Reporter blasted by Bush speaks out

Crude language doesn't jibe with promise of decorum, he says

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The reporter disparaged crudely by GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush says the governor's language didn't jibe with his vow to bring a new sense of decorum to Washington.

New York Times reporter Adam Clymer, left, tells CNN that G.W. Bush's comment is 'unfair'

"Using bad language while promising to restore dignity to the White House is a contradiction that will hurt him in a tiny, modest way," Adam Clymer said on Saturday's edition of CNN's "Reliable Sources."

The comment in question was delivered by Bush on Sept. 4 in Naperville, Ill. Standing on a stage prior to delivering a speech, Bush told his running mate, Dick Cheney, "There's Adam Clymer, major league a------ from The New York Times."

Cheney replied, "Oh, yeah, big time."

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Interview with Adam Clymer from The New York Times Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Neither man was apparently aware that their remarks were being picked up by a microphone on the podium.

In a Newsweek poll of registered voters conducted Sept. 7-8, 27 percent of those questioned said their opinion of Bush was less favorable after hearing the off-color remark. Ten percent said their opinion of the candidate was more favorable, while 54 percent said it didn't change how they felt.

In his first interview since the remarks, Clymer told CNN the Bush's campaign had earlier raised two complaints about a story he wrote in The New York Times focusing on health care in Texas. In the story April 13, Clymer said, he reported health care in Texas "had been bad for decades and Bush hadn't done much to improve it."

The article's first paragraph read, "Texas has had one of the nation's worst public health records for decades. More than a quarter of its citizens have no health insurance. Its Mexican border is a hotbed of contagion. The state ranks near the top in the nation in rates of AIDS, diabetes, tuberculosis and teenage pregnancy, and near the bottom in immunizations, mammograms and access to physicians."

Clymer said the Bush campaign's first complaint pointed out an error, which the newspaper corrected. The story said Bush had never given a speech as governor on the subject of health care, and attributed it to a press secretary in the governor's office. "So we corrected that error," the reporter said.

In a separate complaint, Bush campaign spokesman Ari Fleischer called the reporter and said, " 'You didn't tell me the piece was going to be tough.' Well, I didn't think that was my responsibility," Clymer said.

Clymer otherwise shrugged off Bush's offensiveness.

"Yeah, I think it is unfair, but it comes with the territory," he said. "Democratic politicians have disliked things I've written, Republican politicians ... if they all love you, you might as well be driving a Good Humor truck."