Posted on 07/03/2007 3:24:25 PM PDT by Kaslin
Today President Bush visited with Wounded Military Personnel at Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Following is the transcript
Washington, D.C.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. General, thank you very much for your hospitality. It's a true honor to come to Walter Reed to be able to see the docs and nurses, the physical therapists who are working with our wounded soldiers. The care here is remarkable. There has been some bureaucratic red-tape issues in the past that the military is working hard to cure. But when it comes time to healing broken bodies, this is a fabulous place.
I am constantly amazed at the character and courage of those who wear our uniform. And that's no more vividly displayed than here in this place of healing. I want to thank our soldiers, sailors and Marines, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and women for their service to the country, and I thank their families. As we head into the 4th of July, we're a fortunate nation to have people who are willing to volunteer in the face of danger to help secure this country in the long run.
I'll be glad to answer two questions from you.
Q Mr. President, are you willing to rule out that you will eventually pardon Scooter Libby?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I had to make a very difficult decision. I weighed this decision carefully. I thought that the jury verdict should stand. I felt the punishment was severe, so I made a decision that would commute his sentence, but leave in place a serious fine and probation. As to the future, I rule nothing in or nothing out.
Q Mr. President, federal sentencing guidelines call for jail time in these kinds of cases of perjury and obstruction of justice. Why do you feel otherwise, and are you worried that this decision sends a signal that you won't go to jail if you lie to the FBI?
THE PRESIDENT: I took this decision very seriously on Mr. Libby. I considered his background, his service to the country, as well as the jury verdict. I felt like the jury verdict ought to stand, and I felt like some of the punishments that the judge determined were adequate should stand. But I felt like the 30-month sentencing was severe; made a judgment, a considered judgment that I believe is the right decision to make in this case, and I stand by it.
Thank you all.
END 12:11 P.M. EDT
Also President Bush signed S. 1352 into law.
S. 1352, which designates a facility of the United States Postal Service as the Dr. Francis Townsend Post Office Building.
He also signed S. 1704 into law, what is the "First Higher Education Extension Act of 2007," which extends programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965 through July 31, 2007.
scpan fooled us again, DrDeb. They went directly from the Dodd event to the Obama event, even though the President’s appearance was on the schedule. Now it is posted for 1:11, which I also do not believe will occur.
01:11 AM EDT
0:03 (est.)
Remarks
Libby Case
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
George W. Bush , United States
01:14 AM EDT
0:32 (est.)
News Briefing
White House Daily Briefing
White House, Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Tony Snow , White House
Aint stolen iffn tis already given to ya!
:)
I cannot even imagine what a fine physician and healer like Dr. Reed would think of those 4 Muslim physicians who planned the recent attacks in England.
True :)
They were nothing compared to Keith Olbermaniac that I’m just hearing now .. he is absolutely demented and scandalous.
This will be a huge part of his legacy, restoring dignity and honor to the office after the scandalous Clinton years, and please God, make it be after the Clinton years, not in between the Clinton years!!!
Thank you for the info - I had never seen anything about Dr. Walter Reed.
Alan Johnson has been released by Hamas footage on BBC24
BBC interviewing Steve Centani
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate C-Span (and all of the other ‘leftist’ media outlets)?! . . . I wonder whether or not C-Span plans to cover the President’s July 4th speech tomorrow?!
BUSH TO VISIT AREA ON 4TH
MARTINSBURG — President Bush plans to visit the 167th Air National Guard Airlift Wing base on the Fourth of July, the White House announced Friday.
The president has visited West Virginia four times on Independence Day during his term of office, including visits to Ripley, Charleston and Morgantown.
Bush was last in the area during his re-election campaign in August 2004, when he drew a large crowd at Hedgesville High School. Bush carried West Virginia with 56 percent of the vote over Sen. John Kerry.
Bush will be taking part in holiday activities at the base. It was unknown if he will make any other stops in the area.
No further details of the visit were released Friday. A call to the 167th Airlift Wing was not returned by press time.
http://www.journal-news.net/news/articles.asp?articleID=10363
I was awake in the middle of the night here in CA last night, and saw the President/Putin being interviewed. The scenery was so lovely!
Hi Kitkat! You’re welcome
Another classic from BEN STEIN:
BUSH AMAZES
By Ben Stein
Published 7/3/2007 7:55:55 PM
This George Bush fellow has major league cojones. It really amazes me.
Start with the obvious:
The case against “Scooter” Libby was a total fraud. Completely bogus. The publicity-mad demoness Valerie Plame was not a covert overseas agent at the time the whole megillah about her erupted. So there was no, none, nada, law breaking by reporting that she was a CIA employee.
. . . The judge, who must have been a real whiz in law school (yes, I know he was appointed by Bush), sentenced Libby, a first offender who will never be in court again, to two and a half years in prison. It was insane.
Now, enter George W Bush. Desperately wounded by the Iraq War, basically friendless in Washington, D.C., he was not expected to risk one iota of his dwindling political piggy bank to rescue Scooter — who had, of course, been chief of staff for Bush’s Vice President, the cordially disliked Dick Cheney. Why should he? He has enough troubles.
But Mr. Bush saw a basic wrong. A man who should never have seen the inside of a courtroom as a defendant had been pilloried for no good reason and then sentenced to a Stalinist sentence. His basic decency overrode political and PR considerations. He simply did the right thing. He let an innocent man breathe the air of freedom. He used the power of his office to say “enough” to an out of control prosecutor, an out of control grand jury, and an out of control judge and jury. In a simple phrase, once again, he did the right thing regardless of cost.
I am not sure if this was his finest hour, but it was a fine hour.
You can read the entire commentary here
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11675
The amazing Ben Stein! He has it right again!
This has led me to remember why I love the president...
he does the right thing. Prayers that he continues to...
and continues to confound the DIMs!
Thanks for this commentary, Deb.
Beautiful!!
God Bless our Troops, our President ... Thanks for the picture. Happy Fourth of July, Let Freedom Ring! Freedom bought and paid for, by our troops.
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