IRISH EYES ARE SEETHING
THE CAROLE COLEMAN INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE BUSH
June, 2004
Drumoland Castle
White House complains to Irish embassy about "disrespectful" interview
by Miriam Lord,
Irish Independent
June 26, 2004
The White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush. And it is believed the President's staff have now withdrawn from an exclusive interview which was to have been given to RTE this morning by First Lady Laura Bush.
It is understood that both RTE and the Department of Foreign Affairs were aware of the exclusive arrangement, scheduled for 11am today. However, when RTE put Ms Coleman's name forward as interviewer, they were told Mrs Bush would no longer be available.
The Irish Independent learned last night that the White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful. She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.
And it emerged last night that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.
Transcript of the interviewRadio & Television Ireland
REPORTER: Mr. President, you're going to arrive in Ireland in about 24 hours' time, and no doubt you will be welcomed by our political leaders. Unfortunately, the majority of our public do not welcome your visit. They are angry over Iraq, they are angry over Abu Ghraib. Are you bothered by what Irish people think?
BUSH: Listen, I-I-I hope the Irish people understand the great values of our country. And if they think that a few soldiers represent the entirety of America, they don't really understand America then. There have been great ties between Ireland and America, and uh, [we've] got a lot of Irish-Americans here that are very proud of their heritage and their country. Uh, but, uh, you know. They must, they must not understand, if they're angry over Abu Ghraib, if they say this is what America represents, they, they don't understand our country. We don't represent that. We're a compassionate country. We're a strong country, we'll defend ourselves. But we help people. And we've helped the Irish, and we continue to do so. Good relationship with Ireland.
COLEMAN: And they're angry over Iraq as well, and particularly --
BUSH: Huh. --
COLEMAN: -- the continuing death toll there.
BUSH: Well, I can understand that. People don't like war. But what they should be angry about is the fact that there was a brutal dictator there that had destroyed lives, and put them in mass graves, and had torture rooms. Listen, I wish they could have seen the seven men that came to see me in the Oval Office. They had their right hands cut off by Saddam Hussein because the currency had devalued when he was the leader. See? And guess what happened? An American saw the fact that they had been, their hands cut off and crosses, er, x's carved in their forehead, and he flew them to America, and they came to my office with a new hand, grateful for the generosity of America, and, and with Saddam Hussein's brutality in their mind. Now, Saddam Hussein had weapon -- used weapons of mass destruction, against his own people, against the neighborhood. He was a brutal dictator who posed a threat -- such a threat that the United Nations voted unanimously to say, Mr. Saddam Hussein --
REPORTER: Indeed, Mr. President, but you didn't find weapons of mass destruction --
BUSH: Let me finish. Let me, let -- May I finish? He said -- the United Nations said, disarm or face serious consequences. That's what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn't disarm, he didn't disclose his arms, and therefore he faced serious consequences. But we have found the capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons. He was dangerous. And no-one can argue that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein, if Saddam Hussein were in power.
REPORTER: Mr. President, the world is a more dangerous place today. I don't know whether you can see --
BUSH: Why do you say that?
REPORTER: -- that or not. There are terrorist bombings every single day. It's now a daily event. It wasn't like that two years ago. BUSH: What was it like September the eleventh, 2001? It was a, it was a relative calm.
REPORTER: But if your response to Iraq does --
BUSH: Let me finish, please. Please. You ask the questions, and I'll answer them, if you don't mind. On September 11, 2001, we were attacked in an unprovoked fashion. Everybody thought the world was calm. And then there have been bombings since then, not because of my response to Iraq. There were bombings in Madrid, there were bombings in Istanbul, there were bombings in Bali, there were killings in Pakistan.
REPORTER: Indeed, Mr. President, and I think Irish people understand that, but I think there is a feeling that the world has become a more dangerous place because you have taken the focus off al-Qaida and diverted it into Iraq. Do you not see that the world is a more dangerous place? I saw four of your soldiers lying dead on the television the other day, a picture of four soldiers just lying there without their flack jackets.
BUSH: You know, listen, nobody cares more about their death than I do.
