Bushisms

But Bush's tautologies weren't gaffes or verbal slips. They just represented the limits of his reasoning powers: A = A. There are educational apps that use groups of images to teach two-year-olds to recognize that an orange is like an orange while a banana is a banana. Bush was stalled at that developmental moment. As a friend of mine once said, watching Bush give a speech is like watching a drunk man cross an icy street. You really want him to get to the other side, but it's clear he won't be able to make it without a lot of stumbling.

Otherwise known as the Wit and Wisdom of President George W. Bush.

Some (possibly mined) quotes from the Great Man.


 * "The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."
 * (While governor of Texas) "If there is one thing I hate, it's quotas. Hard quotas. Quotas, they, basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas vulcanize our society."
 * Natural gas is hemispheric. I call it hemispheric in nature because it is something we can find in our own neighborhoods.
 * "Families is where our nation finds hope... where wings take dream."
 * "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?"
 * "I know that human beings and fish can coexist peacefully." (The same was said about America and Russia during the Cold War)
 * "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
 * "We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile".
 * "One of my hardest parts of my job is to console the family members, who’ve lost their life."
 * "We must root out terrorism wherever it exists to save the world from freedom."
 * "My relationship with this good man is where I've been focused, and that's where my concentration is. And I don't regret any other aspect of it. And so I—we filled a lot of space together."—on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007
 * "They misunderestimated me." --George W. Bush, Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000
 * "They're a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.'" --George W. Bush, Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2000
 * "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." -- George W. Bush, interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006
 * "Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." September 7, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
 * "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."—Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
 * "[A]s you know, these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say."—Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2003
 * Bush, ever the model of tact and champion of the delicate art of diplomacy, on Gordon Brown during their first meeting: "He's a Scotsman, you know, not the dour Scotsman that you described him as or the awkward Scotsman; he's actually the humorous Scotsman."
 * "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
 * "Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better."
 * "More and more of our imports come from overseas."
 * "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." — Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000
 * "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again"
 * "...if you're a working single mom-which, in my opinion, is the hardest job there is-...and you're trying to put food on your family..."
 * "One of the things I used on the Google is to pull up maps.
 * "I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008
 * "Yesterday, you made note of my—the lack of my talent when it came to dancing. But nevertheless, I want you to know I danced with joy. And no question Liberia has gone through very difficult times"- Speaking to the president of Liberia on October 22,2008
 * "I think it was in the Rose Garden where I issued this brilliant statement: If I had a magic wand —but the president doesn't have a magic wand. You just can't say, 'low gas.' "-July 15, 2008
 * ""I didn't grow up in the ocean, as a matter of fact — er, near the ocean. I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I'm fishing. It turns out I'm not the first president who liked to fish, it turns out the first president really liked to fish. George Washington, I was reading where one time he caught 100,000 herring in a single day."
 * "I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." —at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, August 13, 2002
 * "We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." —Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001
 * "For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three nonfatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it." —Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 14, 2001
 * "Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a—you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." —Washington, D.C., August 6, 2004
 * "Do you have Blacks, too?" —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., November 8, 2001
 * “I think we agree, the past is over.”
 * "I'm going to put people in my place, so when the history of this administration is written at least there's an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened."
 * "I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the world. And I wish him all the very best."
 * "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."
 * "You bet I cut the taxes at the top. That encourages entrepreneurship. What we Republicans should stand for is growth in the economy. We ought to make the pie higher."
 * "If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign."
 * "I understand small business growth. I was one."
 * "I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question."
 * "Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."
 * "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
 * "I don't read what's handed to me."
 * "Keep good relations with the Grecians."
 * "I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children."
 * "Will the highways on the internet become more few?"
 * "They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program."
 * "I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington D.C., is close to California."
 * "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well."
 * "I think it's very important for world leaders to understand that when a new administration comes in, the new administration will be running foreign policy."
 * "I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."
 * "For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."
 * "I'm sure you can imagine it's an unimaginable honor to live here."
 * "My pan plays down an unprecedented amount of our national debt."
 * "The reason I believe in a large tax cut because it's what I believe."
 * “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean, of Ukraine.”- May 18, 2022