    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [May 4, 2002]
    [Pages 717-720]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
    May 4, 2002

        The President. Thank you very much, Steve.
    Mr. Vice President, members of the White House
    Correspondents' Association, ladies and gentlemen, Laura and I are
    honored to be here tonight. Thanks for the invitation.

    [[Page 718]]

        What a fantastic audience we have tonight: Washington power brokers,
    celebrities, Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne.
    [Laughter]

    [Mr. Osbourne bowed and blew kisses to the
    crowd.]

        The President. Okay, Ozzy. [Laughter]
    Might have been a mistake. [Laughter]
        The thing about Ozzy is he's made a lot of
    big hit recordings: ``Party With the Animals''; ``Sabbath, Bloody
    Sabbath''; ``Face in Hell''; ``Black Skies''; and ``Bloodbath in
    Paradise.'' Ozzy, Mom loves your stuff.
    [Laughter]
        And Drew Carey is our entertainment tonight.
    Drew has a fun TV show called ``Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' which is
    totally improvised. Drew, got any interest in the Middle East?
    [Laughter]
        Last year at this dinner, I showed some photos straight out of the
    Bush family photo album. Tonight I'm going to show you some actual,
    never-seen-before photos taken by the White House photographers over the
    past 15 months. We've created, just for you, this little slide show of
    what life is really like inside the Bush White House.
        So Karen, if everyone's in the seats you've
    assigned them--[laughter]--hit the projector.

    [First slide.]

        When I look back over the last year, I think I've grown in office.
    I'm much more focused. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        I feel relaxed. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        I mean, occasionally there are moments where I feel a little stress.
    [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        I may have aged a bit. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        One of the great things about being in the White House is having
    Laura close by. Whenever she drops by my office,
    my day is brighter.

    [Slide change.]

        She helps me in a million ways. Here she is
    helping me pronounce ``Azerbaijanis.'' [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        We have two dogs. This is our dog Barney. I tell him with eyebrows
    like that, he ought to be a Senator. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        You can tell Barney's in some trouble here. This is the day he
    chewed up the list of undisclosed locations, and we couldn't find
    Dick. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        The little guy keeps a lookout like this hour after hour. [Laughter]
    I kind of wish Tom Ridge had never had that talk
    with him about homeland security. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        Now, this is our dog Spot. People often ask me how I came up with
    that name. [Laughter] I don't know; I'm just kind of a creative guy.
    [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        The thing about Spot is that she is--she actually thinks she's the
    President. [Laughter] Here she is coming back from a fundraiser for the
    American Kennel Club. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        But she is truly a great canine American, and I value her counsel--
    [laughter]--just as I value the counsel of others on the staff.
    [Laughter]
        We have a very experienced, mature team of professionals down at the
    White House.

    [Slide change.]

    [[Page 719]]

        This is Josh Bolten. [Laughter] He's the
    White House Deputy Chief of Staff. America should sleep better at night
    knowing that this calm, level-headed man--[laughter]--is helping to
    guide our Nation.

    [Slide change.]

        This is Nick Calio, the head of our Office of
    Legislative Affairs. I had just said to him, ``So, Nick, what are the
    chances of the Senate passing ANWR?'' [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        Nick really prepares me well when
    congressional leaders come down for meetings. Here he is testing out a
    whoopee cushion that we're going to use on Senator Byrd. [Laughter]
        But we really have a highly motivated group down at the White House.
    No matter what the task at hand, each of us gives 110 percent.

    [Two slide changes.] [Laughter]

        The truth is, the door to the Oval Office has a little peephole.
    This is Karen Hughes peeping in on me.
    [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        This is Karl Rove peeping in on me. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        This is Condi Rice peeping in on me.
    [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        Spot has her own peephole. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        This is Andy Card peeping in on me.
    [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        And ladies and gentlemen--[laughter]--this is the Vice
    President of the United States, looking through
    a peephole. And Dick, I hope you're not doing what it looks like you're
    doing. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        This photo actually has nothing to do with anything. [Laughter] I
    thought I'd show it to you, however, because it's the only known photo
    in existence of Alan Greenspan smiling.
    [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        This is Ari Fleischer, of course. I was
    chewing him out here. [Laughter] I'm saying, ``Ari, I am sick and tired
    of you not fully answering all the wonderful questions asked by our
    hard-working White House press corps. Are you sure, Ari, we're not
    leaking enough?'' [Laughter] ``Are you sure that we've given them enough
    access to me? I've got an idea, I'll do more interviews--with `Baseball
    Tonight.''' [Laughter]
        Now, part of the job of a President is to meet with representatives
    of special interest groups.

    [Slide change.] [Laughter]

        Here I am meeting with representatives from the American Cloning
    Council. [Laughter]

    [Slide change.]

        I try to work with Republicans and Democrats alike. For political
    reasons, some Democrats prefer that it not be known they are working
    with a Republican President, so they slip in the back door--like Hillary
    Clinton here.

    [Slide change.] [Laughter]

        It's not all work, of course. One day, I decided to show some of the
    staff the White House bowling alley. Boys and girls, there is a reason
    you wear those special bowling shoes.

    [Three slide changes.] [Laughter]

        Of course, another job of the President is dealing with the White
    House press corps. You ask some pretty tough questions, but to tell you
    the truth, I don't think you've laid a glove on me.
        Here I am after our last press conference.

    [Slide change.] [Laughter]

    [[Page 720]]

        In closing tonight, I thought about turning serious and talking
    about all we've been through since I was here last year. But then I
    decided this wasn't the time or the place. You came to have a good time;
    we've got Drew Carey waiting to entertain us.
        So instead, I'm going to leave you with one last thought and one
    last photo of our dog Spot.

    [Slide change.]

        I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, is this a great country or what?
    [Laughter]
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:55 p.m. in the International Ballroom at
    the Washington Hilton. In his remarks, he referred to Steve Holland,
    outgoing president, White House Correspondents' Association, who
    introduced the President. He also referred to ANWR, the Arctic National
    Wildlife Refuge.