[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[July 22, 1992]
[Page 1158]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange with Reporters on the Presidential Campaign

July 22, 1992
    Q. Mr. President, is the Vice President's chair a little uncertain 
these days?
    The President. No, it's very certain. I'm not going to take any 
questions here because we've got an awful lot of work to do. I hope 
you'll understand, Charles [Charles Bierbauer, Cable News Network], but 
we're not going to take any more questions now.
    Q. What about Secretary Baker?
    The President. A lot of crazy rumors floating around, aren't there? 
But I'm not going to----
    Q. Would you like to stop the rumors, sir?
    The President. ----say anything about it. No. I'm just going to 
let----
    Q. Where do you think these rumors are coming from, sir?
    The President. ----you guys get in that feeding frenzy that you 
love. And keep working on it, and be sure you get good sources, though, 
because I read some that don't look pretty good--don't look very good.
    Q. Which ones are they, Mr. President?
    The President. Source is you guys writing.
    Q. Why do you think all these rumors are out there, sir?
    The President. I don't know, Charles, I don't know. My health is 
pretty good, though, and I want to challenge the press corps, everybody 
who's 67 and over, to a race around the Oval here. [Laughter] You'll 
maybe run into a few of the younger crowd--sorry, that's not a direct 
assault on you cameramen. I want to be careful. [Laughter]
    But seriously, it's a crazy time on rumors. We get phone calls: 
Barbara's sick; Marilyn Quayle's sick; I'm not feeling well. I don't 
know what's going on out there. But I don't believe in repeating them or 
encouraging the printing of them.
    Thank you all very much.
    Q. Are there any others you would like to put to rest?
    The President. Yes, like I'm feeling good; I am. Put to rest the 
health rumors. It is weird. Maybe this is the normal procedure every 4 
years, but I don't remember it quite on such funny things like whether 
I'm in good health or not. Charles' associate asked me the question, and 
I thought she was criticizing the amount of food I was eating going 
through the barbecue line. She said to me, ``What about your health?'' I 
said, ``Well, I'm not eating too much,'' or something. It turned out it 
was the rumors.
    Q. We don't make them up, we just pass them on. [Laughter]

                    Note: The President spoke at 11:12 a.m. in the 
                        Cabinet Room at the White House prior to a 
                        Cabinet meeting.