White House Press Briefing, May 24, 2004

Q Scott, a two-part. Andrew Card impressively addressed --

MR. McCLELLAN: A fine Chief of Staff.

Q Thank you. Andrew Card impressively addressed this weekend's annual gathering in New York of 250 talk radio hosts, where there was considerable debate over the possibility that if Howard Stern is driven off the air for his many obscenities by the FCC fines, all of us could be driven off the air by the government for our political opinions. And my question: Can the White House give us assurance that our expressed political opinions, liberal or conservative, will never be treated like Stern's obscenities by any organization in the Bush administration?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I'm not going to try to speculate on something that's so -- so broad as what you're bringing up. Obviously, the President believes that there are certain standards of decency that should be adhered to.

Q Right.

MR. McCLELLAN: And we all have a responsibility to adhere to those standards.

Q But he would never let the FCC --

MR. McCLELLAN: And that if people violate those standards, they should be held accountable. And there are measures in place to hold people accountable.

Q Of course. But he would never allow the FCC to take action against any of us in talk radio for our political opinions, would he?

MR. McCLELLAN: In a general sense, no. But, again, you phrase that in a context of some standards that apparently violated some of the -- our standards of decency.