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The Real George Bush


President George W. Bush attends a fundraiser for Republican congressional
candidate Bob Beauprez in Denver, Colorado September 27, 2002
Unretouched photograph from the Associated Press

“Bush can talk quite clearly on the subjects that most interest him: baseball, football, campaign tactics, putting men to death.  On the other hand, our president is extraordinarily tongue-tied when he’s trying, off the cuff, to sound a note of idealism, magnanimity or —especially— compassion.” Mark Crispin Miller, The Nation, July 26, 2001 Be sure to read Prof. Miller's book, The Bush Dyslexicon.  It's now available in paperback.  Click here to buy it through Barnes & Noble and MTA gets a cut!

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“President [sic] Bush, like many dominant personality types, uses dependency-creating language. He employs language of contempt and intimidation to shame others into submission and desperate admiration.” - Renana Brooks, June 22, 2003 

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Let me know what you think about this topic.
— Carolyn Kay, MakeThemAccountable.com

To listen to any of the audio files, you will need RealPlayer--it's free!
Click on the icon at the right and then look at the right side of the page.

IN HIS OWN WORDS, BY HIS OWN ACTIONS, AND 
AND BY THE WORDS OF HIS FAMILY AND CLOSEST ADVISERS
YE SHALL KNOW HIM

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George Bush is a liar.  Maybe we need to post the Ten Commandments in the Oval Office so he'll know he's breaking one almost every time he opens his mouth.
 

The Bush Credibility Gap

George W. Bush: Words vs. Deeds

Bush Lies, O'Reilly Sucks

Bush Lies, Bush Watch

BushLies.net

All the President's Lies

The Lies of George W. Bush


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He spent an entire year frightening Americans to death, telling us that Saddam Hussein would attack us with weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, if we didn't attack Iraq.  Now, he says, "What's the difference?"

“In the debate over the necessity for the war in Iraq, few issues have been more contentious than whether Saddam Hussein possessed arsenals of banned weapons, as the Bush administration repeatedly said, or instead was pursuing weapons programs that might one day constitute a threat.

“On Tuesday, with Mr. Hussein in American custody and polls showing support for the White House's Iraq policy rebounding, Mr. Bush suggested that he no longer saw much distinction between the possibilities.

"’So what's the difference?’ he responded at one point as he was pressed on the topic during an interview by Diane Sawyer of ABC News.” – The New York Times, December 18, 2003


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Lie number 17,346

[W]e gave [Saddam Hussein] a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. [Emphasis added.]  And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region.” – White House press release, July 14, 2003


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Bush encourages attacks on the U.S. military.

“‘There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there,’ Bush told reporters at the White House. ‘My answer is bring them on. [Emphasis added.] We have the force necessary to deal with the situation.’” – Reuters, July 2, 2003

Click here to listen. (Thanks to Ski Anderson for providing the clip.)


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While our troops die, Bush's great sacrifice is to give up sweets.  That’s the only part of the tripe below that I actually believe.  We all know that Bush sleeps soundly while the bombs fall.

“People who know Bush well say the strain of war is palpable. He rarely jokes with staffers these days and occasionally startles them with sarcastic putdowns. He's being hard on himself; he gave up sweets just before the war began. [Emphasis added.] He's frustrated when armchair generals or members of his own team express doubts about U.S. military strategy. At the same time, some of his usual supporters are concerned by his insistence on sticking with the original war plan.” - USA Today, April 2, 2003


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Bush pretended for more than a year that he hadn’t already decided to attack Iraq.

“‘F___ Saddam. We're taking him out.’ [Emphasis added.] Those were the words of President George W. Bush, who had poked his head into the office of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It was March 2002, and Rice was meeting with three U.S. Senators, discussing how to deal with Iraq through the United Nations, or perhaps in a coalition with America's Middle East allies. [Emphasis added.] Bush wasn't interested. He waved his hand dismissively, recalls a participant, and neatly summed up his Iraq policy in that short phrase. The Senators laughed uncomfortably; Rice flashed a knowing smile. The President left the room.”, Time, March 23, 2003


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“Minutes before the speech [announcing the U.S. pre-emptive strike against an almost defenseless Iraq], an internal television monitor showed the president pumping his fist. ‘Feels good,’ [Bush] said.” [Emphasis added.] – Knight Ridder, March 20, 2003


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Bush inherited and/or learned psychopathic behavior from his mother.  Barbara Bush declares deaths and body bags irrelevant.

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS
(OC) You said that, that Mrs. Bush at one point had said to the two of you, don't watch too much TV.  You may be watching too much TV.

[01]09:43:52 FORMER FIRST LADY BARBARA BUSH, UNITED STATES
No question.

[01]09:43:53 DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS
(OC) You do watch?

