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Bush transcript, part 4: More to election loss than Iraq

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QUESTION: Thank you, sir.

There's a bill that could come before the lame-duck session of Congress that would extend voting rights in the District of Columbia in Congress and also give an extra seat to Utah.

You've been passionate about democracy in Iraq. Why not here in D.C.? And would you support this bill?

BUSH: Yes, I -- this is the first I've heard of it. I didn't know it's going to come up from the lame-duck. ...

Well, it may or may not come up.

I'm trying to get the Indian deal done, the Vietnam deal done and the budgets done.

But I'll take a look at it. It's the first I've heard of it. Thanks.

Let's see here, yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mr. President, you mentioned the prospect that your successor would be dealing with the war.

You'll be making your first trip to Vietnam in roughly a week. Some people are looking at the war as another Vietnam War. Are they wrong to do so? And, if so, why?

BUSH: I think they are. I think they are.

First of all, Iraq is -- after the overthrow of the tyrant, voted on a constitution that is intended to unite the whole country. And then they had elections under that constitution where nearly 12 million people voted for this unity government.

Secondly -- which is different from Vietnam -- secondly, in terms of our troops, this is a volunteer Army. Vietnam wasn't a volunteer Army, as you know. And in this volunteer Army, people -- the troops understand the consequences of Iraq in the global war on terror.

That's why re-enlistment rates are up, and that's why enlistment is high.

Thirdly, the support for our troops is strong here in the United States, and it wasn't during the Vietnam era.

So I see differences, I really do. And, you know, you hear all the time, well, this may be a civil war. Well, I don't believe it is, and the Maliki government doesn't believe it is. Zal [Zalmay Khalilzad], our ambassador, doesn't believe it is.

But we've got to make sure it isn't by implementing a strategy which helps -- a political strategy which helps unify the country and a security strategy which makes sure that the Iraqis are better capable of fighting off the extremists and the radicals that want to stop progress in Iraq.

So I don't think it is a parallel.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir.

During this campaign season, some religious conservatives expressed support and appreciation for the work you've done.

But some also expressed that they felt like they expended a lot of effort on your behalf without a lot of results.

I wonder if you could tell us what parts of their agenda are still on your radar screen and if you think the right should be frustrated.

And also, Mr. President, I'm asking you if you have any metrics you'd be willing to share about your reading contest with Mr. Rove?

BUSH: I'm losing. I obviously was working harder on the campaign than he was.

He's a faster reader.

You know, I must confess I cannot catalogue for you in detail the different criticisms. In this line of work, you get criticized from all sides. And that's OK. It's just part of the job.

And so I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about, but I can tell you that I believe the faith-based and community-based -- the faith- and community-based initiative is a vital part of helping solve intractable problems here in America.

And I would hope that I could work with Congress to make sure this program, which has been invigorated, remains invigorated.

And the reason why I believe in it so much is that there are just some problems that require something other than government help. And it requires people who have heard a call to help somebody in need.

And I believe we ought to open up grants to competitive biddings for these types of organizations. And we have done that. And it's very important that that program stay strong.

But you know, you're probably following all these different lists of concerns people have with my presidency. And I respect that. I just, frankly, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about in this question.

I'm sure there's some people who aren't perfectly content -- but there's some people who aren't perfectly content from different parties and different philosophies.

All I know to do is to make decisions based upon principles that I believe are important, and now work with Democrat leaders in the Congress, because they control the committees and they control the flow of bills.

And I'm going to do that, for the good of the country.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. If you had any do-overs to do in this race...

BUSH: You don't get to do them.

QUESTION: ... or if Mr. Rove had any do-overs to do in this race...

BUSH: You don't get do-overs. Anyway, go ahead.

QUESTION: Well, what would they be? I mean, are there any tactical...

BUSH: Look, I -- yes, well. I, frankly, haven't analyzed the election nearly as much as some of you have.

You know, again, I think when you really look close at the results -- first of all, there's a lot of close elections. No question Iraq had an impact. But it's hard to win an election when you're trying to win a write-off -- write-in campaign in our state of Texas.

I mean, you could have the greatest positions in the world on the issues and be the most articulate person on an issue, but to try to get to win on a write-in is really hard to do.

We had, you know, the race in Florida, the [Mark] Foley seat. That's a hard race to win, in a Republican district, because people couldn't vote directly for the Republican candidate.

All I'm telling you is that there's a -- when you dig into the races, there's a -- look, I had to go down to Houston and Sugar Land and act as the secretary of state -- you know, "Take your pencil into the box and then write it in."

And the reason I bring that up is, you know, I'm not sure Iraq had much to do with the outcome of that election. Now, it certainly did in other places.

One of the interesting observations I had from last night was that, if you take a look at New York state, Senator [Hillary] Clinton ran a very strong race, but she ran a race that appeared to me to be on just a Senate race. She wanted to show people she had the capacity to help others win.

And the same thing happened in Pennsylvania with Governor [Ed] Rendell. He ran a very strong race, as did Senator-elect [Bob] Casey.

And my only point to you is I'm sure Iraq had something to do with the voters' mind, but so did a very strong turnout mechanism in those two important states.

So they're just going to have to analyze all the different results.

As far as do-overs, I -- look, talk to them.


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