"The war on terror involved Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."
--GWB; Grand Rapids, MI; 29 January 2002
"We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile."
--GWB; Des Moines, IA; 21 August 2000
"I read the newspaper."
--GWB; In answer to a question about his reading habits; New Hampshire Republican debate; 2 December 1999
"They misunderestimated me."
--GWB; Bentonville, AR; 6 November 2000
"Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes."
--GWB; Ontario, CA; 5 January 2002
"I don't have to accept their tenants. I was trying to convince those college students to accept my tenants. And I reject any labeling me because I happened to go to the university."
--GWB; Today; 23 Februrary 2000
"When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you exactly who they were. It was us vs. them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there."
--GWB; Iowa Western Community College; 21 January 2000
"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."
--GWB; Washington, DC; 13 March 2002
"And so, in my State of the--my State of the Union--or state--my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation--I asked Americans to give 4,000 years--4,000 hours over the next--the rest of your life--of service to America. That's what I asked--4,000 hours."
--GWB; Bridgeport, CT; 9 April 2002
"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."
--GWB; To the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute; Washington, DC; 22 May 2001
"The important question is, how many hands have I shaked?"
--GWB; Answering a question about why he hasn't spent more time in New Hampshire; the New York Times; 23 October 1999
"Brie and cheese."
--GWB; What he imagines reporters eat; Crawford, TX; 23 August 2001
"Keep good relations with the Grecians."
--GWB; As quoted in the Economist; 12 June 1999
"[T]he best way to find these terrorists who hide in holes is to get people coming forth to describe the location of the hole, is to give clues and data."
--GWB; Washington, DC; 15 December 2003
"More Muslims have died at the hands of killers than--I say more Muslims--a lot of Muslims have died--I don't know the exact count--at Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world where there's been tremendous death and destruction because killers kill."
--GWB; Washington, DC; 29 January 2004
"I've got very good relations with President Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdallah and the King of Jordan, Gulf Coast countries."
--GWB; Washington, DC; 29 May 2003
"The only things that I can tell you is that every case I have reviewed I have been comfortable with the innocence or guilt of the person that I've looked at. I do not believe we've put a guilty....I mean innocent person to death in the state of Texas."
--GWB; All Things Considered, NPR; 16 June 2000
"Home is important. It's important to have a home."
--GWB; Crawford, TX; 18 Februrary 2001
Gov. Bush: Because the picture on the newspaper. It just seems so un-American to me, the picture of the guy storming the house with a scared little boy [Elián González] there. I talked to my little brother, Jeb--I haven't told this to many people. But he's the governor of--I shouldn't call him my little brother--my brother, Jeb, the great governor of Texas.
Jim Lehrer: Florida.
Gov. Bush: Florida. The state of the Florida.
--GWB; The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer; 27 April 2000
"If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow."
--GWB; Rochester, NY; 7 January 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."
--GWB; Grand Rapids, Mich.; 3 November 2000
"We had a good cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Secretary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world."
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 1 August 2003
"Governor, thank you very much. I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport."
--GWB; Arlington, VA; 2 October 2001
"The students at Yale came from all different backgrounds and all parts of the country. Within months, I knew many of them."
--GWB; From A Charge to Keep, by George W. Bush; published November 1999
"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures."
--GWB; U.S. News & World Report; 3 January 2000
"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbour just like you like to be liked yourself."
--GWB; Financial Times; 14 January 2000
"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically."
--GWB; Radio-Television Correspondents Association dinner; Washington, D.C.; 29 March 2001
"I'm not a very good novelist. But it'd make a pretty interesting novel."
--GWB; Austin, TX; 5 December 2000
"I talked about making the death tax permanent so that Rolf can pass his assets from--to a family member if he so chooses."
--GWB; After meeting with small-business owners; O'Fallon, Missouri; 18 March 2002
"I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists."
--GWB; Newsweek; 28 February 2000
"So thank you for reminding me about the importance of being a good mom and a great volunteer as well."
--GWB; St. Louis; 5 January 2004
"The reason I believe in a large tax cut is because it's what I believe."
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 18 December 2000
"Iran would be dangerous if they have a nuclear weapon."
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 18 June 2003.
"It's your money. You paid for it."
--GWB; LaCrosse, WI; 18 October 2000
"Arbolist...look up the word. I don't know; Maybe I made it up. Anyway, it's an arbo-tree-ist, somebody who knows about trees."
--GWB; USA Today; 21 August 2001
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
--GWB; Florence, SC; 11 January 2000
"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."
--GWB; New York Daily Times; 23 April 2002
"And if you're interested in the quality of education, and you're paying attention to what you hear at Laclede, why don't you volunteer? Why don't you mentor a child how to read?"
--GWB; St Louis; 5 January 2004
"I recently met with the finance minister of the Palestinian Authority, was very impressed by his grasp of finances."
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 29 May 2003
"Do you have blacks, too?"
--GWB; to Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso; Washington, D.C.; 8 November 2001
"The 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."
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 10 April 2001
"We'll be a great country where the fabrics are made up of groups and loving centres."
--GWB; Kalamazoo, MI; 27 March 2001
"I'm the master of low expections."
--GWB; Aboard Air Force One; 4 June 2003
"The most important job is not the be governor, or first lady in my case"
--GWB; Pella, IA; as quoted by the San Antonio Express-News; 30 January 2000
"The best way to relieve families from time is to let them keep some of their own money."
--GWB; Westminster, California; 13 September 2000
"I understand small business growth. I was one."
--GWB; New York daily News; 19 February 2000
"I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavour for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves"
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 21 September 2003
"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
--GWB; Townsend, TN; 21 February 2001
"I think we agree, the past is over."
--GWB; Meeting with John McCain, quoted in the Dallas Morning News; 10 May 2000
"First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country."
--GWB; On the Kyoto Protocol in an interview with the Washington Post; 23 April 2001
"We're concerned about AIDS in our White House--make no mistake about it."
--GWB; Washington, D.C.; 7 February 2001
Updated Wed Nov 16 17:03:42 EST 2005
Dan Ponte <dcp1990@neptune.atopia.net>
Generated by bushisms.awk -- valid xhtml/1.1
Mencken and Nathan's Ninth Law of The Average American: The quality of a champagne is judged by the amount of noise the cork makes when it is popped.