Apparently, that means not talking to American reporters; but rather with one of the worst of the British tabloids:
Press secretary Scott McClellan broke the news yesterday with nonchalance. "Good morning," he told reporters. "The president had his usual briefings this morning and just recently completed an interview with the Sun, for a discussion of his upcoming visit to the United Kingdom."
The article continues:
A British journalist for a more highbrow outlet was not about to let that slip by unnoticed. "Just to clarify," he asked, "why has the president chosen to do an interview with the Sun? It's a newspaper which publishes daily pictures of topless women."
Such comments are grossly unfair to the Sun. True, its Page 3 is devoted daily to photographs of women and their breasts. True, it this week named "classy Krystle, the beautiful brunette babe" as this year's "Page 3 Idol" and amply displayed evidence of what it called her "vital statistics of 32C-24-33."
But the Sun is so much more than breasts. It is also reporting this week on a woman who is "made of two women" and "is NOT the biological mother of two of the children she conceived and had naturally." Other news items highlighted on the Sun's Web site: "Man begins 12-day sausage, bean and chip bath to promote Brit food," "German saboteurs plotted to bomb Palace with peas in WW2, files reveal," and "Sobbing islanders say sorry to the ancestor of minister eaten by natives."
Bush, meanwhile, has given no solo interviews this year to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Time or Newsweek. And he hasn't given an exclusive interview in his entire presidency to the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe and dozens of other major publications.
So why did Bush choose the tabloid that last raised international attention by publishing topless pictures of Prince Edward's fiancee? It's because the Sun has huge, uh, circulation. "It has a large readership," McClellan said. Indeed, about 3.5 million Britons are said to buy it each day -- all of them, of course, for the articles.
And the Sun is far from the raunchiest of tabloids on fetid Fleet Street. "You should've seen the ones we declined," McClellan said.
Word on Fleet Street is it's an obvious payoff to the Sun's owner, Rupert Murdoch, the conservative publisher behind many Bush-friendly news outlets such as Fox News.
Fox's tagline: "More idiots get their news from Fox News than from any other source."
In related news from today's SUN:
Pop babe wears fishnets for her revealing poses
ENGLAND’S army of rugby fans plan a boozy knees-up on Saturday as Our Boys battle the Aussies in the World Cup final with more than 16,000 pubs and clubs expected to apply for licence extensions
LONE protestor scales front gate of the Palace and erects anti-Bush flag
SEXY wrestler and Playboy cover star TORRIE WILSON told us about snogging other girls on television and in real-life
Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else. Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do. --1st Thessalonians 5:15-18 CEV
