White House: DeLay more Bush's business friend than social pal

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http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D89ENE380.html


The White House said Wednesday that President Bush considers House Majority Leader Tom DeLay a friend but suggested he's more a business associate than a social pal. "I think there are different levels of friendship with anybody," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.

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Last week, Bush put some distance between himself and DeLay after the majority leader suggested judges should be penalized for their decisions in the Terri Schiavo case. Bush said he believed in an independent judiciary.

McClellan said the question posed to him Wednesday referred to social friends. "But no, he certainly is a friend. ... The president considers him such. And we support his efforts, along with the efforts of other congressional leaders to move forward on the agenda that the American people want us to enact."

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It's not the first time the White House has gone out of its way to define a presidential relationship. Last year, the White House sought to minimize Bush's ties with indicted former Enron chief Kenneth Lay, saying it had been a long time since they talked and suggesting it had been only a passing friendship.