President
George W. Bush meets with the traveling
press pool Friday, Nov. 4, 2005, at the
Sheraton Mar del Plata in Mar del Plata,
Argentina. The President thanked the media
for coming and said he was pleased to
be in Argentina. (White House photo
by Eric Draper) | |
|
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Sheraton Hotel
Mar del Plata, Argentina
12:35 P.M. (Local)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming.
I'll answer a couple of questions in a second. I do want
to say how pleased I am to be here in Argentina, advancing
an agenda that is based upon my belief and our country's
belief that there are certain universal values.
One of those values is that free societies
are important to the progress of men and women; but free
societies also require institutions that are solid and sound,
institutions such as the right to worship freely, the right
to write, say what you want in the press freely, the right
to campaign and express your opinions freely. It's very
important that there be solid rule of law and independent
judiciary.
And so I'm pleased to be down here. It's
a good place to spend Laura's birthday, which is today.
I don't know if you knew that -- no, I know you did, okay
-- but anyway, don't bring it up when you see her. (Laughter.)
But it's -- I just had a meeting earlier
with the Central American countries -- young democracies,
struggling to succeed, making good progress toward making
sure institutions are well-rooted. I say Central American,
plus Dominican Republic. And we talked about how pleased
we were that we got the free trade agreement through, at
least through the United States Congress. Most of the countries
have ratified it. We're looking forward to implementing
the trade agreement.
I had a good visit with President Kirchner.
You know, Argentina is an amazing country. It's a vast land,
with a lot of natural resources. And he's done a very good
job of helping to -- helping this economy of theirs, and
their financial picture improve. And I congratulated him
on it. We talked -- well, you heard him, I won't repeat
what we talked about. We talked about a lot of subjects.
It was a good, honest discussion.
And, finally, I just met with our friends
from the Andean nations. Good, young democracies, again
struggling to fight narco-trafficking, and they were very
interested in making sure that we didn't forget them, and
that we continued to pursue a free trade agreement. That
was the main topic of discussion. All those countries recognize
the importance of having a free trade agreement with the
United States, and I assured them that our negotiators are
negotiating in good faith, and will continue to negotiate
in good faith.
That's what I've done so far today. Nedra.
Q Hi, Mr. President. Thank you. Did Karl
Rove tell you the truth about his role in the CIA leak case?
And do you owe the American people an apology for your administration's
assertations that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby weren't involved?
THE PRESIDENT: We're going through a very
serious investigation. And I will -- have told you before
that I'm not going to discuss the investigation until it's
completed. And we have got a -- my obligation is to set
an agenda, and I've done that. And the agenda is fighting
and winning the war on terror, and keeping the economic
vitality and growth alive, dealing with the energy problem,
nominating people to the Supreme Court that adhere to the
philosophy that I can depend on -- Judge Alito being such
a person. I noticed today that they've got a date. I'm disappointed
in the date, but happy they do have a firm date for his
confirmation hearing. We've got to recover from the hurricanes.
So I've got a lot to do, and will continue to focus on the
people's business.
Steve.
Q You've taken a beating in recent weeks,
sir. What are you going to do for a fresh start? Are there
going to be any staff changes? Would it help if the special
prosecutor would wrap up his probe quickly?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, again, you're trying
to get me to comment on the investigation, which I'm not
going to do. And I hope you understand that. It's a serious
investigation, and it's an important investigation. But
it's not yet over.
I think it's important for the American
people to know that I understand my job is to set clear
goals and deal with the problems we face. Now, look, we've
got an ongoing war on terror. And my administration is working
with friends and allies to find these terrorists and bring
them to justice before they strike us again. We're fighting
the terrorists in Iraq. And, as you know, we've got a two-pronged
strategy, an important strategy, that one -- on the one
hand, has a political solution to it, on the other hand
has a security solution to it. And we're working hard to
achieve those objectives. We're laying what I have called
the foundation for peace, because democratic nations don't
war; democratic nations will be allies with each other in
fighting off an ideology that is dark and grim in its vision,
and is willing to use murder as its tool.
Elisabeth.
Q Okay, this is not a question about the
investigation, but it's about Karl.
THE PRESIDENT: It sounds like one, though.
Q Are there discussions in the White House
about whether or not Karl will remain in his job?
THE PRESIDENT: Elisabeth, the investigation
on Karl, as you know, is not complete. And, therefore, I
will not comment upon -- about him and/or the investigation.
Again, I understand the anxiety and angst by the press corps
to talk about this. On the other hand, it is a serious investigation
and we take it seriously and we're cooperating to the extent
that the special prosecutor wants us to cooperate.
