| Yet More Bush Quips How much of this can we bear? |
"Really proud of it. A great campaign. And I'm really pleased with the
organization and the thousands of South Carolinians that worked on my behalf.
And I'm very gracious and humbled." — To Cokie Roberts, This Week, Feb. 20, 2000
"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas." — Beaverton, Oregon, Sept. 25, 2000
"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully" — Saginaw, Michigan, Sept. 29, 2000
"The reason we start a war is to fight a war, win a war, thereby causing no more war!" — during the first Presidential debate
"Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is — I'm not sure 80 percent of the people get the death tax. I know this: 100 percent will get it if I'm the president." — during the third Presidential debate, Oct. 2000
"Laura and I are proud to call John and Michelle Engler our friends. I know you're proud to call him governor. What a good man the Englers are." — Nov. 2000
"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law." —Nov. 2000 (apparently unaware that the interpretation of the law, when a dispute arises, is the function of the judicial branch of the government, not the executive)
"I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them." — Dec. 20, 2000
"Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods." — Dec. 20, 2000
"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified." — commenting on Linda Chavez, Jan. 2001
"I want it to be said that the Bush administration was a results-oriented administration, because I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as opposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be — a more literate country and a hopefuller country." — Jan. 2001
"If he's — the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a — is a noble institution I would — I would strongly reject that assumption — that John Ashcroft is a open-minded, inclusive person." — Jan. 2001
"The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants." — Jan. 2001
"I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure." — Jan. 2001
"Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment." —Jan. 2001
"I appreciate that question because I, in the state of Texas, had heard a lot of discussion about a faith-based initiative eroding the important bridge between church and state." — speaking to reporters, Jan. 29, 2001
"Our intention is to make sure that the world is as peaceful as possible." — Washington Post, p. A1, Feb. 2, 2001
"We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House — make no mistake about it." — Feb. 7, 2001
"It's good to see so many friends here in the Rose Garden. This is our first event in this beautiful spot, and it's appropriate we talk about policy that will affect people's lives in a positive way in such a beautiful, beautiful part of our national — really, our national park system, my guess is you would want to call it." — Feb. 8, 2001
"Ann and I will carry out this equivocal message to the world: Markets must be open." — at the swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, March 2, 2001
"I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions: How'd your meeting go with so-and-so? … How did you feel when you stood up in front of the people for the State of the Union Address — state of the budget address, whatever you call it." — in an interview with the Washington Post, March 9, 2001
"I do think we need for a troop to be able to house his family. That's an important part of building morale in the military." — speaking at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, March 12, 2001
"But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not very transparent, that hide behind the — that don't let people in to take a look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes. The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger, try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans." — in a media roundtable discussion, March 13, 2001
"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically." — speaking at the Radio & Television Correspondents' dinner, March 29, 2001
"This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end." — April 10, 2001
"I think we're making progress. We understand where the power of this country lay. It lays in the hearts and souls of Americans. It must lay in our pocketbooks. It lays in the willingness for people to work hard. But as importantly, it lays in the fact that we've got citizens from all walks of life, all political parties, that are willing to say, I want to love my neighbor. I want to make somebody's life just a little bit better." — April 11, 2001
"It is time to set aside the old partisan bickering and finger-pointing and name-calling that comes from freeing parents to make different choices for their children." — on "parental empowerment in education", April 12, 2001
"It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade, there's more commerce." — at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, April 21, 2001
Referring to the Kyoto Accord: "First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country." — April 24, 2001
"But I also made it clear to (Vladimir Putin) that it's important to think beyond the old days of when we had the concept that if we blew each other up, the world would be safe." —May 1, 2001
"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it." — May 14, 2001
"If a person doesn't have the capacity that we all want that person to have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all." — May 22, 2001
"Anyway, I'm so thankful, and so gracious — I'm gracious that my brother Jeb is concerned about the hemisphere as well." — June 4, 2001
"I haven't had a chance to talk, but I'm confident we'll get a bill that I can live with if we don't. ... Can't living with the bill means it won't become law." — referring to the McCain-Kennedy patients' bill of rights, June 13, 2001
"I want to thank you for coming to the White House to give me an opportunity to urge you to work with these five senators and three congressmen, to work hard to get this trade promotion authority moving. The power that be, well most of the power that be, sits right here." — Washington D.C., June 18, 2001
"Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I — it's — I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values." — visiting the Jefferson Memorial, Washington D.C., July 2, 2001
"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right." — Rome, July 22, 2001
Referring to former Senator George Mitchell's report on Middle East peace efforts: "There's a lot of people in the Middle East who are desirous to get into the Mitchell process. And — but first things first. The — these terrorist acts and, you know, the responses have got to end in order for us to get the framework — the groundwork — not framework, the groundwork to discuss a framework for peace, to lay the — all right." — Crawford TX, Aug. 13, 2001
"My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the — in the Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different parties involved that peace will never happen." — Crawford TX, Aug, 13, 2001
"One of the interesting initiatives we've taken in Washington, D.C., is we've got these vampire-busting devices. A vampire is a ... a cell deal you can plug in the wall to charge your cell phone." — Denver, Aug. 14, 2001
"The folks who conducted to act on our country on September 11th made a big mistake. They underestimated America. They underestimated our resolve, our determination, our love for freedom. They misunderestimated the fact that we love a neighbor in need. They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the Commander-in-Chief, too." — Washington D.C., Sept. 26, 2001
"I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." — Washington D.C., Oct. 3, 2001
At a White House Menorah lighting ceremony, Washington D.C., Dec. 10, 2001: "I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah."
Summing up his first year in office: "But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." — Washington D.C., Dec. 20, 2001 Bush apparently forgot about September 11th.
"My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific." — Tokyo, Feb. 18, 2002 Bush apparently forgot about World War II.
"There's nothing more deep than recognizing Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep thought of all. ... I can't think of anything more deep than that right." — Washington D.C., March 13, 2002
"We've got pockets of persistent poverty in our society, which I refuse to declare defeat — I mean, I refuse to allow them to continue on. And so one of the things that we're trying to do is to encourage a faith-based initiative to spread its wings all across America, to be able to capture this great compassionate spirit." — O'Fallon, Mo., Mar. 18, 2002
It's been said of Bush that he's so stupid that he has to open his mouth and talk to find out what he's thinking.
But he's not as stupid as all those idiots who voted for him in 2000 and those who voted Republican in 2002. Most Democrat candidates lacked both ideas and guts but at least weren't beholden to warmonger Bush. Or is it that those voters actually want a President who will deliver major military violence (in foreign lands, they assume) on their TV screens night after night?
In his favor it might be claimed that Bush is a cunning and aggressive politician. But so was Hitler. But Hitler was a much better liar. And he didn't have thousands of nuclear missiles at his disposal.
"If this were a dictatorship it would be a heck of a lot easier — just so long as I was the dictator." — Washington DC, 2000-12-18.
| A Strangely Familiar Compendium of George W. Bush's Campaign 2000 Quips | ||
| Bush isn't a moron, he's a cunning sociopath | ||
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