REPORTER: Is there a point at which --
BUSH: Let me finish, please, please. Let me finish, and then you can follow up, if you don't mind. Nobody cares more about the deaths than I do. I care about it a lot. But I do believe the world is a safer place, and becoming a safer place. I know that a free Iraq is gonna be a, a necessary part of changing the world. Listen, people, people join terrorist organizations because there's no hope, and there's no chance to raise their families in a, in a peaceful world where there is not freedom, and so the idea is to promote freedom, and at the same time protect our security. And I do believe the world is becoming a better place, absolutely.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you are a man who has a great faith in God. I have heard you say many times that you strive to serve somebody greater than yourself.
BUSH: Right.
REPORTER: Do you believe that the hand of God is guiding you in this war on terror?
BUSH: I think, listen, I think that God, that my relationship with God is a very personal relationship. And I turn to the good Lord for strength. And I turn to the good Lord for guidance. I turn for the good Lord for forgiveness. But, but, but, but the God I know is not one that, uh, that, uh, the God I know is one that promotes peace and freedom. And, uh, but I get great sustenance from my personal relationship -- that doesn't make me think I'm a better person than you are, by the way, 'cause one of the great admonitions in the good book is, 'Don't try to take a speck out of your eye if I've got a log in my own.'
REPORTER: You're going to meet Bertie Ahern when you arrive in Shannon Airport tomorrow. I guess he went out on a limb for you, presumably because of the great friendship between our two countries. Can you look him in the eye when you get there and say, it will be worth it, it will work out?
BUSH: Absolutely. I wouldn't be doing this, I wouldn't have made the decisions I did if I didn't think the world would be better. Of course. I'm not going to put people in harm's way, our young, if I didn't think the world would be better.
REPORTER: Why is it that others --
BUSH: Now, let me, let me, let me finish. And so, yes, I can turn to my friend, Bertie Ahern, and say, thank you, thanks for helping, and uh, I appreciate it very much. And there will be other challenges, by the way.
REPORTER: Why is it that others don't understand what you're about?
BUSH: I don't know. History will judge what I'm about. But I'm the kind of person, I don't really try to chase popular polls, or popularity polls. My job is to do my job, and make the decisions that I think are important for our country and for the world. And uh, I argue strongly that the world is better off because of the decisions I have made -- along with others. America is not in this alone. One of our greatest allies of all, of all, in the world is your neighbor, Great Britain. Tony Blair has been a strong advocate for not only battling terrorists, but promoting freedom, for which I am grateful. Let me say one other thing about America that your viewers must know, is that not only are we working hard to promote security and peace, we're also working to eradicate famine and disease. There's no more generous country on the face of the earth than the United States of America, when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS. As a matter of fact, it was my initiative --
REPORTER: Indeed, that's understood --
BUSH: -- my initiative, that asked Congress to spend $15 billion over five years to battle this pandemic. And we're following through on it. And no other country in the world feeds more of the hungry than the United States. It's uh, we're a compassionate nation.
REPORTER: Mr. President, I know your time is tight, can I move you on to Europe? Are you satisfied that you are getting enough help in Iraq from European countries? You have come together, you are more friendly now, but they're not really stepping up to the plate with help, are they?
BUSH: Well, I think, first of all, most of Europe supported the decision in Iraq. And, really, what you're talking about is France, isn't it? And uh, and they didn't agree with my decision. They did vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution that said, disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. We just had a difference of opinion about 'when you say something, do you mean it?'. And, but, nevertheless, I, there [is] no doubt in my mind President Chirac would like to see a free and democratic and whole Iraq emerge. And, uh, same in Afghanistan. They've been very helpful in Afghanistan. They're willing to forgive debt in Iraq. But most European countries are very supportive and very, and are participating in the reconstruction of Iraq.
REPORTER: And how do you see the handover going? The next few weeks are going to be crucial. Can democracy really flourish with the violence that's going on? A hundred Iraqis dead today, Mr. President.
BUSH: Yeah. You know, I don't like death, either. I mean, you keep emphasizing the death and I don't blame you, but all that goes to show is the nature of the enemy. These people are willing to kill innocent people. They're willing to slaughter innocent people to stop the advance of freedom. And so the free world has to make a choice: Do we cower in the face of terror, or do we lead in the face of terror? And uh, I, I'm going to lead in the face of terror. We will not let these terrorists dash the hopes and ambitions of the people of Iraq. There's some kind of attitude that says, oh, gosh, the terrorists attacked, let's let the Iraqis suffer more. And we're not going to let them suffer more. We're going to work with them. And I'm most proud of this fellow, Prime Minister Allawi. He's strong and he's tough, he says to me, Mr. President, don't leave our country, help us secure our country so we can be free.