Q The American people, though -- sir, the
American people, though, are beginning to question your
honesty, according to the polls, 58 percent. And your approval
rating is at an all-time low, primarily because, it seems,
of this investigation. They are wondering whether you can
keep on track and whether to believe you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, no, I understand there
is a preoccupation by polls and by some. I think this may
be -- I think we've got -- this is maybe the fourth or fifth
consecutive semi-press conference -- press conference or
semi-press conference that I've been asked about polls.
The way you earn credibility with the American people is
to declare an agenda that everybody can understand, an agenda
that relates to their lives, and get the job done. And the
agenda that I'm working on now is one that is important
to the American people.
First of all, it's to protect our country;
it's to understand that we're at war with a radical ideology
that wants to inflict harm on America and, at the same time,
use that harm they inflict to achieve territorial ambition.
I've talked a lot recently about the Zawahiri letter to
Zarqawi, which is a clear statement of purpose by these
terrorists. It should be viewed for what it is: an open
warning to the free world that this is a very vital war
and we need to win it. So I spend a lot of time talking
about that -- and more than talking about it, acting on
it.
Secondly, you know, our economy has shown
amazing resilience in the face of natural disaster, as well
as rising energy prices. But we've got to have policies
in place that make it possible for the economy to continue
to grow. You know, we're down here talking about trade --
it's hard to trade with somebody if they're broke. And I've
told our partners that we've got good economic growth now.
But what we need to do is to work with Congress to make
sure that we deal with the energy crisis -- what can we
do to deal with the energy crisis? Well, we can expand refinery
capacity in the United States. I mean, it should be apparent
to the members of Congress that when the Katrina hit there
was massive disruptions of our own capacity to make gasoline,
which put us in a precarious position for the consumers
-- which would affect the economy, by the way.
And so we'll be talking to Congress about
a further energy initiative to make sure we've got economic
growth. We've obviously got work to do with Katrina and
Rita, the damage from those hurricanes.
And I mentioned the Supreme Court. This
is a very vital issue for the United States Senate and for
the country. Sam Alito, Jr., is an incredibly intelligent,
well qualified person who should be on the Court. I told
the leadership I thought it would be best to have the hearings
before Christmas. They didn't feel like they could get the
job done. I talked to Chairman Specter, and the reason why,
at least he explained to me, that he couldn't get the hearings
done before Christmas is because Alito had written so many
opinions and he wanted to make sure he had time to read
them. And they made that decision. Fortunately, there is
a firm date and we look forward to working on that date.
And, finally, an issue that is of concern
to the American people is the border, is border security.
I signed an appropriations bill for border security and
during that signature ceremony talked about our strategy
to use technology and border patrol and wise policies to
do our job, which is to prevent people from illegally --
not only people, but, by the way, contraband, guns and drugs
-- from coming into our country illegally. And so that's
the agenda before us, and that's the agenda that I will
continue to work on.
One more. Yes, Matt.
Q Mr. President, you're likely to cross
paths with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at this summit.
How should Americans think about this President, who has
said many hostile things about you and your administration?
Do you think of him as another Castro? And if you see him
this afternoon, do you have any words for him?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I will, of course,
be polite. That's what the American people expect their
President to do, is to be a polite person. And I will --
if I run across him, I will do just that. My attitude toward
any leader -- toward leaders, and I judge leaders based
upon their willingness to protect institutions that will
-- for a viable democratic society. And to the extent that
any leader undermines the free press, we will speak out.
To the extent that any leader makes it difficult to worship
freely, we will make our positions known. To the extent
that the judiciary is not an independent organization --
in other words, to the extent that there's not proper checks
and balances, we will express our positions.
And there's ways to do so. We can do so
through our embassies, we can do so in forums -- not necessarily
singling out a particular country or person, but talking
on the positive about how important it is to have checks
and balances in society, about how important it is to have
these institutions so that a single person cannot become
the ruler of all people. I will remind people today at this
important summit that -- as we talk about poverty and minority
rights, which is of concern to many countries here, that
one -- such concerns are our concerns, and that if you're
interested in minority rights, the best way to allow minorities
to have rights is in a democratic society, where the people
actually make the decisions for government.
And so it's a -- I think this is a good
forum and a good opportunity to express -- for me to express
our country's values. But they're not American values, I
keep telling you, these are universal values that are true.
That's why my meeting with President Kirchner was -- one
of the reasons it was so positive is because Argentina shares
the same values that America shares. They've been through
some difficult experiences and making sure that those values
are rooted in their societies. Of course I've reminded others,
we went through difficult experiences in the past. And we
had a Constitution that said everybody is free, but they
weren't.
And so it's a -- so what I'll search for
in the world, as I think about world leaders, is that commitment,
firm commitment to values and institutions that make democracy
viable.
Thank you all very much, thanks.
END 12:47 P.M. (Local)
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