pd06ja03 Checklist of White House Press Releases...

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January 2, 2003

    The President. Good morning, everybody.
    Q. Good morning, sir.
    The President. Let's go. I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll walk 
about 3 or 4 miles, and then we'll end up having coffee. Mrs. Bush wants 
to say hello to everybody.
    Q. All right.
    The President. Come on. Come on, Barney. We'll walk out--it's a 
little muddy. I need somebody walking up here with me. I can't be--Reed, 
get out of the pictures. [Laughter] Come on, Stretch [David Gregory, NBC 
News], get in here.
    Q. How are you? Happy New Year.
    The President. Same to you all. We're trimming a lot of underbrush, 
still. Come on, Barn. Are you going to make it, Heidi [Holly 
Rosenkrantz, Bloomberg News]?
    Q. I'll be fine.
    The President. We've got a truck for you back there.
    Q. Don't worry about me.
    Q. Who's going to carry Barney?
    The President. He's coming.
    Q. He can walk 4 miles?
    The President. Oh, yes, he'll walk 4. Where is he? Come on over, 
Barney.
    Q. I don't remember--you've had the guesthouse all along, right?
    The President. That's the Secret Service.
    Q. That I know, but I mean, last time I actually saw this was 2000--
--
    The President. Oh, really?
    Q. ----when it was still a shell. Remember, you walked us through 
that in July?
    The President. Turn right here, guys. That's a little--right over 
there is another little house we refurbished, got a gym in there, and 
one bedroom. And then that's a little guesthouse over there, a garage.
    Q. That was part of the original----
    The President. Yes.
    Q. Look at Barney trying to make it through the woods there.
    The President. Come on, boy.
    Q. Lot of legs.
    Q. He's trying to get to you. [Laughter]
    The President. This is pretty good--[inaudible]--in there.
    Q. Is this manmade, sir?
    The President. Manmade.
    Q. How many acres?
    The President. About 11 acres lake, 17 foot deep, the deepest spot. 
I put 600 black bass in there a few years ago, and about 30,000 bait 
fish. And they're about 2\1/2\ to 3 pounds now. A bad time to fish, 
because the fish are lethargic during the cold. We've got bluegill and 
shad and perch.

[[Page 7]]

    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. Oh, it's fantastic. We got up yesterday--Laura and I 
have got a tradition of--we go for a sunrise walk on the first day of 
the year. So yesterday we popped about of bed about 7:20 a.m., and we 
started moving, walked 4 miles.
    Q. Great.
    Q. Wasn't as chilly yesterday.
    The President. No, it wasn't.
    Q. You'll get up and run in this cold, won't you?
    The President. Oh, absolutely. Start over there at the house. We've 
got different running--come on, Barn.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. Yes, maybe. This is an old dirt road, so we put--
[inaudible]--on it, to withstand the--we're going to walk--[inaudible]--
then we're going to go down into the canyons, so it won't be quite as 
cold.
    Q. Will we see the waterfall?
    The President. Absolutely.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. I went in there yesterday to make sure there was 
water in--[inaudible].
    Q. So have you had friends out?
    The President. Oh yes, every night. We've got--tonight we've got my 
long-time ally and friend Elton Bomer, who was the insurance 
commissioner and the secretary of state when I was the Governor, and a 
former state senator for this district, David Sibley, and his wife are 
coming. Condi's coming.
    So, for example, this is one of the trails, this is a mile-and-a-
half spot for one of the trails. You'll see those markers.
    Q. From the house?
    The President. From the house. The different colors on there. Is 
Barney back there? Is he back there? He's getting in the truck. 
[Laughter] Barney got nervous with the crowd here.
    Q. If he gets too far behind, we can helo him in.
    The President. Now, these are all live oaks in here, and when live 
oaks like this they're called ``motts.''
    Q. Motts? M-o-t?
    The President. M-o-t-t. A mott is where a group of trees grow quite 
tight together.
    Q. They never lose their leaves?
    The President. The live oaks do not lose their leaves. And these 
are--this is great deer country in there. Here are some of the beautiful 
live oaks.
    Q. Now, has the range changed a lot more--you made the lake a little 
bigger and----
    The President. Yes, the lake is a little fuller but only because of 
the wild grasses. And what Laura is doing is around the house is trying 
to restore the country to the native prairie grasses. And these are all 
different native grasses from Texas. So you'll see--when we get back to 
the house, all inside the barbed wire fence here will eventually be 
made----
    Q. Has this all changed a lot since you came?
    The President. Oh, yes. This is all different. And so in the spring, 
particularly in a year like this year, there will be fantastic 
wildflowers.
    Q. How nice.
    Q. How many miles of trails have you all put in?
    The President. A lot.
    Q. Just all over?
    The President. Yes. You can run probably 6 miles without doubling.
    Q. Without doubling over.
    The President. The other thing that's really interesting--I hope we 
see them--is there are a lot of cardinals here this time of year.
    Q. What's your favorite time to come?
    Q. We might scare them away with this group.
    The President. No, I don't think so. Any time.
    Q. Really? You don't have a favorite season?
    The President. No. I like it warm. [Laughter]
    Q. Really hot, huh?
    The President. We're going to have a muddy spot up here, so bear 
with us. We're going to go right and head west out for about a mile. And 
then we're going to go down, and there will be a rest spot in there.
    You're doing great.
    Q. Oh, thanks. Don't worry about me.