REPORTER: Indeed, Mr. President, just to get back to that. And can I just turn to the Middle East --
BUSH: Sure.
REPORTER: -- and you will be discussing at the EU summit and the idea of bringing democracy to the broader Middle East. BUSH: Right.
REPORTER: Is that something that really should start, though, with the solving of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis?
BUSH: Well, I think, first of all, you've got, uh, uh, a democracy in Turkey. And you've got a democracy emerging in Afghanistan. You've got a democracy in Pakistan. In other words --
REPORTER: But shouldn't that be on the top of the list --
BUSH: Please, please, please, for a minute, okay. It'd be better if you let me finish my answers, and then you can follow up, if you don't mind. And what I'm telling you is democracy can emerge at the same time that a democracy can emerge in the Palestinian state. I'm the first American President to have called for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the first one to do so, because I believe it is in the Palestinian people's interest, I believe it's in Israel's interest. And, yes, we're working, but we can do more than, you know, one thing at a time. And we are working on the road map with the quartet, to advance the process down the road, like Iraq, the Palestinian and the Israeli issue is going to require good security measures. And --
REPORTER: And a bit more even-handedness from America?
BUSH: -- and we're working on security measures. And America -- I'm the first President to ever have called for a Palestinian state. That's, to me, sounds like a reasonable, balanced approach. And, uh, but I will not allow terrorists to determine the fate, as best I can, determine the fate of people who want to be free.
REPORTER: Mr. President, thank you very much for talking to us.
BUSH: You're welcome.
Bush aides furious at interview
by Don Lavery and Jerome Reilly,
Irish Independent
June 27, 2004
The White House has strongly criticized the RTE interview with President Bush, claiming that journalist Carole Coleman constantly interrupted him, preventing him from getting his point of view across.The interview, broadcast from the White House on Thursday, 24 hours before the President's visit to Ireland, so displeased President Bush and his advisers that it led to the cancellation of another RTE exclusive yesterday, an interview with the President's wife Laura.
The interview with President Bush, where he was asked questions about the Iraq war and the Middle East among other issues, was the first with an American president by RTE in about 20 years.During the increasingly tense interview Ms Coleman asked what she termed "tough" follow-up questions to Mr Bush on issues such as weapons of mass destruction.
Five times during the brief interview Mr Bush asked Ms Coleman to allow him to finish answering his original question.At one stage he pleaded: "Please, please, please, for a minute, okay. It'll be better if you let me finish my answers, and then you can follow up, if you don't mind."
A spokeswoman for the White House told the Sunday Independent yesterday: "It is true that the reporter interrupted him a number of times and prevented him from making the points he was trying to make."
She said there had been concerns in the White House and the Irish Embassy in Washington that the reporter had "overstepped the bounds of politeness" in her questioning."The issue was not the questions but the fact that she was not letting the President answer them," she said.
The spokesperson added that the President was used to aggressive questioning. The questions were not impolite but t the reporter was not allowing the President to answer them, she reiterated.
She said that given the type of interview conducted by Ms Coleman it was "appropriate" that Mrs Bush's office had cancelled the interview planned with her.The interview led to a White House complaint to the Irish Embassy. Aides to the president afterwards told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful.
RTE, however, said it "totally stands over the conduct of the interview and Carole's journalism."They were also very pleased with the national and international public response to the interview with several radio and TV stations asking to rebroadcast it.
An RTE spokeswoman said their Washington office had been told that the interview with Mrs Bush was not now going to happen. It had been arranged for 11am yesterday.
Ms Coleman was not making any official comment on the row but sources close to the broadcaster said she had been "shook up" by the incident. She had also argued that no formal agreement had been reached on the Laura Bush interview so the issue of it being cancelled did not arise.
On the way into the summit luncheon at Dromoland Castle, President Bush is understood to have raised the "snippy" interview in a light-hearted fashion.
An Irish Government spokesman said that "within Government there was an acknowledgement that the interview lacked respect."
Meanwhile, the interview was raised on the Larry King show on CNN, CBS, the New York Times where it was described as "contentious", and in other media.RTE said it had received a good response from the public with 200,000 tuning in to watch the Prime Time interview which clashed with the England Euro 2004 game while another 300,000 watched it later that night on News 2.
