(Believe it or Not

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

-- Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."

-- in Nashua, New Hampshire, Jan. 27, 2000

"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"

-- in Concord, New Hampshire Jan. 29, 2000

"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this

campaign."

-- Hilton Head, South Carolina, Feb. 16, 2000

"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."

-- Florence, South Carolina, Feb. 17, 2000

"I understand small business growth. I was one." -- New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000

The Complete Bushisms

Updated daily.

"The great thing about America is everybody should

vote."-Austin, Texas, Dec. 8, 2000

"Dick Cheney and I do not want this nation to be in a recession.

We want anybody who can find work to be able to find

work."-60 Minutes II, Dec. 5, 2000

"I knew it might put him in an awkward position that we had a

discussion before finality has finally happened in this presidential

race."

-Describing a phone call to Sen. John Breaux. Crawford,

Texas, Dec. 2, 2000

"As far as the legal hassling and wrangling and posturing in

Florida, I would suggest you talk to our team in Florida led by

Jim Baker."-Crawford, Texas, Nov. 30, 2000

"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's

job to interpret law."-Austin, Texas, Nov. 22, 2000

"They misunderestimated me."-Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

"Think about that. Two hundred and eighty-five new or

expanded programs, $2 trillion more in new spending, and not

one new bureaucrat to file out the forms or answer the

phones?"-Minneapolis, Nov. 1, 2000

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security

like it's some kind of federal program."-St. Charles, Mo., Nov.

2, 2000

"They said, 'You know, this issue doesn't seem to resignate with

the people.' And I said, you know something? Whether it

resignates or not doesn't matter to me, because I stand for doing

what's the right thing, and what the right thing is hearing the

voices of people who work."-Portland, Ore., Oct. 31, 2000

"Anyway, after we go out and work our hearts out, after you go

out and help us turn out the vote, after we've convinced the good

Americans to vote, and while they're at it, pull that old George

W. lever, if I'm the one, when I put my hand on the Bible, when

I put my hand on the Bible, that day when they swear us in,

when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not-to uphold

the laws of the land."-Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 27, 2000

"It's your money. You paid for it."-LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18,

2000

"That's a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st

century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of

the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century.

"-On the Lewinsky scandal, Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24,

2000

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is

important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living

in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."-Arlington

Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

"I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves

and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defense system so that

we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I

want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level

commiserate with keeping the peace."-Des Moines, Iowa, Oct.

23, 2000

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take

dream."-LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

"If I'm the president, we're going to have emergency-room care,

we're going to have gag orders."

"Drug therapies are replacing a lot of medicines as we used to

know it."

"It's one thing about insurance, that's a Washington term."

"I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a

gun."

"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."

"Quotas are bad for America. It's not the way America is all

about."

"If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for,

then I'm for it."-St. Louis, Mo., October 18, 2000

"Our priorities is our faith."-Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 10, 2000

"I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial

profiling, which is illiterate children."-Second presidential

debate, Oct. 11, 2000 (Thanks to Leonard Williams.)

"It's going to require numerous IRA agents."-On Gore's tax

plan, Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 10, 2000

"I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to

answer questions. I can't answer your question."-In response

to a question about whether he wished he could take back any

of his answers in the first debate. Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Oct. 4,

2000 (Thanks to Peter Feld.)

"I would have my secretary of treasury be in touch with the

financial centers, not only here but at home."-Boston, Oct. 3,

2000 (Thanks to M. Bateman.)

"I know the human being and fish can coexist

peacefully."-Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

"I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy."-Redwood, Calif.,

Sept. 27, 2000

"One of the common denominators I have found is that

expectations rise above that which is expected."-Los Angeles,

Sept. 27, 2000

"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and

more of our imports come from overseas."-Beaverton, Ore.,

Sep. 25, 2000

"Well, that's going to be up to the pundits and the people to make

up their mind. I'll tell you what is a president for him, for

example, talking about my record in the state of Texas. I mean,

he's willing to say anything in order to convince people that I

haven't had a good record in Texas."-MSNBC, Sept. 20, 2000

(Thanks to Gregory H. Monberg.)

