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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 8, 2001
Remarks by the President
(In Front of Gowan Family Home in Waco, Texas)
9:55 A.M. CDT
Q Mr. President,
how's your finger.
THE PRESIDENT: It must be a
slow news day if you're worrying about my
finger.
Q Let's see it.
THE PRESIDENT: Does it hurt
much?
THE
PRESIDENT: Hurt? (Laughter.) No. As
I said, I dropped a little
blood for volunteerism.
Q From a hammer or
a nail?
THE PRESIDENT: It's the real
world. It's part of keeping one's
perspective. Washington's a wonderful place, but it's not
exactly the real
world, if you know what I mean.
Q Some of these
folks say you're -- when you're in Texas. You're taking too
long of a vacation.
THE PRESIDENT: They don't
understand the definition of work, then. I'm getting a lot
done. Secondly, you don't have to be in Washington to
work. It's amazing what can happen with telephones and
faxes.
Q What are you
doing the rest of the day?
THE PRESIDENT: Karen Hughes is
coming over. We're working on some things. And --
Q Any in
particular?
THE PRESIDENT: She'll be over
here, we'll work on a few things that matter.
Q Oh, come on, you
can tell me.
THE PRESIDENT: I'm working on
some initiatives. You'll see. There will be some
decisions that will -- I'm here, and we'll be announcing them as time
goes on.
Q Stem cell next
week, maybe?
THE PRESIDENT: It's a
possibility.
Q Where do you want
to make that decision? Where do you want to announce it,
have you decided?
THE PRESIDENT: I've got a lot
of national security concerns that we're working on -- Iraq; Macedonia,
very worrisome right now. Kind of a blowup last night and
yesterday it looked like we had a peaceful resolution; it's now in
doubt. Urge all -- we're urging all the parties to
get back to the table and renounce the violence. The
Secretary of Defense and I are working on some projects. There will be some
announcements.
Q Have you thought
about the kind of forum you'd like to announce the stem cell -- what do
you think would be appropriate?
THE PRESIDENT: You're trying to
get me to talk about it. My answer is still the same as it
was the last two months.
Q If I keep trying
you might slip.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I might --
(laughter) -- but I'm getting better disciplined than
that. That was during the campaign that you caused me to
slip. Now that I've figured you out -- (laughter.)
All righty, listen, it's good to see
everybody. I hope everybody is enjoying themselves
here. It's not that hot compared to Washington.
Q That's actually
true.
THE PRESIDENT: What?
Q -- before you
run?
THE PRESIDENT: When it gets to
be 100. We ran yesterday around noon, which was good.
And I'm probably not going to run today.
Q Does the heat
slow you down --
THE PRESIDENT: A little bit,
but the wind -- there's wind on the prairie, and we go down the canyons
-- it's pretty cool down there.
Q Mr. President,
any plans to go back to Austin anytime soon?
THE PRESIDENT: No, not this
trip. Laura is going down, I think, to see some friends, but
I'm not going. I'm going to Denver and Albuquerque next
week, be going to Milwaukee, another city that we haven't announced yet
after
Milwaukee. (Laughter.) Hint. (Laughter.) And
then giving a speech in San Antonio.
Q Tell us why you
like the heat down here.
THE PRESIDENT: I like the
state. I love Texas. It's my home. And
as I explained to people yesterday, this is where we're going to
live. And just because my office is in Washington, doesn't mean my home is
not still in Texas. I love the people. I love the
culture. I told the people in Midland when I left, I said,
we may have changed address, but my heart will still be in Texas.
And you probably realize that we
haven't spent much time in our new home, and there's kind of a
settling-in period. And this is part of the adjustment to
our new home, and the house is adjusting to us. And our
builder is adjusting to our phone calls to come over and fix -- parts
of the new home. (Laughter.)
Look, I'm sure it's going to be 95' in
D.C. when we get back there in September, late August. I
don't make my decisions based upon the temperature, I make my decisions
based upon where I can get my job done and the fact that I'd like to be back in
Texas. And I'm
never going to leave Texas. This is where I like to
go. Some people like to go to the East Coast, some people
like to go to the West Coast -- I like to come to Texas.
It's where I rest. It's where I do my
work. It's where I see my friends. And that's
just me. And people are going to have to adjust to it.
Q Sir, did you hit
your finger while you were hammering?
THE PRESIDENT: I may have hit
it, or somebody may have hit it -- I'm not
telling. (Laughter.)
Q You've got good
hand-eye coordination.
THE PRESIDENT: You noticed --
did you see that? Seven pounds per nail.
Q Is that right?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Want a picture? All right,
let's do it. We've got to get a family picture.
So how long have you been in this house,
for 12 years? It's a beautiful home. You've got a
new neighbor. Gladys. I volunteered Bubba to come
and mow the lawn. (Laughter.)
END 10:30 A.M. CDT
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