Bush Joins Debate on TV Standards

Weighing in on the debate over decency standards for television, President Bush said the government must “call to account” programming that “gets over the line.” But, he said, making such a distinction would be a problem.

In an interview with C-SPAN to be broadcast Sunday, Bush also made clear his view that there was an excess of inappropriate programming on television and called on parents to form “the first line of responsibility.”

“Look, we are a great society because we’re a free society. On the other hand, it is very important for there to be limits, limits to what parents have to explain to their children,” he said. “Nevertheless ... the parents’ first responsibility is to pay attention to what their children listen to, whether it be rock songs or movies or TV shows.”

During a 23-minute interview taped Thursday, Bush and Brian Lamb, the network’s chief executive, covered a variety of topics, including the president’s personal reading preferences and his playful lament of leading a dull life. C-SPAN released the transcript of the interview Friday.

In discussing decency standards, Bush declared himself “a free speech advocate” and then noted that he had often told parents publicly: “They put an off button on the TV for a reason -- turn it off.”

But the president quickly added that the government “can, at times, not censor, but call to account programming that gets over the line. The problem, of course, is the definition of ‘over the line.’ ”

Bush then likened the challenge to defining pornography, recalling the famous words of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who said he could not define pornography but that “I know it when I see it.”

The president praised outgoing Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell, saying he did a good job of balancing free speech and policing the airwaves.

In searching for a new chairman, Bush said, he would ask prospects: “Please tell me where the line is.”

Powell’s four-year tenure was marked by controversy over indecency battles. Drawing criticism from many in the entertainment industry, the FCC in 2004 recommended more than $7.7 million in fines for programming it deemed indecent. The amount was a large increase from the year before.

When Lamb referred to a bill pending in Congress that would raise the fines for foul language, the president chimed in: “Well, they’re going to collect a lot of money when some of these TV shows are still on.”

Bush said he rarely watched television, and when he did, it was almost always sports.

The president described his typical day to Lamb.

“I get to work early. Early is 6:50 to 7 o’clock in the morning,” he said. “And I’m pretty much busy until I wander back over here to the residence, generally about 5:30 [p.m.] or so. This evening I’m going to exercise for an hour, and then that gets me into the dinner. And after dinner I’ll read and go to bed. It’s not a very glamorous social life, I might add, but nevertheless, I’m not a glamorous social person.”

Bush said he was reading “His Excellency: George Washington,” by Joseph J. Ellis, and not long ago finished Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton.

“I can’t remember all the books I read, but I do read a lot of books,” he said. A history major at Yale, Bush said that reading biographies “helps me better explain and understand exactly what we’re seeing” today.

“On a good night,” the president reads 20 to 30 pages before turning in.

As for work, Bush said, he reads “maybe” 10 memos a day.

With the history of the White House in mind, Lamb asked Bush if he ever felt the “ghosts of past presidents.”

Bush quipped: “Well, I quit drinking in ’86.”

Turning serious, he added that he had “tried to empathize” with Abraham Lincoln, “but it’s just really hard to project back into somebody else’s shoes. So, no, I guess I don’t see ghosts.”

Bush also said he soon would begin planning for his presidential library, which would be located somewhere in Texas.