"I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans."-Oprah,

Sept. 19, 2000

"A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an

economic illness."-The Edge With Paula Zahn, Sept. 18, 2000

"The woman who knew that I had dyslexia-I never

interviewed her."-Orange, Calif., Sept. 15, 2000

"The best way to relieve families from time is to let them keep

some of their own money."-Westminster, Calif., Sept. 13, 2000

"They have miscalculated me as a leader."-Ibid.

"I don't think we need to be subliminable about the differences

between our views on prescription drugs."-Orlando, Fla., Sept.

12, 2000

"This is what I'm good at. I like meeting people, my fellow

citizens, I like interfacing with them."-Outside Pittsburgh, Sept.

8, 2000

"That's Washington. That's the place where you find people

getting ready to jump out of the foxholes before the first shot is

fired."-Westland, Mich., Sept. 8, 2000

"Listen, Al Gore is a very tough opponent. He is the

incumbent. He represents the incumbency. And a challenger is somebody who

generally comes from the pack and wins, if you're going to win. And that's

where I'm coming from."-Detroit, Sept. 7, 2000 (Thanks to Michael

Butler, Houston, Texas.)

"We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country

called America will be the pacemakers."-Houston, Texas,

Sept. 6, 2000

"We don't believe in planners and deciders making the decisions

on behalf of Americans."-Scranton, Pa., Sept. 6, 2000

"I regret that a private comment I made to the vice presidential

candidate made it through the public airways."-Allentown, Pa.,

Sept. 5, 2000.

"The point is, this is a way to help inoculate me about what has

come and is coming."--on his anti-Gore ad, in an interview with

the New York Times, Sept. 2, 2000

"As governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public

schools, and I have met those standards."--CNN online chat,

Aug. 30, 2000

"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't

do it, that's trustworthiness."--Ibid.

"I don't know whether I'm going to win or not. I think I am. I do

know I'm ready for the job. And, if not, that's just the way it

goes."-Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 21, 2000

''This campaign not only hears the voices of the entrepreneurs

and the farmers and the entrepreneurs, we hear the voices of

those struggling to get ahead."-Ibid.

"We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation

hostile or hold our allies hostile.''-Ibid.

"I have a different vision of leadership. A leadership is someone

who brings people together."-Bartlett, Tenn., Aug. 18, 2000

(Thanks to Tarja Black.)

"I think he needs to stand up and say if he thought the president

were wrong on policy and issues, he ought to say

where."-Interview with the Associated Press, Aug. 11, 2000

(Thanks to Ryan Rhodes.)

"I want you to know that farmers are not going to be secondary

thoughts to a Bush administration. They will be in the

forethought of our thinking."-Salinas, Calif., Aug. 10, 2000

(Thanks to Kris Sester.)

"And if he continues that, I'm going to tell the nation what I think

about him as a human being and a person."-President George

H.W. Bush, on the Today show, Aug. 1, 2000

"You might want to comment on that, Honorable."--To New

Jersey's secretary of state, the Hon. DeForest Soaries Jr., as

quoted by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post, July 15, 2000

"This case has had full analyzation and has been looked at a lot.

I understand the emotionality of death penalty cases."--Seattle

Post-Intelligencer, June 23, 2000 (Thanks to Johnny Green.)

"States should have the right to enact reasonable laws and

restrictions particularly to end the inhumane practice of ending a

life that otherwise could live."-Cleveland, June 29, 2000

(Thanks to Douglas Basford.)

"Unfairly but truthfully, our party has been tagged as being

against things. Anti-immigrant, for example. And we're not a

party of anti-immigrants. Quite the opposite. We're a party that

welcomes people."-Cleveland, July 1, 2000 (Thanks to M.

Bateman.)

"The fundamental question is, 'Will I be a successful president

when it comes to foreign policy?' I will be, but until I'm the

president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I think I'll be

more effective."-In Wayne, Mich., as quoted by Katharine Q.

Seelye in the New York Times, June 28, 2000

"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." All

Things Considered, NPR, June 16, 2000 (Thanks to Andy

Nouraee.)