[[Page 8]]

    The President. The medical unit will be here--[laughter]. We'll warm 
up going this way.
    One of the things about this place, you'll see, is for example, that 
little clump of trees is the head of a long canyon that goes down--I'll 
show you the canyon. There's seven different canyons on here that create 
really unique----
    Q. They're not connected to one another?
    The President. No, they're separate and unique.
    Q. So when you tell us you're clearing brush, does that mean you're 
setting these trails up?
    The President. No, no. What it means is--you see that little brush 
over there? The pile of brush?
    Q. Yes.
    The President. Underneath these--see those cedars right there, 
growing underneath the live oaks?
    Q. Yes.
    The President. We're cutting those down.
    Q. Why?
    The President. Because the cedars take water.
    Q. Oh, okay.
    The President. They talk water from the big trees, and they're kind 
of like a nuisance.
    Q. Do you know how they got here?
    The President. As a matter of fact, they got here when pioneers 
planted them for--go left here; this is the worst mud--pioneers planted 
them for fenceposts.
    Q. And then they started to----
    The President. You see the dark? I mean, we've got enough cedars 
for----
    Q. You'll be clearing up----
    The President. We won't clear this.
    Q. It grows back real quick, right?
    The President. It does grow back.
    Q. Do you burn it?
    The President. We burn it, yes. We were burning yesterday, but the 
grass wasn't dry--[inaudible]--have to call in fire--[inaudible].
    Q. In Australia we call it ``bigelow.''
    The President. Oops, be careful. That's the worst.
    Q. The wetlands, right?
    The President. Preserves. Claire, get in--oh, you made it? Oh, good. 
Whose shoes are you wearing, Claire?
    Deputy Press Secretary Claire Buchan. Harriet's. [Laughter]
    The President. The big tree up there on the left is called a cedar 
elm. Loses its leaves. It's got kind of a skirt to it, at the rear base 
of the--they tend to have a skirt to it.
    Q. What are these trees here, these ones with the bare----
    The President. It's some kind of a oak. The live oak doesn't lose 
it's leaves. That one right there is a hackberry. They're a terrible 
tree. They're trash trees. They're not native.
    That's a cedar elm there. Those are cedar elms, Stretch.
    Q. How many cows?
    The President. I've got 200 mother cows and 6 bulls. That's a cow 
camp operation, kind of like a little nursery is the best way to put it.
    Q. Now, these aren't yours. These are----
    The President. No.
    Q. Leases, or whatever?
    The President. Yes. Kenneth Engelbrecht. I bought the place from his 
dad, and he and his wife live on here.
    Isn't this a beautiful day?
    Q. It really is. It's gorgeous.
    Q. Have you had your run?
    The President. I'm not going to run today. I went over--I had my CIA 
briefing and had a visit with the Vice President this morning.
    Q. Via telecom?
    The President. Yes. Real time, secure----
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. Absolutely. [Inaudible]--technology.
    Q. When did they really--when did they really bring that online?
    The President. Last year. Pretty soon they're going to have it on 
Air Force One.
    Q. What?
    The President. Real time, secure videoconferencing. It really 
changes--will change the nature of how people live in many ways.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. But imagine, you know, your business--or your 
business, for example. You'll be able to have----
    Q. Oh, we're all ready--yes.

