Scotty WH Daily Press Briefing coming (it's now 12:26 eastern)

[soothsayer]

2 minute warning just came on!

www.whitehouse.gov

[soothsayer]

1. Q. Are oil revenues excluded from reconstruction costs in iraq?

A. No. go look at the strategy for iraq on WH web site

[helderheid]

2. oh goody! Thanks for the heads up!!

[soothsayer]

3. Helen: will US companies get oil profits from iraq oil?

A. dunno, they're free to.

Helen: how do you define victory?

A. when they can defend themselves, when iraq is not a safe haven for terra-ist (and one other i didn't catch)

[helderheid]

4. peace for generations to come? Don't you mean war??

[soothsayer]

5. helen, if we weren't fighting the terra-ists in iraq they'd be attacking

us here

Helen: how do you know that?

A. because they attacked us before and attacked london, etc.

[helderheid]

6. the man is a loon

[soothsayer]

7. Q. is the fighting in iraq an insurgency? A. No, i think it's impordant

to define it like the prez did today.

Q. so they say it takes 9 years to defeat an insurgency, is that why you don't want to use that word?

A. well i think it's more accurate to break it down into those 3 groups i mentioned

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. It's also on C-SPAN 2.

:hi:

[helderheid]

9. thanks!

[soothsayer]

10. Q. how much of american taxpayer money is being wasted on

corruption in iraq?

A. i don't know if there's a figure on that or not. one of the points the prez pointed out in a young democracy is that it's challenging, which is why we need transparency and openness to make sure money isn't spent improperly. if there are problems we investigate it. they're learning the impordance of cracking down on corruption (oh pleez)

[Supersedeas]

40. did he say democracy need transparency and openness--the * regime

[helderheid]

11. He just makes this shit up as he goes...

[soothsayer]

12. Q. what's with this meeting of african american leaders on katrina?

Lessons learned or strategies or what?

A. private meeting. if they want to share I'll do so with you.

[helderheid]

13. this was a meeting that was set up mutually in a mutual way

:crazy:

[soothsayer]

14. Q. Jesse jackson wants to meet with prez re: renewal of voting

rights act? has he got the letter? is he amenable to it?

A. have to check if he got the letter. looking forward to talking with congress about it. don't know about the specific letter. blah blah

[soothsayer]

15. Prez was not happy with katrina response, moving forward with

lessons learned review, blah blah

[soothsayer]

16. Q. audience today for prez speech was subdued compared to

when he's in front of the military getting 'hoo ha' sounds. was he disappointed?

A. he got a nice reception, i don't know why we're having this discussion when there were so many important things in the speech (or something like that)

[helderheid]

17. hehehhe

[soothsayer]

38. scotty got a little snippy at that one!

[Debau2005]

18. Darn!

I can't get the briefing to open on any link, but I can get THIS!!!
A Very Beazley Christmas! It is a link to a video about the president's DOG on whitehouse.gov!!!!!

[helderheid]

c-span 2 didn't work?

[Debau2005]

22. Not for me!

But then again who knows what my network admin has been doing lately. I'll find it when I get home.

[helderheid]

19. Hey it's the East Indian Gannon!

[soothsayer]

20. Scotty defending torture again: this is a different enemy, and

we will do everything we can do to protect the us, prez said he will never forget 9-11, etc.

[soothsayer]

21. the best way to make america safer is to engage the enemy

abroad, on sept 11 they brought it to us, but now we're fighting them over there so we don't fight 'em over here. we're safer but not safe. enemy is ruthless, determined, wants to attack innocent civilians, that why we must win in iraq.

[soothsayer]

23. Q. Does prez realize scope of problem of katrina people still

homeless?

A. yeah he met with chertoff yesterday,gotta look at the issues of the levees and rebuildinghte levees and one is housing. looking to transition people out of hotels and such into apartments.

[helderheid]

24. they are arguing over Santa??

[soothsayer]

25. Q. senator levin says rice is saying stuff that is a total reversal of

* policies? Is it?

A. no it's existing policy she's talking about

[soothsayer]

26. Q. so what about the cia exclusion? A. different war with a different

enemy, so the issue is how do we deal with terra-ists captured on the battlefield. we've been working with mccain on this to come up with a good solution

[soothsayer]

27. Q. so did prez tell you not to use insurgent?

A. i havent had any such discussion.

Q. how long have rejectionists been used as a word?

A. prolly a long time.

Q. have you used it?

A. yes. well prollly.

[helderheid]

29. I can't stand how he pronounces words.

[soothsayer]

28. Q. when prez says adapt and adjust, does he mean mistakes

were made?

A. blah blah blah answer

[soothsayer]

30. A. in a time of war you have to adjust and adapt and make

decisions on the ground.

Q. so will you say you
A. well, senator lieberman said we have and he's right

Q. well what mistakes do you see?

A. historians will have to look back and see. we can't do it from the present time.

[helderheid]

31. Admits mistakes made but won't say what - let the historians decide

:eyes:

[BrotherBuzz]

39. And Lieberman is making foreign policy

:rofl:

[soothsayer]

32. Last one: yesterday some Af. Am. katrina survivors say that they

were frustrated with the response. who called the meeting?

A. mutually agreed to meeting.

Q. who first requested it?

A. I;ll have to check.

[helderheid]

33. oh GOD here we go

[soothsayer]

34. when coastguard guys were pulling people off roofs there was

no discriination. this president has been lifting people out of povertey blah blah barf

[soothsayer]

35. And he's gone!

[soothsayer]

36. Really dull. yesterday's (which i missed) was much more contentious

and mostly about torture, aka renditions.

[bahrbearian]

37. We know the Coast Guard didn't discriminate , she was asking

about the Administration doing it.