[01]09:43:54 FORMER FIRST LADY BARBARA BUSH, UNITED STATES
I watch none.  He sits and listens and I read books, because I know perfectly well that, don't take offense, that 90 percent of what I hear on television is supposition, when we're talking about the news.  And he's not, not as understanding of my pettiness about that.  But why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it's gonna happen, and how many this or what do you suppose?  Or, I mean, it's, it's not relevant.  So, why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that.  And watch him suffer. [Emphasis added.]

- ABC/Good Morning America, March 18, 2003


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“George Bush pulled out of a speech to the European Parliament [to promote his case for war against an almost defenseless Iraq] when MEPs wouldn't guarantee a standing ovation.” [Emphasis added] – The Mirror, March 8, 2003


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They even script his press conferences.  And he admits it, but CNN scrubbed the comment from the transcript.  It was scripted so that he wouldn't have to call on Helen Thomas, as is customary, since she recently said he's the worst president ever.

Bush is afraid of an 82-year-old woman.

BuzzFlash.com

You can hear the “scripted” comment yourself in an audio file created by a BuzzFlash Reader (re-recorded by Caro), who notes, “The relevant excerpt from CNN's transcript is included below -- notice the ‘scripted’ comment is conveniently scrubbed out.”

BUSH: ...The risk of doing nothing, the risk of hoping that Saddam Hussein changes his mind and becomes a gentle soul, the risk that somehow inaction will make the world safer, is a risk I'm not willing to take for the American people.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President. Sir, how would you answer your critics who say that they think is somehow personal? As Senator Kennedy put it tonight, he said your fixation with Saddam Hussein is making the world a more dangerous place.

(Click here for the full CNN transcript.)


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APresident George W. Bush answers questions during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, March 6, 2003 (Larry Downing/Reuters)t the same press conference:

“The contrast between the foggy Bush of last night and the gung-ho Bush who delivered a persuasive State of the Union message to Congress not so long ago was considerable. Maybe Bush thought he was, indeed, coming across as cool and temperate instead of bored and enervated, and this was simply a rhetorical miscalculation. On the other hand, it hardly seems out of order to speculate that, given the particularly heavy burden of being president in this new age of terrorism -- a time in which America has, as Bush said, become a ‘battlefield’ -- the president may have been ever so slightly medicated.

“He would hardly be the first president ever to take a pill.

“There were brief interludes during the news conference -- especially the long languid pauses -- when some viewers might have flashed back to the presidency of Richard Nixon. [Emphasis added.] That is, the Nixon Years at their most tumultuous and Twilight Zoney, when the old Trickster would come on TV and you'd sit there not just fascinated but a trifle terrified of what he might say, who he'd accuse of persecuting him, and whether he might come completely unglued or just melt into a hideous puddle right before your horrified eyes.” – Washington Post, March 7, 2003


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Bush spoke of his faith and the way it influences his decisions.  "I feel the comfort and the power of knowing that literally millions of Americans I'm never going to meet ... say my name to the Almighty every day and ask him to help me, he said. My friend, Jiang Zemin in China, has about a billion and a half folks, and I don't think he can say that. And my friend, Vladimir Putin, I like him, but he can't say that. [Emphasis added] – Gene Owens, Mobile (AL) Register, February 28, 2003

Yeah, but what Bush doesn’t know is that most of those millions of Americans are asking the Almighty to give Bush the sense He gave to a goose.


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(Thanks to Outraged Comics for the cartoon.)

Bush could take credit for getting the U.N. to focus on Iraq and effectively containing Saddam, but he seems to be intent on war. Faced with the European demand for diplomacy, Bush had a snit fit.

This looks like a rerun of a bad movie and I'm not interested in watching it, he declared.

Those are not the words of a statesmen or a world leader...  Bush is losing it. His composure, his good-guy image, the debate about economic policy, the sympathy and support of the international community and, as polls indicate, the backing of the American people.” - Marty Jezer, AlterNet.org, January 23, 2003


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WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
“I
GNORANCE IS STRENGTH
– George Orwell, 1984

“I think the biggest idea in the international arena is to achieve the peace, and that the United States of America will work with friends and allies to achieve the peace. The biggest issues facing us in '03 will be continuing the war on terror.” – U.S. News, December 18, 2002


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President George W. Bush hugs Katha Black, National PTA Outstanding Teacher of the Year during an oval office visit, Thursday, March 15. Also pictured is White House Staffer Anne Trenolone, at right. “‘There's only one person who is responsible for making that decision [to go to war], and that's me. And there's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids on the death of their loved ones. Others hug, but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug, and that's me, and I know what it's like.’ [Emphasis added.] --GWB to Barbara Walters, ABC ‘20/20,’ 12/13/02.