June, 2004
Drumoland Castle
White House complains to Irish embassy about "disrespectful" interview
by Miriam Lord,
Irish Independent
June 26, 2004
The White House has lodged a complaint with the Irish Embassy in Washington over RTE journalist Carole Coleman's interview with US President George Bush. And it is believed the President's staff have now withdrawn from an exclusive interview which was to have been given to RTE this morning by First Lady Laura Bush.
It is understood that both RTE and the Department of Foreign Affairs were aware of the exclusive arrangement, scheduled for 11am today. However, when RTE put Ms Coleman's name forward as interviewer, they were told Mrs Bush would no longer be available.
The Irish Independent learned last night that the White House told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful. She also received a call from the White House in which she was admonished for her tone.
And it emerged last night that presidential staff suggested to Ms Coleman as she went into the interview that she ask him a question on the outfit that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern wore to the G8 summit.
Transcript of the interviewRadio & Television Ireland
REPORTER: Mr. President, you're going to arrive in Ireland in about 24 hours' time, and no doubt you will be welcomed by our political leaders. Unfortunately, the majority of our public do not welcome your visit. They are angry over Iraq, they are angry over Abu Ghraib. Are you bothered by what Irish people think?
BUSH: Listen, I-I-I hope the Irish people understand the great values of our country. And if they think that a few soldiers represent the entirety of America, they don't really understand America then. There have been great ties between Ireland and America, and uh, [we've] got a lot of Irish-Americans here that are very proud of their heritage and their country. Uh, but, uh, you know. They must, they must not understand, if they're angry over Abu Ghraib, if they say this is what America represents, they, they don't understand our country. We don't represent that. We're a compassionate country. We're a strong country, we'll defend ourselves. But we help people. And we've helped the Irish, and we continue to do so. Good relationship with Ireland.
COLEMAN: And they're angry over Iraq as well, and particularly --
BUSH: Huh. --
COLEMAN: -- the continuing death toll there.
BUSH: Well, I can understand that. People don't like war. But what they should be angry about is the fact that there was a brutal dictator there that had destroyed lives, and put them in mass graves, and had torture rooms. Listen, I wish they could have seen the seven men that came to see me in the Oval Office. They had their right hands cut off by Saddam Hussein because the currency had devalued when he was the leader. See? And guess what happened? An American saw the fact that they had been, their hands cut off and crosses, er, x's carved in their forehead, and he flew them to America, and they came to my office with a new hand, grateful for the generosity of America, and, and with Saddam Hussein's brutality in their mind. Now, Saddam Hussein had weapon -- used weapons of mass destruction, against his own people, against the neighborhood. He was a brutal dictator who posed a threat -- such a threat that the United Nations voted unanimously to say, Mr. Saddam Hussein --
REPORTER: Indeed, Mr. President, but you didn't find weapons of mass destruction --
BUSH: Let me finish. Let me, let -- May I finish? He said -- the United Nations said, disarm or face serious consequences. That's what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn't disarm, he didn't disclose his arms, and therefore he faced serious consequences. But we have found the capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons. He was dangerous. And no-one can argue that the world is better off with Saddam Hussein, if Saddam Hussein were in power.
REPORTER: Mr. President, the world is a more dangerous place today. I don't know whether you can see --
BUSH: Why do you say that?
REPORTER: -- that or not. There are terrorist bombings every single day. It's now a daily event. It wasn't like that two years ago. BUSH: What was it like September the eleventh, 2001? It was a, it was a relative calm.
REPORTER: But if your response to Iraq does --
BUSH: Let me finish, please. Please. You ask the questions, and I'll answer them, if you don't mind. On September 11, 2001, we were attacked in an unprovoked fashion. Everybody thought the world was calm. And then there have been bombings since then, not because of my response to Iraq. There were bombings in Madrid, there were bombings in Istanbul, there were bombings in Bali, there were killings in Pakistan.
REPORTER: Indeed, Mr. President, and I think Irish people understand that, but I think there is a feeling that the world has become a more dangerous place because you have taken the focus off al-Qaida and diverted it into Iraq. Do you not see that the world is a more dangerous place? I saw four of your soldiers lying dead on the television the other day, a picture of four soldiers just lying there without their flack jackets.
BUSH: You know, listen, nobody cares more about their death than I do.