"I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've read-I

understand reality. If you're asking me as the president, would I

understand reality, I do."-On abortion, Hardball, MSNBC;

May 31, 2000

"There's not going to be enough people in the system to take

advantage of people like me."-On the coming Social Security

crisis; Wilton, Conn.; June 9, 2000 (Thanks to Andy Mais.)

"I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle

the job is underestimating."-U.S. News & World Report, April

3, 2000 (Thanks to Alfred Stanley, Austin, Texas.)

Bush: "First of all, Cinco de Mayo is not the independence day.

That's dieciséis de Septiembre, and ..."

Matthews: "What's that in English?"

Bush: "Fifteenth of September." (Dieciséis de Septiembre =

Sept. 16)

-Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000 (Thanks to numerous

readers.)

"Actually, I-this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I

like it. When I'm talking about-when I'm talking about myself,

and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about

me."-Ibid.

"This is a world that is much more uncertain than the past. In

the past we were certain, we were certain it was us versus the

Russians in the past. We were certain, and therefore we had

huge nuclear arsenals aimed at each other to keep the peace.

That's what we were certain of. ... You see, even though it's an

uncertain world, we're certain of some things. We're certain that

even though the 'evil empire' may have passed, evil still remains.

We're certain there are people that can't stand what America

stands for. ... We're certain there are madmen in this world, and

there's terror, and there's missiles and I'm certain of this, too:

I'm certain to maintain the peace, we better have a military of

high morale, and I'm certain that under this administration,

morale in the military is dangerously low."-Albuquerque, N.M.,

the Washington Post, May 31, 2000

"He has certainly earned a reputation as a fantastic mayor,

because the results speak for themselves. I mean, New York's

a safer place for him to be."-On Rudy Giuliani, The Edge With

Paula Zahn, May 18, 2000 (Thanks to Peter Goldman.)

"The fact that he relies on facts-says things that are not

factual-are going to undermine his campaign."-New York

Times, March 4, 2000 (Thanks to Garry Trudeau.)

"I think we agree, the past is over."-On his meeting with John

McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."--Reuters,

May 5, 2000 (Thanks to Allison Fansler.)

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 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.-The

NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, April 27, 2000

"I hope we get to the bottom of the answer. It's what I'm

interested to know."-On what happened in negotiations

between the Justice Department and Elián González's Miami

relatives, as quoted by the Associated Press, April 26, 2000

(Thanks to Saul Selzer.)

"Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is

sometimes until we get an objective analysis."-Meet the Press,

April 15, 2000

"You subscribe politics to it. I subscribe freedom to

it."-Responding to a question about whether he and Al Gore

were making the Elián González case a political issue. In Palm

Beach, Fla., as quoted by the Associated Press, April 6, 2000

(Thanks to Helen Kennedy.)

"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."-In Los Angeles as quoted by the Los Angeles

Times, April 8, 2000

"Reading is the basics for all learning."-Announcing his

"Reading First" initiative in Reston, Va., March 28, 2000

(Thanks to Carl LaRocca.)

"We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the

obligations, their obligations as teachers. We want them to know

how to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure

there's not this kind of federal-federal cufflink."-At Fritsche

Middle School, Milwaukee, March 30, 2000

"Other Republican candidates may retort to personal attacks and

negative ads."-Fund-raising letter from George W. Bush,

quoted in the Washington Post, March 24, 2000

"I've got a reason for running. I talk about a larger goal, which is

to call upon the best of America. It's part of the renewal. It's

reform and renewal. Part of the renewal is a set of high

standards and to remind people that the greatness of America

really does depend on neighbors helping neighbors and children

finding mentors. I worry. I'm very worried about, you know, the

kid who just wonders whether America is meant for him. I

really worry about that. And uh, so, I'm running for a reason.

I'm answering this question here and the answer is, you cannot

lead America to a positive tomorrow with revenge on one's

mind. Revenge is so incredibly negative. And so to answer your

question, I'm going to win because people sense my heart, know

my sense of optimism and know where I want to lead the

country. And I tease people by saying, 'A leader, you can't say,

follow me the world is going to be worse.' I'm an optimistic

person. I'm an inherently content person. I've got a great sense

of where I want to lead and I'm comfortable with why I'm

running. And, you know, the call on that speech was, beware.