Prof. Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon, comments:

“This recent statement of our president may be the most outrageous thing he's ever said (in public). Its grammar and its syntax are okay, and yet it is so imbecilic, morally, that it could blow your mind, if not your lunch…

“[I]t is … not the statement's lethal lack of foresight that is galling but its wholly cynical paternalism. Bush thinks, evidently, that one public hug from him will make it all okay for people who, because of his ‘decision,’ will have lost their husbands, brothers, sons and fathers --or, in some cases, we might add, their daughters, mothers, wives and sisters. For them, as far as he's concerned, the gesture is enough. Although he tries (and tries) to talk the talk of what he calls "compassion," Bush never walks the walk, because he simply doesn't care, and doesn't want to spend the money.” - Mark Crispin Miller, BuzzFlash.com, December 16, 2002

Order Miller’s book from The Reading Room, and MakeThemAccountable gets a cut!


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Jesus Bush

I'm the commander, I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation.” [Emphasis added.] – From Bob Woodward’s Bush at War, as quoted in The Independent, November 20, 2002
(Thanks to Bush Speaks for the graphic.)


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“Democrats were particularly incensed yesterday about Bush's claim Wednesday that Republican candidates had succeeded because of their clean campaigns. ‘Their accent was on the positive,’ Bush told his top aides, gathered in front of the Oval Office fireplace. ‘If you want to succeed in American politics, change the tone.’

Bush usually stays above the fray, but some of his hand-picked candidates ran tough negative campaigns. Some used images of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to try to tar Democrats as soft on national security. Bush occasionally joined in the attack… [Emphasis added.]

‘It's W's world and everybody else is living in it,’ an administration aide said, using the president's campaign nickname. ‘This will change the calculation of anybody will have to make before crossing George Bush.’” – Washington Post, November 8, 2002

So which is it, ladies and gentlemen?  Is George Bush a nice guy who stays above the fray, or is he someone that opponents had better not cross, or they’ll have their patriotism, their honor, and their morality smeared in very expensive campaign ads? Is that how we want to run political campaigns in this country?  Giving victory to the most noxious with the most money?


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"I would like to express my deep condolences for the loss of the Senate," Bush said shortly after hearing of Wellstone's death Friday. "And also, I would like to express my condolences to the bereaved family." [Emphasis added.], Associated Press, October 25, 2002

I'm told that Bush didn't actually say "the loss of the Senate."  But he did go on to say, according to the White House website, “May the good Lord bless those who grieve.”  Which doesn’t include him, of course.  Besides, as Nancy Skinner said on 10/27/02 on the Ski and Skinner show (available on the Internet), after years of treating liberals like complete slimeballs, now they praise one?  Hypocrisy is just not a strong enough word any more.


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On Thursday night, at a Republican fundraising reception in Houston, Bush … called Hussein a guy that tried to kill my dad. [Emphasis added.]

The raw comment about his father … was seen on Capitol Hill as evidence that the administration's march toward war with Iraq is motivated at least partly by a family grudge match. – Washington Post, September 29, 2002


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Bush's bluntness produced a major headache for the White House last week and soured relations with congressional Democrats. They castigated Bush for his unscripted -- but, according to aides, heartfelt -- addition to a speech in Trenton, N.J., when he accused the Democratic-controlled Senate of being not interested in the security of the American people.… [Emphasis added.]

Every indication is that Bush meant what he said. Senior aides said he has no plans to apologize, and the Republican National Committee e-mailed the quotation to more than 2 million party supporters two hours after Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) complained. – Washington Post, September 29, 2002


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There's an old...saying in Tennessee...I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says Fool me once...(3 second pause)... Shame on...(4 second pause)...Shame on you....(6 second pause)...Fool me...Can't get fooled again. – George W. Bush to Nashville, Tennessee audience, Sept. 17, 2002, MSNBC-TV (Transcription by BushWatch.com)

Click here to listen.

Prof. Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon, comments:

What was it that the president just could not bring himself to say? "Shame on me." The president could not say "Shame on me," not if his life depended on it -- an inability that's perfectly in character...

That bias is very telling: Bush actually believes that he can do no wrong. This fixed conviction of his own infallibility has come out often, in remarks not laughably sub-literate or confused...

It's time to see the man for who he is, and to pay close attention to his moves, and to the moves of his cabal. While Bush's grandiosity -- and shamelessness -- have been apparent all along, since 9/11 he's been acting on them big-time. This so-called "conservative" wants absolute and total power to fight whatever war he wants, and in whatever way he wants, and for as long as he may want.

Order Miller’s book from The Reading Room, and MakeThemAccountable gets a cut!


(Thanks to Mo Paul for the cartoon.)


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Would you trade your boy for oil?

