Alleluia America!
by Carole Coleman
Summary
As Washington correspondent for Ireland’s national broadcaster, Carole Coleman conducted a brief interview with President Bush on the eve of his visit to Ireland in 2004. She did not accept stock responses but rather urged Mr. Bush to address the hard issues. She later went on a trip around the “red” states to try to uncover the connection between “old time religion” and the policies and supporters of Mr. Bush, a connection that astounds and mystifies Europeans. Poignant, amusing, and insightful, Alleluia America! is a rare outsider’s glimpse into the heart of God’s Country.
Excerpt
From Chapter 1
MC, as she is known around the White House, had phoned me three days earlier to say that President Bush would do an interview.
The majority of the Irish public, as far as I could tell, was angry with Bush and did not want to hear a cosy fireside chat in the middle of the most disputed war since Vietnam. Instead of the kid glove start, I would get straight down to business.
[Later] sitting there, I knew I was nobody special and this was just another opportunity for the President to repeat his mantra. He seemed irked to be faced with someone who wasn’t nodding gravely at him as he was speaking.
“He was dangerous. And no one can argue that the world is better off with Saddam. If Saddam were in power?”
“But Mr. President,” I interrupted again, “the world is a more dangerous place today.... There are terrorist bombings every single day. It’s your respose to Iraq that’s considered?”
“Let me finish. Let me finish. Please. You ask the questions and I’ll answer them, if you don’t mind.”
Again, I felt that I had no choice but to keep quiet....
Hands were signalling furiously now for me to end the interview.
“Mr. President, thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, still half-smiling and half-frowning.
It was over. I felt like a delinquent child who had been reprimanded by a stern, unwavering father. My face must have been the same [deep red] colour as my suit. Yet I also knew that we had discussed some important issues--probably more candidly than I had heard from President Bush in some time.
I was removing my microphone when he addressed me.
“Is that how you do it in Ireland?interrupting people all the time?”
I froze. He was not happy with me and was letting me know it....
[MC] estimated that I had interrupted the President eight times and added that I had upset him. I was upset too, I told her.
“You were more vicious than any of the White House press corps or even some of them up on Capitol Hill,” she said.
Reviews
"A tour de force by the Irish journalist who stood up to the President of the United States."--Conor O’Clery,Irish Times
"Her insights will make you think again about where the country is heading."--Tom Fenton, author and veteran CBS correspondent
Author's Biography
Carole Coleman, 39, is a native of county Leitrim, Ireland. Since age 21, she has worked in radio and television, covering events throughout the world. In 2004, Ms. Coleman made world headlines after a contentious interview with President Bush. She then traveled through America to produce Alleluia America her first book.