Letter: A Question of Authority

An Associated Press article in the Sept. 8 Spokesman-Review stated that President Bush addressed the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, in Australia, as “OPEC” (the cartel of oil-producing nations).

Later in the same speech, according to the AP, President Bush turned to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who’d gone to Iraq a year earlier, to commend soldiers from his country who were fighting there, and called them “Austrian troops” instead of Australian troops. The AP article says, “Though tapes of the speech clearly show Bush saying ‘Austrian,’ the official text released by the White House switched it to ‘Australian.’ “

I’m a strong believer in the democratic process, and if we as a nation voted in a president, a fallible human being like ourselves who makes mistakes, it remains important to me that we respect the man and his position.

Yet, if public remarks made by the leader of the most powerful nation on earth are being edited, my question is, who has the authority to edit the president’s remarks and, more bluntly, just who’s in charge at the White House?

Rocky Wilson
Spokane
AP Photo

Question: Do you think this correction is a bad sign?