Comments on: President gives energy assessment

By: Francis Scully

Francis Scully — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 04:31:36 +0000

This shouldn’t come as a big shock to anyone here, but a few days ago Jon Stewart had another good piece, reinforcement if anything:

“It has been a priority since day one.” - White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan - September 27, 2005 - on energy conservation, trying to reverse the cardiac arrest that ensued when Bush said that Americans should try to be “better conservers of energy”

However, when you look back at day one, namely a May 7, 2001 speech, Ari Fleischer (McClellan’s predecessor) was asked if Bush believes Americans need to “correct our lifestyles” regarding energy consumption by seeking to reduce high levels of per capita consumption of fuel. His response was “That is a big no - the President believes that that is the American way of life.”

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 06:20:41 +0000

Yes. I saw this on C-Span — looked like he was about to choke on it!

By: Rodger

Rodger — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:00:48 +0000

Did you see the tape of the President saying those words in support of energy conservation? Jon Stewart had them Tuesday night and they’ll presumably be replayed on tonight’s rebroadcast at 11:30 ET.

Bush was so tongue-tied that I thought he was going to abandon the sentence.

I’m guessing he thought his speechwriters’ words were too strong, but he couldn’t think of anything to substitute on the spot.