Editor’s note: Each week, WorldNetDaily White House correspondent Les Kinsolving asks the tough questions no one else will ask. And each week, WorldNetDaily brings you the transcripts of those dialogues with the president and his spokesman. If you’d like to suggest a question for the White House, submit it to WorldNetDaily’s exclusive interactive forum MR. PRESIDENT!
At today’s White House news briefing, WND asked presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer about the president’s opinion on the city of Chicago’s fight with the nightclub in which 21 people were killed this week.
WND: Ari, as I recall, the president has always been concerned about U.S. disasters, without your saying it’s just a state problem or a city problem. On page 1 of this morning’s New York Times, is a report that South Chicago’s E-2 Nightclub, where 21 people were crushed to death, had for months been sparring with the city of Chicago over building violations, fire code violations and liquor violations with the owner, Dwain Kyles, complaining that he was the victim of a witch hunt against black-owned businesses. And my question is, does the president believe that Mayor Daley’s government conducts witch hunts? Or does he deplore the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s support of this killer nightclub that had been court-ordered to close in July of 2000?
FLEISCHER: Lester, what happened in Chicago is a tragedy. There are many, many people who are mourned today as a result of what happened. These are matters of municipal code. The president has every faith in the government and the people of Chicago to deal with this issue and to do so in a way that is sensitive to the lives of those who were lost. What’s important is the municipality to have the authority it needs to enforce the laws, and it also requires people to obey the law.
WND then asked Fleischer about a recent brief filed in the case involving racial preferences at the University of Michigan.
WND: Page 1 of The Washington Post reported that the AFL-CIO, the American Bar Association, General Motors, Texaco and generals, including Schwarzkopf and Daniel Crispin, the former superintendent of West Point, among others – have all filed amicus briefs supporting the University of Michigan’s racial discrimination in admissions as opposed by the president. And my question: Doesn’t the president regret that these people during Black History Month would so disregard the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream that children might be judged by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin?
FLEISCHER: I think you’re seeing the strengths of our judicial system in which people from various different positions are free to file an amicus as they see fit. And now this is a matter for the judiciary to decide.
WND: And the president is sorry for these people doing this, isn’t he, Ari?
FLEISCHER: I think I’ve answered the question.
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