“Asked by a reporter about an ‘inevitable’ attack on Iraq, he snapped back: ‘I'm the person who gets to decide, and not you.’” – The Observer (U.K.), September 1, 2002
(Thanks to Bush Speaks for the photograph.)


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We're arresting people. I bet you we've hauled in over 2,500 folks so far -- not only just America, but other countries that are -- have heard the call. By the way, about equal number have not been quite so lucky. So we're making progress. (Laughter.) But we've got a lot of work to do. You just need to know, we've got a lot of work to do. They're still out there. They still hate. They don't value life like we value life. [Emphasis added.] Every life precious to America, to our culture. That's not the way they think. - White House press release, August 22, 2002

I spent a year and a half in Vietnam during the war, and I can assure you that THE U.S. MILITARY SAID EXACTLY THE SAME THING ABOUT THE VIETNAMESE.  The Bush administration understands that you have to hate your enemy and to believe that he’s less than human to make it easier to pull that trigger.


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Bush planned to announce the decision [to reject $5.1 billion in spending, mostly programs he does not endorse] at the [8/13/02 economic] forum. When a senior administration official revealed the plan tonight, a higher-level official said Bush might postpone the announcement to teach his staff a lesson about leaking. [Emphasis added.] - The New York Times, August 12, 2002


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It was a quick shift from angry statesman to Sunday golfer.

Bush rose before dawn for a round of golf with his father, but was distressed to learn of another suicide bombing in Israel.

“‘There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started. We must not let them, he said, wagging his finger for emphasis, just as his cart pulled up to the first hole at the Cape Arundel Golf Club.

The six-sentence statement complete, Bush thanked reporters, then smirked and ordered: Now watch [this] drive.’” [Emphasis added.] – Associated Press, August 4, 2002

Click here to listen.  (Recorded from the Doug Stephan show on 8/5/02.  Co-host Nancy Skinner's voice can be heard in the clip.)


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Speaking of Army Secretary Thomas White, who apparently was among those executives who got rich helping to defraud the employees and stockholders by hiding losses at Enron, “‘As long as they're hitting you on Enron, they're not hitting me,’ said Bush, according to this Army official. ‘That's your job. You're the lightning rod for this administration.’” – Joshua Green, Washington Monthly, July/August 2002


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“According to Timesman Jack Malvern, liberal politician Shirley Williams -- also known as the Baroness Williams of Crosby -- recently recounted to an audience in Brighton that ‘my good friend Tony Blair’ told her the following anecdote: ‘Blair, Bush and [French President] Jacques Chirac were discussing economics and, in particular, the decline of the French economy. “The problem with the French,” Bush confided to Blair, “is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur.”’” [Emphasis added.] – Washington Post, July 10, 2002


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“A senior administration official told reporters that Bush ‘derived’ his speech in part from the teachings of a wide range of philosophers, from Aristotle and Adam Smith to de Tocqueville and Pope John Paul II.

Asked if Bush had every read any of their works, the official said: ‘We've fully discussed all these ... issues.’ [Emphasis added.] – Reuters, June 14, 2002


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“President Bush dismissed today a report put out by his administration warning that human activities are behind climate change that is having significant effects on the environment.

“The report to the United Nations, written by the Environmental Protection Agency, puts most of the blame for recent global warming on the burning of fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the environment.

“But it suggests nothing beyond voluntary action by industry for dealing with the so-called ‘greenhouse’ gases…

“‘I read the report put out by the bureaucracy,’ Bush said dismissively today when asked about the EPA report, adding that he still opposes the Kyoto treaty.” [Emphasis added.] – ABC News, June 4, 2002


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“For a moment it looked as if Jacques Chirac had swallowed something unpleasant. The French president gazed uncomprehendingly at George W. Bush, his lips pursing and then opening in what looked like a Gallic gasp for air.

“It was halfway into a press conference in the Elysée Palace on Sunday afternoon and Mr Bush had just stumbled his way through another answer, forgetting part of the question and joking at his own lack of focus. ‘That's what happens when you get past 55,’ he cracked. [Emphasis added.]

“Not only is Mr Chirac about to turn 70 but his advanced age was, for a while, a sensitive issue in the presidential election campaign just finished.

“It was as though Mr Chirac had gone to Washington a few weeks after Mr Bush's inauguration and made flippant remarks about the unreliability of recounts and the role of patrimony in American presidential politics.” – Gerard Baker, Financial Times, May 29 2002


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Country come to town

“While traveling in Europe this past week, President Bush proposed a novel plan for dealing with Russia's old nuclear weapons. He said industrialized countries would pay $20 billion ‘to help Russia securitize the dismantled nuclear warheads.’ [Emphasis added.]

