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September 24, 2007

Bill Sammon On President Bush

Hannity & Colmes

HANNITY: Our next guest's new book offers an in-depth look inside the mind of President George W. Bush.

Bill Sammon has interviewed the president more than any other reporter and has exclusive details about everything from the president's faith to his elections, 2008.

Joining us now is the author of "The Evangelical President", Bill Sammon.

I've got to tell you, once again you have more time with the president. I get more insight out of who he is from your books. Congratulations, once again to you.

BILL SAMMON, AUTHOR, "THE EVANGELICAL PRESIDENT": Well, thank you so much.

HANNITY: It really is a great read, and I hope everybody gets it. Because you have all this time with him, which is unprecedented.

But I've got to start with the political equation here. His predictions: Hillary wins the nomination. Advice to Hillary Clinton.

SAMMON: Yes.

HANNITY: And is it true this report that he's preparing to turn over the White House to her?

SAMMON: Well, that's going a little too far. I think he's doing a couple things. He's hedging his bet. On the one hand, as you mentioned, he told me that he expects Hillary to win the nomination, which is the first time the president has actually predicted that. I mean, to a lot of us, that seems obvious, but for the president to say that, that's obviously news.

But I think even more significantly, he's now saying -- and I'm reporting this tonight -- that he, Bush and his aides have quietly been providing back-channel advice to Hillary and the other Democratic top tier candidates to leave enough wiggle room in their anti-war rhetoric so that, if they're elected president, they will still be able to preserve the war and not completely reverse Bush's policies that he's put in place all of these years.

So he's trying to have it both ways. He's thinking the Republican's going to win, but in case the Democrats win, he's to get them -- look, if you end up sitting where I'm sitting here in the Oval Office, all this anti-war rhetoric is going to go away, and you're going to have to deal with the reality that I deal with. So he's giving them this advice.

HANNITY: Yes, you know what's fascinating about this? Is you also get deeply into the faith of the president, which has been talked about here.

But starting with his meeting with the Reverend Billy Graham, and then as you go through the different difficulties that he has faced throughout his presidency, the distractions of a very partisan Washington, D.C., today, ridicule, detractors, all of this. That is key to who this man really is, isn't it?

SAMMON: It really is, and you know, it gives him -- I talked a lot about his faith with him and with his top advisers. And they all told me that it gives him a serenity.

Not that he's taking marching orders from God, as to how much money to put into the highway bill or, you know, whether he's here a messianic figure, as some of his detractors claim, that he feels he's a messianic figure here to, you know -- anointed by God to avenge the victims of 9/11.

It merely gives him the serenity to...

HANNITY: Yes.

SAMMON: ... to carry forth in very, very tumultuous times and difficult, you know, low poll numbers and that kind of thing.

HANNITY: But Bill, I have had the good fortune of having interviewed the president a number of times. I've met with him a number of times. Tell me if this observation is correct. That George W. Bush is a little different in private than he is from what the public sees. He seems uncomfortable on camera, but he's very comfortable when you meet him one- on-one.

His level of knowledge, his engagement, all of these things that you would want in a president, it's sort of striking compared to what has now been a bit of a caricature that has been built over time against him. Do you agree with that observation?

SAMMON: I agree with him. I think it's probably even more pronounced for someone like me, who is a print guy. So when I go in to talk to the president, I don't have a camera with me. I don't have a sound man with me. I don't have, you know, any of that stuff. I just have a notebook.

And he really, you know, can -- you can see him almost physically slouch in his chair, and kind of kick his foot up.

COLMES: He also knows, Bill, that you like him and have written supportive books of him. You're not going to be very critical of him.

SAMMON: Liking someone as a person, and I would dare say that most White House correspondents can't help but like him as an individual.

COLMES: I like him as a person.

SAMMON: I don't know -- that doesn't affect my coverage of him.

COLMES: Right.

SAMMON: I think if you read these books -- I know you have.

COLMES: Read your books.

SAMMON: ... they're sort of a warts-and-all portrayal. Now, they probably look...

COLMES: Not too many warts, Bill, with all due respect.

SAMMON: Probably look relatively less critical than some of the sort of daily tsunami of relentless negative coverage, but I think it's a little fair.

COLMES: Talking about advising Democrats, we've got some breaking news out now about your book. And that's -- you know, that you have breaking news is good.

But why would the Democrats listen to the advice of George W. Bush telling them what they should do?

SAMMON: I ask that exactly two President Bush's in the Oval Office. I said, why should Hillary-Obama, who routinely ravages you, take advice from you?

And he said, look, I fully accept them -- expect them to criticize the president. That's how they get elected. That's how they beat the nomination.

But having said that, when they sit in this chair in the Oval Office, if one of them wins, they're going to have to set aside that anti-war rhetoric and figure out how to deal with this threat.

COLMES: Your book is called the "Evangelical President". Do you he believe he is God's chosen president, that he is appointed by God to run the country at this time?

SAMMON: I really don't feel he does feel that way. He is a very religious man. He's unapologetically religious. He wears his religion on his sleeve.

I would daresay that all -- of all of the Republicans vying to replace him, none of them will be nearly as religious as he is.

COLMES: But he doesn't believe he's God's choice?

SAMMONS: No. Not only did he tell me that he doesn't believe that, but Dick Cheney told me, and Josh Bolten and Karl Rove and all these guys. He just doesn't think that way.

HANNITY: Bill, if anybody wants to know the president, you've spent more time with him than anyone else. And lot of insights in here. I -- I think this is the best book so far. Thanks for being with us.

SAMMONS: Thanks, Sean.

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