This is going to be a tough campaign."-Interview with the

Washington Post, March 23, 2000

"People make suggestions on what to say all the time. I'll give

you an example; I don't read what's handed to me. People say,

'Here, here's your speech, or here's an idea for a speech.'

They're changed. Trust me."-Interview with the New York

Times, March 15, 2000

"It's evolutionary, going from governor to president, and this is a

significant step, to be able to vote for yourself on the ballot, and

I'll be able to do so next fall, I hope."-In an interview with the

Associated Press, March 8, 2000 (Thanks to Joshua Micah

Marshall.)

"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in

nature.''-Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2000

"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."-Today, Feb. 23, 2000

"I understand small business growth. I was one."-New York

Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000

"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."-To reporters in Florence, S.C., Feb. 17,

2000

"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

"I don't want to win? If that were the case why the heck am I

on the bus 16 hours a day, shaking thousands of hands, giving

hundreds of speeches, getting pillared in the press and cartoons

and still staying on message to win?"-Newsweek, Feb. 28,

2000

"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."-ibid.

"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and

principles, come and join this campaign."-Hilton Head, S.C.,

Feb. 16, 2000

"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system

that simply suckles kids through?"-Explaining the need for

educational accountability in Beaufort, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000

"We ought to make the pie higher."-South Carolina Republican

Debate, Feb. 15, 2000

"I do not agree with this notion that somehow if I go to try to

attract votes and to lead people toward a better tomorrow

somehow I get subscribed to some-some doctrine gets

subscribed to me."-Meet The Press, Feb. 13, 2000

"I've changed my style somewhat, as you know. I'm less-I

pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show.

And I'm more interacting with people."-ibid

"I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth to the middle

class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth."-Nashua,

N.H., as quoted by Gail Collins in the New York Times, Feb. 1,

2000

"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my

case."-Pella, Iowa, as quoted by the San Antonio

Express-News, Jan. 30, 2000

"Will the highways on the Internet become more

few?"-Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000

"This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what

you do when you run for president. You gotta

preserve."-Speaking during "Perseverance Month" at

Fairgrounds Elementary School in Nashua, N.H. As quoted in

the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 2000

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your

family."-Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan.

27, 2000

"What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas

they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they

delineate, quotas, I think vulcanize society. So I don't know how

that fits into what everybody else is saying, their relative

positions, but that's my position.''-Quoted by Molly Ivins, the

San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 21, 2000 (Thanks to Toni L.

Gould.)

"When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you

knew exactly who they were," he said. "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."-Iowa Western

Community College, Jan 21, 2000

"The administration I'll bring is a group of men and women who

are focused on what's best for America, honest men and

women, decent men and women, women who will see service to

our country as a great privilege and who will not stain the

house."-Des Moines Register debate, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2000

"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and

uncertainty and potential mential losses."-At a South Carolina

oyster roast, as quoted in the Financial Times, Jan. 14, 2000

"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like

you like to be liked yourself."-ibid.

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children

learning?"-Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

"Gov. Bush will not stand for the subsidation of failure."-ibid.