“Many people assumed Bush misspoke and intended to ‘secure’ the nuclear material. Presumably he did not mean the literal definition of ‘securitize,’ which is to turn a commodity into a stock that can be traded -- Russian nukes on the Chicago Board of Trade.

“The phrase was one of several artful ones Bush employed in his European tour. At the U.S. ambassador's home in Moscow, he weighed in on an issue involving the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote about ‘inalienable’ rights. Linguists have suggested that ‘unalienable’ is the proper word. Bush offered a third possibility: ‘uninalienable rights.’ [Emphasis added.]

“At other points, Bush brought his Texas folksiness to the capitals of Europe. Arriving for a caviar dinner at Russian President Vladimir Putin's country residence, Bush viewed the immaculate grounds and told his host: ‘Nice of you to mow the grass for us.’ At the French president's palace, he noted that Jacques Chirac is ‘always saying that the food here is fantastic.’” [Emphasis added.] – Dana Milbank, The Washington Post, May 28, 2002


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Agence France-Presse

     "So you go to a protest and I drive through the streets of Berlin, seeing hundreds of people lining the road, waving," Mr. Bush muttered to NBC News White House correspondent David Gregory during a joint press conference with Mr. Chirac.
     "I don't view hostility here," Mr. Bush said in the ornate Palais de l'Elysee. "I view the fact that we've got a lot of friends here."
     He added: "And the fact that protesters show up — that's good. I mean, I'm in a democracy."
     Mr. Bush was responding to Mr. Gregory's question about anti-American demonstrations in Germany, Russia and France during the president's visits to these nations since Wednesday.
     "I wonder why it is you think there are such strong sentiments in Europe against you and against this administration?" the reporter said. "Why, particularly, there's a view that you and your administration are trying to impose America's will on the rest of the world, particularly when it comes to the Middle East and where the war on terrorism goes next?"
     Turning to Mr. Chirac, he added in French: "And, Mr. President, would you maybe comment on that?"
     "Very good," Mr. Bush said sardonically. "The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he's intercontinental." [Emphasis added.]
     "I can go on," Mr. Gregory offered.
     "I'm impressed — que bueno," said Mr. Bush, using the Spanish phrase for "how wonderful." He deadpanned: "Now I'm literate in two languages."
     Roars of laughter filled both the press conference room and a press filing center elsewhere in the city, where many members of the White House press corps were watching the exchange on live television. –  Bill Sammon, Washington Times, May 27, 2002

Go to MediaResearch.org to view a video of part of the exchange.


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“As his advisers scared the nation stiff with talk of doomsday, Shrub immersed himself in a hectic, heavyweight schedule…

“[T]he president spent Tuesday, May 21, socializing with this year's NCAA champions. He met with the University of Maryland men's basketball team (the Terrapins), the Connecticut women's basketball squad (the Huskies), and the Minnesota men and women hockey skaters (the Bulldogs).

“Through all this, the Homeland Security office never changed its alert from yellow, insisting the tips were too vague. They couldn't have been much vaguer than Bush. "The FBI director, yesterday, I talked to him. He comes in every morning, by the way," Bush explained before taking off for Europe. "So this subject, he came up this morning. He was talking about, he was speculating based upon a lot of intelligence that indicates that the Al Qaeda is active, plotting, planning, you know, trying to hit us. So he was speculating. He basically said, Look, I wouldn't be surprised if there is another attack, and it's going to be difficult to stop them, is what he said."

“With that, the commander left his now jittery homeland on Wednesday, May 22, for ice cream in Berlin and another groundbreaking effort: condemning Hitler.” – James Ridgeway, Village Voice, May 25, 2002


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A man reads a copy of the left-leaning German newspaper "Tageszeitung" in Berlin May 24, 2002, one day after U.S. President George W. Bush gave a key note speech in the German lower house of parliament Bundestag. The front page of the Friday edition is almost completely blank and shows a cartoon of Bush with an empty speech bubble under the headline "Bush's historic speech". [Emphasis added. Click on the picture for a larger version.] – Reuters, May 24, 2002


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“[D]uring the news conference, Mr. Bush used a line about Saddam Hussein that he frequently employs at home, calling him "a dictator who gassed his own people." But it was striking in the context of Berlin: Mr. Bush spoke just a mile from the gathering point where, 60 years ago, Berlin's Jews were collected for transport to the concentration camps where many of them were gassed as well.” – The New York Times, May 24, 2002

And then there’s this:

“The US has admitted that it deliberately sprayed nerve gas on its sailors in the 1960s as part of a series of tests, and the government has begun contacting those involved to discover what damage may have been done to their health.” – The Guardian, May 25, 2002


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“President Bush spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday about his fears for himself and his family in the hours after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling a German television reporter he was trying to get out of harm's way before returning to the White House.” [Emphasis added.] Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2002


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White House officials told reporters that the blunt warnings issued yesterday and Sunday [about possible terrorist attacks in the United States] do not reflect a dramatic increase in threatening information but rather a desire to fend off criticism from the Democrats. [Emphasis added.] Toronto Globe and Mail , May 21, 2002   


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Do you have blacks too?” - Bush asks of Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso as reported in Der Spiegel.

