Media grill administration on RTE interview

Senior CBS News White House correspondent Bill Plante addressed the issue of whether Coleman was required to submit the intended questions to the president prior to the interview. Such a requirement is unconventional for journalism in the United States.
In a contentious exchange in the White House briefing room last week, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan initially refused to admit that the questions were asked for in advance.
?Reporters, when they meet with the president, can ask whatever questions they want,? McClellan said.
McClellan tried to distance himself from the incident after Plante again confronted the issue.
?I don?t know what an individual staffer may or may not have asked specifically of this reporter, but some of these interviews are set up by people outside of my direct office and control,? McClellan said.
There was an additional irony to the verbal exchange when Mr. McClellan asked the CBS reporter several times to ?Let me finish!? and ?Will you let me complete what I’m trying to say??
During Coleman?s interview with the president, prior to the EU-U.S. summit in County Clare, Bush asked Coleman on four occasions to let him finish his answers.
McClellan said he intended to delve into the issue of whether anyone at the White House asked for the questions in advance.
The New York Times dedicated a Sunday editorial column to the interview.
Titled, ?When Irish Eyes Aren?t Smiling,? the editorial lauded Coleman for her ?muscular European perspective? in asking tough questions of the president on the eve of his first visit to the Republic.
?The White House later protested to the Irish Embassy, but her employers gave Coleman a well-done, and so do we,? the Times editorial writers added.
In a separate piece, Sunday?s New York Times wrote of Coleman?s tough questioning of the president on Iraq: ?Mr. Bush did not seem to take it personally. After the interview ended, he posed for a picture with Coleman, even throwing his arm around her shoulder.?
?In Ireland, we give all our politicians a tough time,? said Coleman, who agreed with the suggestion that European politicians are more battle-hardened by the parliamentary requirement that they face regular and direct questioning from the opposition.
President Bush?s campaign said there are no hard feelings and that Coleman was not persona non grata because of the interview.
“To be honest,” said Bush/Cheney ?04 spokesman Kevin Madden, ?we deal with thousands of reporters during the campaign and it?s not like we?re going to play the ?Who?s our favorite journalist game.? ?
Madden appeared on the same prime time broadcast as the original Coleman- Bush interview.
Asked what he thought of the interview, Madden said, ?We don?t get distracted with these things — we don?t concern ourselves with who?s good and who?s bad.?”
Coleman may join the ranks as yet another headstrong reporter shunned by the president.
Although Carole Coleman is unlikely to score an interview with President Bush again, she may merit being ?pointed? out if she covers the Bush campaign as it heads toward the November election.