Bush Quips and Makes Up With Press : Media: Aide says President was just joking in his reaction to stories that said the White House had misled reporters.

President Bush, asked at a Cabinet meeting today if he is still upset with reporters, looked at members of the press and quipped, “I’m going to be upset if you don’t get the hell out of here.”

With that, everyone shared a big laugh and relations between the White House and the press corps, which seemed somewhat testy aboard Air Force One on Thursday, appeared to return to an adversarial normalcy.

On Thursday while en route to the drug summit in Cartagena, Colombia, Bush came back to speak to reporters, obviously annoyed about a recent spate of stories that White House officials had misled the press. Bush said then that from now on he would have a new and quieter relationship with the new media--one where he will be making fewer comments--and thus could not be accused of misleading them.

Later in the day, while in Cartagena, Bush denied that he had been “fuming,” and White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater insisted that the President had merely been joking with reporters on Air Force One.

Today, during a photo opportunity at the opening of his Cabinet meeting, Bush declined to field questions from reporters, saying “This is a photo-op.”

After some brief banter, Bush, asked if he was “still upset” with reporters, turned his head toward the news media and quipped, “I’m going to get upset if you don’t get the hell out of here.”