REPORTER: Is there a point at which --
BUSH: Let me finish, please, please. Let me finish, and then you can follow up, if you don't mind. Nobody cares more about the deaths than I do. I care about it a lot. But I do believe the world is a safer place, and becoming a safer place. I know that a free Iraq is gonna be a, a necessary part of changing the world. Listen, people, people join terrorist organizations because there's no hope, and there's no chance to raise their families in a, in a peaceful world where there is not freedom, and so the idea is to promote freedom, and at the same time protect our security. And I do believe the world is becoming a better place, absolutely.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you are a man who has a great faith in God. I have heard you say many times that you strive to serve somebody greater than yourself.
BUSH: Right.
REPORTER: Do you believe that the hand of God is guiding you in this war on terror?
BUSH: I think, listen, I think that God, that my relationship with God is a very personal relationship. And I turn to the good Lord for strength. And I turn to the good Lord for guidance. I turn for the good Lord for forgiveness. But, but, but, but the God I know is not one that, uh, that, uh, the God I know is one that promotes peace and freedom. And, uh, but I get great sustenance from my personal relationship -- that doesn't make me think I'm a better person than you are, by the way, 'cause one of the great admonitions in the good book is, 'Don't try to take a speck out of your eye if I've got a log in my own.'
REPORTER: You're going to meet Bertie Ahern when you arrive in Shannon Airport tomorrow. I guess he went out on a limb for you, presumably because of the great friendship between our two countries. Can you look him in the eye when you get there and say, it will be worth it, it will work out?
BUSH: Absolutely. I wouldn't be doing this, I wouldn't have made the decisions I did if I didn't think the world would be better. Of course. I'm not going to put people in harm's way, our young, if I didn't think the world would be better.
REPORTER: Why is it that others --
BUSH: Now, let me, let me, let me finish. And so, yes, I can turn to my friend, Bertie Ahern, and say, thank you, thanks for helping, and uh, I appreciate it very much. And there will be other challenges, by the way.
REPORTER: Why is it that others don't understand what you're about?
BUSH: I don't know. History will judge what I'm about. But I'm the kind of person, I don't really try to chase popular polls, or popularity polls. My job is to do my job, and make the decisions that I think are important for our country and for the world. And uh, I argue strongly that the world is better off because of the decisions I have made -- along with others. America is not in this alone. One of our greatest allies of all, of all, in the world is your neighbor, Great Britain. Tony Blair has been a strong advocate for not only battling terrorists, but promoting freedom, for which I am grateful. Let me say one other thing about America that your viewers must know, is that not only are we working hard to promote security and peace, we're also working to eradicate famine and disease. There's no more generous country on the face of the earth than the United States of America, when it comes to fighting HIV/AIDS. As a matter of fact, it was my initiative --
REPORTER: Indeed, that's understood --
BUSH: -- my initiative, that asked Congress to spend $15 billion over five years to battle this pandemic. And we're following through on it. And no other country in the world feeds more of the hungry than the United States. It's uh, we're a compassionate nation.
REPORTER: Mr. President, I know your time is tight, can I move you on to Europe? Are you satisfied that you are getting enough help in Iraq from European countries? You have come together, you are more friendly now, but they're not really stepping up to the plate with help, are they?
BUSH: Well, I think, first of all, most of Europe supported the decision in Iraq. And, really, what you're talking about is France, isn't it? And uh, and they didn't agree with my decision. They did vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution that said, disclose, disarm, or face serious consequences. We just had a difference of opinion about 'when you say something, do you mean it?'. And, but, nevertheless, I, there [is] no doubt in my mind President Chirac would like to see a free and democratic and whole Iraq emerge. And, uh, same in Afghanistan. They've been very helpful in Afghanistan. They're willing to forgive debt in Iraq. But most European countries are very supportive and very, and are participating in the reconstruction of Iraq.
REPORTER: And how do you see the handover going? The next few weeks are going to be crucial. Can democracy really flourish with the violence that's going on? A hundred Iraqis dead today, Mr. President.
BUSH: Yeah. You know, I don't like death, either. I mean, you keep emphasizing the death and I don't blame you, but all that goes to show is the nature of the enemy. These people are willing to kill innocent people. They're willing to slaughter innocent people to stop the advance of freedom. And so the free world has to make a choice: Do we cower in the face of terror, or do we lead in the face of terror? And uh, I, I'm going to lead in the face of terror. We will not let these terrorists dash the hopes and ambitions of the people of Iraq. There's some kind of attitude that says, oh, gosh, the terrorists attacked, let's let the Iraqis suffer more. And we're not going to let them suffer more. We're going to work with them. And I'm most proud of this fellow, Prime Minister Allawi. He's strong and he's tough, he says to me, Mr. President, don't leave our country, help us secure our country so we can be free.