"There needs to be debates, like we're going through. There

needs to be town-hall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is

a huge country."-Larry King Live, Dec. 16, 1999

"I read the newspaper."-In answer to a question about his

reading habits, New Hampshire Republican Debate, Dec. 2,

1999

"I think it's important for those of us in a position of responsibility

to be firm in sharing our experiences, to understand that the

babies out of wedlock is a very difficult chore for mom and baby

alike. ... I believe we ought to say there is a different alternative

than the culture that is proposed by people like Miss Wolf in

society. ... And, you know, hopefully, condoms will work, but it

hasn't worked."-Meet the Press, Nov. 21, 1999

"The students at Yale came from all different backgrounds and

all parts of the country. Within months, I knew many of

them."-From A Charge To Keep, by George W. Bush,

published November 1999

"It is incredibly presumptive for somebody who has not yet

earned his party's nomination to start speculating about vice

presidents."-Keene, N.H., Oct. 22, 1999, quoted in the New

Republic, Nov. 15, 1999

"The important question is, How many hands have I

shaked?"-Answering a question about why he hasn't spent

more time in New Hampshire, in the New York Times, Oct. 23,

1999

"I don't remember debates. I don't think we spent a lot of time

debating it. Maybe we did, but I don't remember."-On

discussions of the Vietnam War when he was an undergraduate

at Yale, Washington Post, July 27, 1999

"The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned

first-hand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas."-To

a Slovak journalist as quoted by Knight Ridder News Service,

June 22, 1999. Bush's meeting was with Janez Drnovsek, the

prime minister of Slovenia.

"If the East Timorians decide to revolt, I'm sure I'll have a

statement."-Quoted by Maureen Dowd in the New York

Times, June 16, 1999

"Keep good relations with the Grecians."-Quoted in the

Economist, June 12, 1999

"Kosovians can move back in."-CNN Inside Politics, April 9,

1999

"It was just inebriating what Midland was all about

then."-From a 1994 interview, as quoted in First Son, by Bill

Minutaglio

Bush the Father!

e cannot gamble with inexperience in that Oval Office.

-While campaigning '88

Take out the word `Quayle' and insert the word `Bush' wherever it appears,

and that's the crap I took for eight years. Wimp. Sycophant. Lap dog.

Poop. Lightweight. Boop. Squirrel. Asshole. George Bush.

-defending his choice of Dan Quayle as his running mate.

You cannot be president of the United States if you don't have faith.

Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial and the Civil War

and all that stuff. And we are blessed. So don't feel sorry for - don't

cry for me, Argentina.

-Stressing the importance of prayer, while campaigning in New

Hampshire, 1/15/92.

We've got a little toy department to look at to get some stuff for the

grandchildren. `Slime' is the name of it, I believe. It's a toy.

-While Christmas shopping in Frederick, MD. Bush then

went to look for "that slime thing"

If frogs had wings, they'd let down their tail.

-At a press conference.

I think in politics there are certain moral values. I'm one who - we believe

strongly in the seperation of church and state, but when you get into some

questions, there are some moral overtones. Murder, that kind of thing, and I

feel a little, I will say, uncomfortable with the elevation of the religion

thing.

-On the TV show Meet the Press.

It's like Missouri, `Show me.' I'm from Missouri; we've got to see exactly

what's going on.

-at a press conference on Iraq's claim to complying

with UN resolutions.

So tomorrow there'll be another tidal wave, so keep your snorkel above the

water level and do what you think is right.

-When asked on forthcoming budget negotiations.

You know every day, many important papers come across the desk in that

marvelous Oval Office, and very few items remain there for long. Got to keep

that paper moving or you get inundated. Your snorkel will fill up and there

will be no justice.

-On the dificulty of keeping up with presidental duties.

Bush: It's a jungle out there.

Reporter: Are you getting frustrated with Gorbachev?

B: Did you hear about Tarzan and Jane?

R: No.

B: Tarzan came down and said, "Jane, I'll have a double. On the rocks." She

said, "Tarzan, you don't..." "I'll have another double on the rocks." He has a

third drink. Jane says, "What's the matter, Tarzan." He says, "It's a

jungle out there." Get it?

R: Yeah.

-At a golf-course news conference.

So far it did not reverberate in the negative there. The signature is being

checked through the master computer, which is located someplace else, and

we'll get an answer back after we leave.

-Using a signature-verifier at a National Grocers Association

conference in Orlando, Florida. This is the same place he was

amazed by a check out scanner saying "This is for checking out?"

There's no difference between me and the president on taxes. No more

nitpicking. Zip-ah-dee-doo-dah. Now, it's off to the races!

-responding to criticism that differences between himself and

Reagan on tax issues were creating a political liability.

I say the same thing I say to a person whose family was maimed by a pistol

or an explosive charge or whatever else it might be - a fire - this is bad.