Approximate translation of the last paragraph of the article, by a MakeThemAccountable reader: “[National Security Adviser Condoleezza] Rice, 47, who noticed how the Brazilian was stunned by the question, saved the situation by explaining to Bush, ‘Mr. President, Brazil probably has more blacks than the US; they say it's the country with the most blacks outside Africa.’ Afterwards Brazil's President Cardoso judged that, as far as Latin America is concerned, Bush is ‘still an apprentice.’” – Der Spiegel, May 19, 2002


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Honor and Dignity in the White House, according to BuzzFlash.com:

President Bush treated journalists to never-before-seen pictures of the White House on Saturday, including one in which Vice President Dick Cheney appears to be urinating on the door of his Oval Office. [Emphasis added.]

Dick, I hope you're not doing what it looks like you're doing, Bush quipped as he narrated a slide show at the 88th annual dinner of the White House Correspondents Association.” Reuters, May 5, 2002


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Bush thinks his subversion of democracy in November and December of 2000 is funny:

Bush … chuckled in church as the minister, Michael Taylor, invoked hand-counted ballots and contested elections in his Easter sermon. [Emphasis added.]  Associated Press, March 31, 2002


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Bush thinks he's at war with Democrats.  Thanks to Democrats.com for this tip.

President Bush collected $2.6 million for Republican Senate candidates in two states Wednesday, hours after signing a campaign finance bill that will restrict political fund-raising. ‘I'm not going to lay down my arms,’ Bush said.” [Emphasis added.]  CBS News, March 28, 2002  


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“Sept. 11 confirmed for [Bush] that God had chosen him for a purpose, and showed him what that purpose is [fighting terrorism].” [Emphasis added.]  The New York Times, March 23, 2002


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Karl Rove inadvertently reveals George Bush's mean streak:

“‘We're not going to have a pleasant day today [in the Senate],’ Rove told the Family Research Council at the Willard Hotel, according to a tape recording given to The Washington Post by an attendee. ‘. . . This is not about a good man, Charles Pickering. This is about the future. This is about the U.S. Supreme Court. And this is about sending George W. Bush a message that “You send us somebody that is a strong conservative, you're not going to get him.”

“‘Guess what?’ Rove added. ‘They sent the wrong message to the wrong guy.’” [Emphasis added.]  Washington Post, March 20, 2002


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Speaking to 200 Hispanic business leaders at the White House on Wednesday, March 6, 2002:

Bush made light of last year's California energy crisis, despite fact that his buddies at Enron helped caused the shortage, and used their substantial influence with the administration, purchased by massive campaign contributions and massive expenditures on lobbying, to keep the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from approving price caps.  (Click here to listen.)

In addition, Bush said that on his upcoming visit to Peru, he will work with Andean nations on the cultivation of cocoa leaves. (Click here to listen. He does not say that he is the president of Mexico, although it sounds like it at first.)  

These clips were recorded via the Internet, from the 3/7/02 Mike Malloy Show.


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When Stevie Wonder sat down at the keyboard center stage, President Bush in the front row got very excited. He smiled and started waving at Wonder, who understandably did not respond. After a moment Bush realized his mistake and slowly dropped the errant hand back to his lap. ‘I know I shouldn't have,’ a witness told us yesterday, ‘but I started laughing.’” [Emphasis added.] Washington Post, March 6, 2002  

The Urban Legends website, Snopes, claims that the above blurb is not true, but the Washington Post has not retracted it.


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Bush simply outdid himself at Eden Prairie Middle School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota on Monday March 4, 2002.  He was in Minnesota to raise campaign money for Republicans, but made some obligatory policy statements so as to charge us, the taxpayers, for most of his trip. 

He got all bollixed up over where Osama Bin Laden might be. (Click here to listen.)

He claimed that the recent American military deaths in Afghanistan were "worth it."  (Click here to listen.)

And he seems to have decided that he served in Vietnam.  We know, of course that he did not.  He served in a special unit of the Texas Air National Guard instead of going to Vietnam, and he didn't serve his full six-year commitment. (Click here to listen.)

These clips were recorded via the Internet, from the 3/5/02 Mike Malloy Show.

President George W. Bush bows his head in prayer at the beginning of a fund raising dinner in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 4, 2002. The dinner was to raise money to support Norm Coleman in his 2002 Senate bid. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
- Mar 04 7:42 PM ET

Praying for campaign dollars?


