-Caveat Lector- Without comment http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010325/pl/bush_gridiron_dc_1.html Bush Jokes with Journalists About Cloning Cheney WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush (news - web sites) capped an annual dinner with Washington's top journalists on Saturday by joking that he was trying to clone Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) so he could take the next four years off. Clad in a white tie and stylish tuxedo, Bush engaged in a round of self-deprecating humor at the 116th annual Gridiron Club dinner, telling veteran Washington writers he feared his staff was picking up on jokes about his lack of intelligence. Every morning, he quipped, the first item on his schedule was an ``intelligence briefing.'' The president said Democratic power broker Robert Strauss had given him some valuable advice on that score -- ``You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you need to concentrate on.'' But Bush insisted he was no dummy and said he had, in fact, just completed mapping the human genome. ``My goal is to clone another Dick Cheney, that way I won't have to do anything,'' he told the journalists, who host the dinner each year to ``singe but not burn'' the president and his cabinet with a series of skits and songs. The president acknowledged his tendency to mangle the English language in his speeches, saying, ``You know that foot and mouth disease rampant in Europe? I've got it.'' 'El Taco Grande' Cheney and other top Bush officials also attended the dinner, including Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites), Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman (news - web sites), and Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Board Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites), whom Bush said he called, ``El Taco Grande.'' Bush ribbed Ashcroft for his reserved demeanor, contrasting the former Missouri senator to Bush's own wild days when he was in college. ``He's a good man, a little straight-laced -- not the kind of guy I hung out with in college, if you know what I mean.'' Former vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut, was the featured Democratic speaker, but he stuttered when he tried to address Cheney: ``Good evening, Mr. President, Mr. V... V... V... For some reason, I am still having trouble getting that title in front of your name,'' he told Cheney, seated at a nearby table. ``Maybe I should just address you the way the president does -- 'Good evening, Sir.''' Ashcroft also got a few laughs when he rejected the perception that Bush is sloughing off and insisted the Bush White House was committed to working, ``24/7 -- 24 hours a week, seven months a year.'' He also mentioned a new directive from the White House instructing cabinet secretaries to plan to visit all 54 U.S. states. (There are only 50 U.S. states.) The drawn-out 2000 presidential election prompted numerous jokes throughout the evening, with Bush telling consumer activist and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader (news - web sites) that the recent media-sponsored recounts of presidential ballots in Florida had clearly identified Nader as the winner. Ashcroft said the election results sent a strong message to Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) and Lieberman: ``People were clearly tired of peace and prosperity,'' he said. The dinner menu also came in the shape of a butterfly -- a not so subtle reference to the so-called butterfly ballots that were among those contested in Florida. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
