-term struggle. We are continuing to pursue all those who seek to do harm to the civilized world. They will be brought to justice. We are now fighting the war on terrorism on the offensive by taking the fight to the terrorists overseas, so that we don't have to fight them here on our own shores.

But, more importantly, we're working to support the advance of freedom and democracy. The advance of freedom is the way that we will prevail over their hateful ideology that is based on spreading fear and chaos, and killing innocent human beings. They have no regard for human life. But we'll continue to go after all those who are responsible for attacks and seek to do harm to the American people.

Q The reason I ask is, General Musharraf -- there was a Dow Jones wire story today -- he admitted that he wasn't as aggressive against the religious terrorists in his country in 2002 as he might have been, because he said he was facing a threat from India and Kashmir, and he claimed that he didn't have international support for his presidency. I mean, has he been an obstacle? He seems to be saying --

MR. McCLELLAN: The President had a good discussion with President Musharraf yesterday. He is a good partner in the global war on terrorism. He recognizes the enemy and the nature of the enemy that we are up against. And he just spoke in the last couple of weeks about the steps that he's taken to go after those who espouse this extremist ideology, this ideology that preaches hate, this ideology that preaches violence against innocent civilians. This is an enemy that wants to dominate the Middle East.

And I would point back to our own history. For decades, we ignored what was going on in the Middle East, and thought we were getting peace and stability in exchange for letting dictators rule in countries throughout the Middle East. Well, we didn't get either. And the President, on September 11th, made the decision that we were going to take the fight to the enemy and that we were going to work to advance freedom in the broader Middle East to help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come, for our children and grandchildren. And that's what we're doing. And we're working with many nations around the world to do that. This is a -- much broader than just a military effort. We're fighting this ideological struggle on many fronts, and we will continue to do so.

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Q Scott, The Washington Post this morning reports that, "Many days, no doubt, he" -- that's you, Scott -- "he harbors his own desires to finger his feelings about reporters." (Laughter.) That's what they reported. And my question is, since The Post also reports that "The President suddenly thrust his right hand into the air and extends a finger." White House officials yesterday said it was his thumb. Could this be interpreted as the traditional thumbs-up signal, or is it a mistake to confuse the President's thumb with his middle finger?

I have a follow up.

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, okay, I found all this kind of preposterous --

Q It was in The Washington Post.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and the story that was run there. Clearly, if you look at it and if you were there, you would recognize that the President was giving a thumbs-up. Someone in the media had asked something to the effect of, how does it look on the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and the President gave the thumbs-up.

I don't know how someone is trying to divine my inner thoughts, but despite some of the back and forth that we engage in today and other times, even with people like David -- (laughter) -- I have great respect for the job that you all do. And you all -- you all know the way I deal with you all and I know the way the President acts. And that's -- it's just preposterous to make that kind of suggestion.

[carnie_sf]

1. Scott McLellan

master of the non-answer