From Holden:
Chimpy agreed to take a few questions with Australian PM John Howard today.
Chimpy Gets A Bit Snippy
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, you’ve said that the government is not trolling through the lives of innocent Americans, but why shouldn’t ordinary people feel that their privacy is invaded by the NSA compiling a list of their telephone calls?
PRESIDENT BUSH: What I have told the American people is, we’ll protect them against an al Qaeda attack, and we’ll do so within the law. I’ve been very clear about the principles and guidelines of any program that has been designed to protect the American people.
I’ve also been clear about the fact that we do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval, and that this government will continue to guard the privacy of the American people. But if al Qaeda is calling into the United States, we want to know, and we want to know why.
For the Australian press friends here, we got accused of not connecting dots prior to September the 11th, and we’re going to connect dots to protect the American people, within the law. The program he’s asking about is one that has been fully briefed to members of the United States Congress, in both political parties. They are very aware of what is taking place. The American people expect their government to protect them, within the laws of this country, and I’m going to continue to do just that.
Asshole to the End
Somebody said, you and John Howard appear to be so close, don’t you have any differences? And I said, yes, he doesn’t have any hair.
[snip]
And that’s what I like about John Howard. He may not be the prettiest person on the block but when he tells you something you can take it to the bank.
Mangling His Own Policy
There are Guard troops in Arizona and New Mexico and Texas that can be used by the governors down there to work with the Border Patrol, that they’ll be reimbursed for. And there’s also training missions that can be used to help complement the Border Patrol. We’re going to have double the Border Patrol agents since 2001 by 2008. And what the Guard is doing, the Guard is providing an interim service until those Border Patrol agents get stood up.
[snip]
Border security and a temporary worker program are really important because — let me say, a temporary worker program is really important to border security because we don’t want people trying to sneak into the country. It seems rational to me to say if you’re coming to work, come to work in a legal way on a temporary basis so you’re not trying to sneak across. So the temporary worker program goes hand in hand with border security. In order for there to be a — in order for us to solve the problem of an immigration system that’s not working, it’s really important for Congress to understand that there needs a — that the elements I described all go hand-in-hand.
[snip]
And the objective is, on the one hand, protect our borders, and on the other hand, never lose sight of the thing that makes America unique, which is we’re a land of immigrants, and that we — we’re not going to discriminate against people, that we don’t think there ought to be an automatic path to citizenship. That’s called amnesty. Amnesty would be wrong. Amnesty wouldn’t say that somebody that stood in line legally is — is mistreated, as far as I’m concerned.
Laugh Line Of The Day
Part of my job is to lead, and I did last night.