Excerpt from Tony Snow’s interview of Colin Powell:
SNOW: One of your predecessors, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, was speaking this week with the French media, and she made the following comment. She said of the president, “Bush and the people working for him have a foreign policy that is not good for America, not good for the world.” She says it’s too much the United States versus the world. Your response?
POWELL: Well, I disagree with her. The United States pulled together a unanimous resolution in the U.N. this week. President Bush is here at the APEC meeting, having excellent meetings with his counterparts, a fine visit with our Japanese friends. You saw the images coming from Manila in the Philippines yesterday….
Protesters burn US flags to protest the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush (news – web sites) Saturday Oct.18, 2003 in Manila, Philippines. In a visit tense with security fears, President Bush sped Saturday through Manila streets crowded with flag-waving supporters and angry protesters and pledged to help the beleaguered Philippines battle rising terrorism. (AP Photo/STR)
Protesters march towards the Philippine Congress with clenched fists to protest the visit of U.S. President George W. Bush in Manila on Saturday Oct. 18, 2003. Bush’s eight-hour visit is seen as a reward for the country’s steadfast support of America’s war on terrorism. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
This article could have been titled ‘Run, George, Run!’.
Instead the headline reads:
Terror threat rushes Bush visit
Speeds through Philippines trip Security tight in 8-hour stay
Another interesting moment in George’s travels some might not hear about:
[Excerpt]
The president, known for his malaprops, mispronunciations and use of questionable syntax, tripped twice in the same sentence Sunday over the detained opposition leader’s name as he repeated Washington’s demands for the junta to release her.
“We care deeply about Aung Suu San Kyi and the status of Aung Suu San Kyi,” he said, transposing the pro-democracy advocate’s second and third names in comments to reporters after meeting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The inadvertent flub drew chuckles from reporters in the White House filing center and one veteran correspondent was overheard to say: “At least he got all four syllables in.”
The slip-up did not make it onto the official transcript which was issued later by the White House with the name set out correctly.