REPORTER: Indeed, Mr. President, just to get back to that. And can I just turn to the Middle East --
BUSH: Sure.
REPORTER: -- and you will be discussing at the EU summit and the idea of bringing democracy to the broader Middle East. BUSH: Right.
REPORTER: Is that something that really should start, though, with the solving of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis?
BUSH: Well, I think, first of all, you've got, uh, uh, a democracy in Turkey. And you've got a democracy emerging in Afghanistan. You've got a democracy in Pakistan. In other words --
REPORTER: But shouldn't that be on the top of the list --
BUSH: Please, please, please, for a minute, okay. It'd be better if you let me finish my answers, and then you can follow up, if you don't mind. And what I'm telling you is democracy can emerge at the same time that a democracy can emerge in the Palestinian state. I'm the first American President to have called for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the first one to do so, because I believe it is in the Palestinian people's interest, I believe it's in Israel's interest. And, yes, we're working, but we can do more than, you know, one thing at a time. And we are working on the road map with the quartet, to advance the process down the road, like Iraq, the Palestinian and the Israeli issue is going to require good security measures. And --
REPORTER: And a bit more even-handedness from America?
BUSH: -- and we're working on security measures. And America -- I'm the first President to ever have called for a Palestinian state. That's, to me, sounds like a reasonable, balanced approach. And, uh, but I will not allow terrorists to determine the fate, as best I can, determine the fate of people who want to be free.
REPORTER: Mr. President, thank you very much for talking to us.
BUSH: You're welcome.
Bush aides furious at interview
by Don Lavery and Jerome Reilly,
Irish Independent
June 27, 2004
The White House has strongly criticized the RTE interview with President Bush, claiming that journalist Carole Coleman constantly interrupted him, preventing him from getting his point of view across.The interview, broadcast from the White House on Thursday, 24 hours before the President's visit to Ireland, so displeased President Bush and his advisers that it led to the cancellation of another RTE exclusive yesterday, an interview with the President's wife Laura.
The interview with President Bush, where he was asked questions about the Iraq war and the Middle East among other issues, was the first with an American president by RTE in about 20 years.During the increasingly tense interview Ms Coleman asked what she termed "tough" follow-up questions to Mr Bush on issues such as weapons of mass destruction.
Five times during the brief interview Mr Bush asked Ms Coleman to allow him to finish answering his original question.At one stage he pleaded: "Please, please, please, for a minute, okay. It'll be better if you let me finish my answers, and then you can follow up, if you don't mind."
A spokeswoman for the White House told the Sunday Independent yesterday: "It is true that the reporter interrupted him a number of times and prevented him from making the points he was trying to make."
She said there had been concerns in the White House and the Irish Embassy in Washington that the reporter had "overstepped the bounds of politeness" in her questioning."The issue was not the questions but the fact that she was not letting the President answer them," she said.
The spokesperson added that the President was used to aggressive questioning. The questions were not impolite but t the reporter was not allowing the President to answer them, she reiterated.
She said that given the type of interview conducted by Ms Coleman it was "appropriate" that Mrs Bush's office had cancelled the interview planned with her.The interview led to a White House complaint to the Irish Embassy. Aides to the president afterwards told Ms Coleman that she interrupted the president unnecessarily and was disrespectful.
RTE, however, said it "totally stands over the conduct of the interview and Carole's journalism."They were also very pleased with the national and international public response to the interview with several radio and TV stations asking to rebroadcast it.
An RTE spokeswoman said their Washington office had been told that the interview with Mrs Bush was not now going to happen. It had been arranged for 11am yesterday.
Ms Coleman was not making any official comment on the row but sources close to the broadcaster said she had been "shook up" by the incident. She had also argued that no formal agreement had been reached on the Laura Bush interview so the issue of it being cancelled did not arise.
On the way into the summit luncheon at Dromoland Castle, President Bush is understood to have raised the "snippy" interview in a light-hearted fashion.
An Irish Government spokesman said that "within Government there was an acknowledgement that the interview lacked respect."
Meanwhile, the interview was raised on the Larry King show on CNN, CBS, the New York Times where it was described as "contentious", and in other media.RTE said it had received a good response from the public with 200,000 tuning in to watch the Prime Time interview which clashed with the England Euro 2004 game while another 300,000 watched it later that night on News 2.
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