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“Even though George W. Bush is president, Neil Bush can still see in him the 16-year-old who gave him and his younger brother 10 seconds to start running down the hall before firing BB pellets at them.” [Emphasis added.]  Utah County Daily Herald, March 2, 2002


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While campaigning for Elizabeth Dole in South Carolina, the trip mostly paid for by us, the taxpayers:  

“You know, I was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any time where the budget might have to go into deficit?  I said only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in recession.  (Laughter.)  Little did I realize we'd get the trifecta.  (Laughter.)”  [Emphasis added.] White House press release dated February 27, 2002

Click here to hear it for yourself. (Recorded by Marty from the Mike Malloy Show -  Mike got it from network news tapes.  Re-recorded by Caro, just to make sure it never goes away.)

And besides, the statement itself is a lie.  Why tell such a lie?

“[The ‘trifecta’ joke’s] entire purpose clearly is to blame the deficit on Sept. 11 and its aftermath. It lets Bush escape any serious questions about either his failure to balance the budget or, particularly, his campaign pledge to use the Social Security Trust Fund to pay down the national debt. The national tragedy gave him unparalleled political cover for his administration’s failures — and Bush has displayed no hesitation whatsoever about using it. Indeed, it has become his favorite joke.” MSNBC.com, June 27, 2002


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No wonder I think they’re evil.*” [Emphasis added.] – George W. Bush, after being told of a historic attack on U.S. troops by North Koreans wielding axes Associated Press, February 20, 2002

*MakeThemAccountable Bushspeak translator:  “No wonder my handlers tell me they're evil.”


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State Department version: My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. (Applause.) 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. [Emphasis added.  I have archived this page, in case they try to change it.—Caro]

Click here to hear it for yourself. (Recorded by Caro from the BBC website recording.)

One small thing he forgot:

Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941

Original White House version: My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. (Applause.)  It begins here because for half a century now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times.  [Emphasis added.]  February 18, 2002

Now changed toIt 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. And in that peace, the world has witnessed the broad advance of prosperity and democracy throughout East Asia. **(half a century)


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Traders couldn't believe their ears when Bush relayed to a news conference that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, outlining his plans to revive Japan's economy, had placed equal emphasis in their talks on banks’ non-performing loans, ‘the devaluation issue’' and regulatory reform... Most traders doubted Koizumi would have publicly mused about devaluation and assumed that Bush, famous for gaffes such as a pledge to ‘put food on your family,’' had meant to say ‘the deflation issue.’' But some dealers decided not to take the risk and briefly pushed the yen down to 132.80 per dollar from 132.55. [Emphasis added.] — Reuters, February 18, 2002 (archived at MakeThemAccountable.com)


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“US Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen told NBC's Bob Costas that W told her he couldn't stay to watch any events at the [2002 Winter Olympic] games because I've got a war to fight. Bush then boarded Air Force One and flew to Nebraska.” [Emphasis added.] Barry Crimmins, February 13, 2002


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“New York Times reporter Frank Bruni, who was assigned to cover Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign and the first eight months of Bush's presidency, describes the 43rd President of the United States as affable and good-natured, but shallow and largely clueless about many aspects of the culture of the nation he heads.” [Emphasis added.]  New York Daily News, February 10, 2002 (archived at MakeThemAccountable.com)


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“[T]he [Alexandra] Pelosi video [the documentary “Journeys with George”] does not pan across the full landscape of the campaign. Cut down from hundreds of hours of footage and put together in her New York City apartment, what it does capture is a never-before-seen view of the cutup former Deke fraternity president…” [Emphasis added.]  Time, February 10, 2002


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President Bush and his aides have quietly pushed to expand the year-long probe into alleged vandalism by departing Clinton staffers, the Daily News has learned.” [Emphasis added.]  New York Daily News, February 09, 2002 (Click on the photo to see the utter devastation.)

 


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“In a move that will not necessarily reassure critics of the US war on terrorism or its treatment of detained al-Qaida and Taliban fighters President George Bush has revealed the principle behind his offensive: baseball.

He keeps track of the most wanted members of al-Qaida on a scorecard, so that he can cross off their faces as they are killed. [Emphasis added.]

