[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.