[[Page 9]]

    The President. You've got real time--[inaudible]--sitting around 
with your editors and----
    Q. Oh, yes. There is so much that we're starting to do now on 
computers, where you can edit stuff on laptops and--[inaudible].
    The President. Maybe they can enhance your face. [Laughter]
    Q. That's what I'm working on.
    The President. Super enhancement. [Laughter]
    Q. Oh, look at this, my wife just got me this little palm pilot 
here, and my organizer. It's got a camera in there.
    The President. Oh, fantastic. I notice telephones have got that now, 
where you----
    Q. Yes, oh, I know. I think that's a little too much business going 
on in--[inaudible]. [Laughter]
    The President. So what you'll see is three different parts of Texas. 
You'll see this, kind of the central plains, flat. This is more rolling, 
where it's the--rock is closer to the surface. Oh, here comes Laura.
    Q. Yes, I noticed she was out with friends, huh?
    The President. Yes--[inaudible].
    Q. And Spot?
    The President. Spot, the dog.
    Q. Barney was out--one day out on where we do our live shot.
    The President. Right. [Laughter]
    Q. I said, I don't think--[inaudible]--out here fraternizing.
    The President. That's not true. He knows that's not true. [Laughter]
    Q. We saw some fox, and looked like turkeys or----
    The President. Turkey buzzards, yes. A lot of hawks here. Red tail, 
we saw a red tail hawk yesterday. There's those puppy dogs--loyal dog, 
great athlete.

[At this point, the President whistled.]

    Q. He came----
    The President. Yes. Hey, Spotty. Hi, Laura.
    The First Lady.  Hey.
    The President. How is it? Take Barney with you, okay? He's in the 
truck. We'll see you back at the house.
    Q. I mean, you do this often; I wasn't here, but when we were here 
in 2000, we went the other way, right? I seem to remember taking a drive 
the other way past the house. Am I wrong?
    The President. No, you're right.
    Q. It's hard to believe it was going on 3 years ago. [Laughter]
    The President. It's unbelievable, isn't it? Heck of an ordeal, 
wasn't it? For all of us involved.
    Q. Yeah. [Laughter]
    The President. It's amazing what the democracy puts the--
[inaudible]--what kind of people are involved in the campaign, because 
we were--it's a grueling experience. I remember meeting your dad, 
sitting behind the----
    Q. Yes. [Laughter]
    The President. How is he?
    Q. He's doing great. Yes, he's doing great.
    The President. Big old guy.
    Q. Yeah, he is. We're real excited because I got--I was around 
Christmas and stuff----
    The President. With the kid?
    Q. I got the picture of you holding Max, and they loved that. 
[Laughter]
    The President. Well, I'm sure their life is changed with Max.
    Q. Yes. They're having a great time. They're going up that way--I 
can't remember--in a week.
    The President. That's fantastic.
    Q. He's probably traveled more than I have. [Laughter]
    The President. That's hard to do, David.
    Q. Yes. [Laughter]
    The President. It's warming up, Patsy [Patricia Wilson, Reuters].
    Q. [Inaudible]--about 30 degrees warmer.
    The President. Yesterday was fantastic.
    Q. Yes, it was gorgeous.
    Q. Do you believe how fast it does go, though? I mean, it's----
    The President. A few months. Some of them are already talking about 
'04.
    Q. Did you see Edwards--[inaudible]--this morning?
    The President. No.
    Q. He announced on the ``Today'' show that he's going to be--
[inaudible].
    The President. Oh, really?
    Q. I haven't caught my breath from----
    The President. Well, if you think about it--if you think about it, 
remember the '98

[[Page 10]]

campaign, that was the--the beginning of the '98 campaign there was a 
lot of speculation about whether or not I was going to run. And got 
through the session and '99, it was right after that we all got on the 
plane.
    Q. I remember----
    The President. [Inaudible]
    Q. Yes, I remember--[inaudible]. I remember Jamie Gangel [NBC News] 
did that piece about you, and you--were you out fishing somewhere?

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