“‘One time early on, I said, “I'm a baseball fan, I want a scorecard”,’ Mr Bush told the Washington Post. ‘When you're fighting an enemy like al-Qaida, people - including me - don't have a sense of who we're fighting. And I actually have got a chart,’ Mr Bush said. — The Guardian, February 4, 2002


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“In a typical anecdote, [Frank] Bruni [author of Ambling into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush] describes Bush mugging and wiggling his eyebrows at campaign reporters during an otherwise somber September 1999 memorial service for the victims of a mass murderer who killed seven worshipers in a Fort Worth church..” [Emphasis added.]  Washington Post, January 29, 2002  


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For those who worry about how I say things, my attitude is, ‘Too bad.’” [Emphasis added.] — George W. Bush, January 23, 2002  (archived at MakeThemAccountable.com)


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“According to both the Washington Post and the Washington Times, the current phase of the campaign to turn Daschle into Satan was ordered by the President himself, shortly after Thanksgiving.” [Emphasis added.] The New Yorker, January 21, 2002 Issue

Interesting that the above article says both the Washington Post and the Washington Times reported that George Bush ordered the Daschle demonization, but I can't find an article on the topic on either website.


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All in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me. [Emphasis added.  Apparently the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001 and waging a war against Afghanistan weigh lightly on Bush.] George Bush, December 21, 2001


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“Bush promised during the presidential campaign to avoid tapping Social Security except in cases of war, recession or a national emergency. ‘Lucky me. I hit the trifecta,’ Bush told Daniels shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the budget director.” [Emphasis added.] — Miami Herald, November 29, 2001 (archived at the Internet Archive)


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“[Bush] promised to press on even if public support wavers ‘because I think it's the right thing to do. That's [fighting terrorism] what I am supposed to do.’” [Emphasis added.]  CNN.com, October 17, 2001


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“[Bush] believes, [his friends and advisers] say, that he has come face to face with his life's mission, the task by which he will be defined and judged... ‘I think, in his frame, this [fighting terrorism] is what God has asked him to do,’ the acquaintance said. ‘It offers him enormous clarity.’” [Emphasis added.] The New York Times, September 22, 2001


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Speaking of the September 11 attacks:  "I said at the time, through my tears, I see opportunity.” [Emphasis added.] transcript of President George W. Bush's Media Availability During Photo Op With Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Sept. 19, 2001, archived by the Washington Post


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“In Florida, Bush was reading to children in a classroom at 9:05 a.m. when his chief of staff, Andrew Card, whispered into his ear. The president briefly turned somber before he resumed reading. He addressed the tragedy about a half-hour later.” [Emphasis added.] DetroitNow News, September 11, 2001


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A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it. [Emphasis added.] — George W. Bush, July 26, 2001


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  Who cares what you think? [Emphasis added.] 
George W. Bush, July 4, 2001

 


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“Is this real life or is it cruel satire? The scene is the Oval Office. The time is early April 2001. The United States and China are locked in a stand-off with 24 American aircrew held captive, their spy plane downed. Behind the desk is President George W Bush, grilling his aides on this complex diplomatic confrontation. Just as John F Kennedy interrogated his advisers during the Cuban missile crisis, so it falls to Bush to put the single question that might get to the heart of this superpower showdown.

“So what does Bush ask? Do the members of the crew have Bibles? Why don't they have Bibles? Can we get them Bibles? Would they like Bibles?’” [Emphasis added.]  The Guardian , April 25, 2001

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If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator. [Emphasis added.] — George W. Bush, December 18, 2000


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‘We were terrible to animals,’ recalled [Bush childhood friend] Mr. Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush home turned into a small lake after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out.  ‘Everybody would get BB guns and shoot them,’ [Bush buddy Terry] Throckmorton said. ‘Or we'd put firecrackers in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.’  [Emphasis added.]
The New York Times, May 21, 2000 (archived at MakeThemAccountable.com)


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George [Bush] tells [conservative commentator Tucker] Carlson that he watched the Larry King interview with [condemned murderess Karla Faye] Tucker while she was on death row. Bush says, ‘(King) asked her real difficult questions like, What would you say to Governor Bush?’ ‘What was her answer?" Carlson asks. Bush ‘whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation....Please...don't kill me,’ Bush says, pretending to be Karla Baye [sic] Tucker. ‘I must (have) looked shocked,’ Carlson writes, ‘ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush--because he immediately stops smirking.’[Emphasis added.]  Jerry Politex, August 15, 1999


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Ten years ago, at the 1988 Republican Convention, Hartford Courant associate editor David Fink struck up a conversation with George W. ‘When you're not talking politics,’ Fink asked the vice president's son, ‘what do you and [your father] talk about?’ ‘Pussy,’ George W. replied.[Emphasis added.] Jake Tapper, Salon.com, April 9, 1999


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Bush learned elitism from his Poppy.

“Nobody cares about national security. It's all a money game. This is directly pursuant to what George [H.W.] Bush said in 1992 about the continuous ‘consolidation of power and money into higher, tighter, and righter hands.’ This stems from the belief that the people are nothing more than fodder for the schemes and ambitions of those that govern them. Keep the people simple Keep the people stupid.” [Emphasis added.] Al Martin

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More at Slate magazine's The Complete Bushisms

 

Last changed: April 03, 2004