Bush's White House Correspondents' Dinner Speech

Following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush at the 2004 White House Correspondents Dinner.

Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.
May 1, 2004

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming. Thank you for the invite. Thank you, Carl. I'm glad you got a taste of Mother. (Laughter.) I was going to start off tonight telling some self-deprecating jokes. (Laughter.) But then I couldn't think of any mistakes I had made to be self-deprecating about. (Laughter and applause.)

In my recent press conference, John Dickerson of Time Magazine -- (applause) -- asked the question about what I considered my biggest mistake. It's an excellent question that totally stumped me. (Laughter.) I guess looking at it practically, my biggest mistake was calling on John. (Laughter and applause.) Or take that one about Cheney and me answering questions together. That was a toughie. (Laughter.) So from now on, Dick and I will be holding joint press conferences. (Laughter and applause.)

We could do it that way, or we could do it this way: You could ask the question, then I could tell Bob Woodward -- (laughter) -- and he could tell you. (Laughter.)

I thought about giving an economics speech tonight. It really gets me when the critics say I haven't done enough for the economy. I mean, look what I've done for the book publishing industry. (Laughter and applause.) You've heard some of the titles: Big Lies; The Lies of George W. Bush; The Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. (Laughter.) I'd like to tell you I've read each of these books, but that would be a lie. (Laughter and applause.)