Bushisms: And you can quote him on that

Gonna miss Dubya when he leaves office in January.

Never thought I’d say such a thing about the worst president I’ve ever lived under, did you?

(Naw, I guess I can’t say he’s the worst, not with Richard Nixon in the pack.)

In Friday’s AJC I caught a Bushism, as the press calls the 21st century malapropisms that season many an otherwise bland address. So popular are Bushisms with the press that they wait for the next one to drop in their laps.

The man can deliver a speech. Thank heaven he doesn’t have to write them. But when he finishes the speech in the teleprompter in front of him, he’s on his own, and we listen carefully for his tangled syntax.

As usual, I went a-Googling and found pages of quotations and directions to more. The ones I’ve quoted are mostly from www.About.com and the website, The Truth About George W. Bush. Both sources affirm that they flew direct from the president’s mouth during public events.

Here’s the one I saw last week. It tickled me because we’ve tasted the German spring delicacy Spargel – asparagus – and we must agree. The stalks are white and tender, the Spargel having been grown carefully in darkness.

In a news conference in Germany, President Bush expressed his appreciation for the state dinner the evening before, “Laura and I loved our dinner last night. For those in the German press who thought I didn’t like asparagus, you’re wrong. The German asparagus are fabulous.”

The problem here has no bearing on how asparagus is grown. The problem here has to do with a singular subject and a plural verb.

Here are some words of wisdom from George W. Bush, leader of the free world:

• “The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law.”

• “They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program.”

• “Never again in the halls of Washington, D.C., do I want to have to make explanations that I can't explain.”

• “Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness.”

• “I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've read – understand reality. If you're asking me as the president, would I understand reality, I do.”

• “It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.”

• “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe – I believe what I believe is right.”

• “I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically.”

• “The senator has got to understand if he's going to have – he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road.”

• “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”

• “Then I went for a run with the other dog and just walked. And I started thinking about a lot of things. I was able to – I can't remember what it was. Oh, the inaugural speech, started thinking through that.”

• “This is a – this is any strike's a tough – tough situation, but this is a this one happens to come at – or a lockout is a tough situation, or no work is a tough situation – is to come at bad time.”

• “I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.”

• “I've got very good relations with President Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdullah and the King of Jordan, Gulf Coast countries.”

• “The other thing, it turns out, in this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis, you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, how do you think my standing will be?”

• “They misunderestimated me.”

non-Bushism's, just for fun...

Submitted by Main Stream on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 10:22am.

Notable quotes NOT from Bush, but right on target regarding politics in general:

* "My country right or wrong" is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober" - G.K.Chesterton

* Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. - George Bernard Shaw

* Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it. - P.J. O'Rourke

* The secret of the demagogue is to make himself stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he. - Karl Kraus

* If you want to find a politician free of any influence, you can find Adolf Hitler, who made up his own mind. - Eugene McCarthy

* We need a president who's fluent in at least one language - Buck Henry

* War is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; finally, the surprise that everyone's worse off. - Karl Kraus

* War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. - Ambrose Bierce

* After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood. - Fred Thompson

* I have long contended that, however many zillion dollars the federal government costs us, we get it all back and more in the form of quality entertainment. - Dave Barry

login to post comments

Unless you were sleeping

Submitted by aliquando on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 8:22pm.

During the years 1976-1980, your omission of the Carter administration demonstrates your lack of objectivity. Due to the Pathetic economy, this was the only time in my life I truly felt poor and helpless. The country was in the crapper, and the Democrats ran the House, Senate, Scotus, and the Potus. At least under the Bush administration Bald Eagles returned to Fayette County! ButI digress.

login to post comments

To many

Submitted by JeffC on Tue, 06/24/2008 - 8:09pm.

to pick from but this one sums up the administration so well and he doesn't even misspeak!

Now watch this drive!

login to post comments

Guess which Presidents said the following

Submitted by aliquando on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 11:22pm.

"Agression unopposed becomes a contagious disease".

"Everywhere that freedom stirs, let tyrants fear".

" I believe that America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our people".

Now guess which President backed up the words with action. Talk is for people without intestinal fortitude. Why say something and not follow through with it?

login to post comments

Other notable quotables

Submitted by JAFO 72 on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 8:00am.

Aliquando,

I'm right behind you this one. Here's some other great quotes from the "other" side:

"First I voted for the $87 Billion, then I voted against it."

"The windfall profits should be taken away from those companies..."

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

"We live in the greastest country in the world...help me change it."

"I remember landing under sniper fire," she recalled. She and her retinue were then sent "running with our heads down to our vehicles."

While President Bush may not be the most eloquent of speakers, he doesn't "mis-speak", which is Democrat for lying. That last quote of heroine bravery was told not once, but four times in as many months. That mis-speaking, that is just a blatant lie. If you tell it enough it becomes the truth, right?

Here's the best one ever from Bob Hope in the movie "The Ghost Busters" 1940:

Guy on the right: "A zombie has no will of his own. You see them sometimes, walking around blindly, with dead eyes, following orders, not knowing what they do, not caring."

Bob Hope: "You mean like Democrats?"

"The one constant in all of your failed relationships is you."

login to post comments

Aliquando, I almost appreciate your reflexive defense...

Submitted by AF A-10 on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 5:09am.

of this administration, but when you speak of words being "backed up," what do you suppose Osama Bin Laden, the man that many of you conservative amigos are willing to write off as "probably dead" or "no longer important" would say about that? When do you suppose the "mission" will be "accomplished?" Give or take three years? When do you think? Honestly?

Cheers,

Kevin "Hack" King

login to post comments

From reports I've read...

Submitted by Spyglass on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 9:52am.

Roadside bombings are down almost 90% from a year ago. That's progress. Frankly, I'm glad we have them on the run over there, and not here.

As to "comments" by the POTUS, has there ever been one who didn't speak out of turn? Not in my lifetime.

login to post comments

The first

Submitted by aliquando on Fri, 06/27/2008 - 9:50am.

The first quote is by Jimmy Carter. Honestly, I do not know. It is one thing to take out an organized military or government. One individual in that part of the world is logistically a serious challenge. We were close once, not sure if we will get that kind of chance again. They have not attacked our soil since then, and that should mean something.

login to post comments