George W. Bush, Michael Allen

“ Doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States.
The biggest issue we face is -- it's bigger than Iraq -- it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives. ”

“ In Japan, democracy came along and that enemy of ours is now an ally. In other words, freedom is transformative. And the big challenge in the 21st century is to advance freedom in the Middle East, for our security. ”

“ I told President Hu Jintao today, of China, if you get -- if you're in touch with the Burmese, tell them that we're genuine in our efforts to want to help. We've got some ships off the coast of Burma now, and so we'll see if Keating and Henrietta Fore, who runs AID, will get a better response from the government than we have gotten so far. We just want to make sure that the aid we give is given to the people -- that it's not squandered, not hoarded, but it actually gets to the suffering people. ”

“ I'm a realistic guy. If the major emitters of greenhouse gases are not a part of a solution, then those who are part of a solution are acting in a way that's simply not going to -- it will affect their own economies, but it won't affect the overall global warming issue.
So, yes, I put forth a very realistic, straightforward program that makes sense.
Q Mr. President, acknowledging those constraints, you're an oil man -- some people say that climate change, global warming could have been your Nixon-to-China. Do you wish you'd done more? ”

“ When you know that somebody lost their loved one as a result of a decision that I made, that's a tough moment. If you're a faithful person you try to empathize with the suffering that that person is going through. ”

“ Well, one thing is for certain, Michael, that I've laid out a very aggressive agenda: a trade agreement with Colombia to help our economy continue to grow; making sure we got the tools necessary to protect our country from attack; supporting our troops in harm's way. ”

“ Look, I tell people -- and this is an interesting thing -- it's harder to be the son of a President than to be the President. In other words, when people get after Dad it would cause all kinds of emotions, none of them very good, in my being. ”

“ No, no, I was told by people that they had weapons of mass destruction -- as were members of Congress, who voted for the resolution to get rid of Saddam Hussein. And of course, the political heat gets on and they start to run and try to hide from their votes. But intelligence communities all across the world felt the same thing. ”

“ And you bet we're going to protect ourselves by the use of military force. What he really is implying is -- or some imply -- you can be popular; if you want to be popular in the Middle East just go blame Israel for every problem. ”

“ But what hasn't changed is the realistic notion that new technologies are going to be the solution, and the fundamental question is how do you grow the economy at the same time, and at the same time encourage new technologies. ”

“ I think most Americans are open-minded people, and they're going to pick the President who can keep America safe and keep taxes low. And so I think -- my own judgment is, is that race will only enter in if it's provoked by the press.
Q Mr. President, as a final question -- and thank you so much for taking this time with us -- the scale of the disasters in China and Burma is amazing. I wonder how the United States can go about getting aid into those closed regimes. ”

“ Baseball is a fabulous sport. I used to say it's a sport played by normal-sized people. It turns out some of these normal-sized people are obviously very strong and very quick, but nevertheless, normal-size -- you don't have to be a huge guy to play baseball. ”

“ He's a middle infielder, which is always -- you know, they say you have strength up the middle -- there's nothing better than having a good person up the middle that can hit. And Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays is a great pitcher. He's a steady guy, he burns up innings. ”

“ And my administration has done more for the new technologies necessary to change our lifestyles without sacrificing wealth than any other administration.
Q Mr. President, for the record, is global warming real?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it is real, sure is. But the solutions -- having said that, the solutions have got to be measured and realistic -- you can't have a solution to global warming unless China and India are part of any international pact. ”