-on his response to families of victims of gun violence. Bush

went on to lament the dificulties of trying to put limits on

AK-47 assault rifles "and still, you know, do what's right by

the legitimate sportsman."

We've got the best health care plan there is and it does not socialize

medicine in this country. It preserves the quality of care. It makes health

care - gives health care access to all and it does it without the quality of

American education.

-Does he belive what he's saying?

I'm all for Lawrence Welk. Lawrence Welk is a wonderful man. He used to be,

or was, or wherever he is now, bless him.

-While arguing for the line item veto. He apparently didn't know

if Welk was alive or dead.

Ours is a great state, and we don't like limits of any kind. Ricky Clunn is

one of the great bass fisherman. He's a Texas young guy, and he's a very

competitve fisherman, and he talked about learning to fish wading in creeks

behind his dad. He in his underwear went wading in the creeks behind his

father, and he said - as a fisherman he said it's great to grow up in a

country with no limits.

-At a live stock event in Houston. Bush, born and raised in the

East, can get defensive about his credentials as a Texan: "I have

my Texas hunting license here..."

I've been talking the same way for years, so it can't be that serious.

-While attending church in Kennebunkport, Maine. "Can't act," he

explained, "Just have to be me."

I just am not one who - who flamboyantly believes in throwing a lot of words

around.

-On his reluctance of calling U.S. interference with Iraqi

shipping a "Blockade". Bush thought it gave the wrong impresion.

Look, how was the actual deployment thing?

-To astronauts aboard the Shuttle Atlantis.

I've got to be careful I don't overcheerlead on this economy.

-Expressing caution lest his optimism about the state of the

economy be mistaken as indifference to the plight of the

unemployed.

Well, I'm going to kick that one right into the end zone of the secretary of

education. But, yes, we have all - he travels a good deal, goes abroad. We

have alot of people in the department that does that. We're having an

international - this is not as much education as dealing with the environment

- a big international conference coming up. And we get it all the time -

exchanges of ideas. But I think we've got - we set out there - and I want to

give credit to your Governor McWherter and to your former governor Lamar

Alexander - we've gotten great ideas for a national goals program from - in

this country - from the governors who were responding to, maybe the principal

of your high school, for heaven's sake.

-Responding to ideas on education reform.

I saw a story yesterday that I went a little ballistic - which is only part

true - semiballistic.

-While announcing John Tower as the nominee for secretary of

defense.

I don't know that it would be my judgment - my - the function of the president

to suggest what employment somebody should take. If you ask me, would I like

to go out there, leaving my job and go to work for this sheik when I get

through being president, no, I wouldn't like to do that.

-At a press conferance on Sununu aide Edward Rogers' possible

conflict of interest in accepting a position with a Saudi

sheik for $600,000.

Look, if an American Marine is killed - if they kill an American Marine,

that's real bad. And if they threaten and brutalize the wife of an American

citizen, sexually threatening the lieutenant's wife while kicking him in the

groin over and over again, then, Mr. Gorbachev, please understand, this

president is going to do somthing about it.

-Especialy if they know about Iran-Contra!

I mean I think there'll be a lot of aftermaths in what happened, but we're

going forward.

-When announcing Dick Cheny as the nominee as the new seceratary

of defense.

The Democrats choked the throttle - pulled the throttle back of a slowing

economy while they hunted for every last morsel of partisan advantage.

-At an Oklahoma fund raiser.

I don't know whether I'd call it `cashing in'. I expect every president has

written his memoirs and recieved money for it. Indeed, I read that a former

president - was it Grant? Grant got half a million bucks - that's when half a

million really meant something.

-Defending Reagan from charges that the $5,000,000 he recieved

from his autobiography was cashing in on the presidancy.

I'm for Mr. Reagan - blindly.

-While campaining in '84.

I will never apologize for the United States of America. I don't care what the

facts are.

-to the Bush '88 Coalition of American Nationalities, confirming

that "I'm not an apologize-for-America kind of guy."

Theses, they're very dangerous. They trap you. Especially these furry ones...

it's these furry guys that get you in trouble. They can reach out and listen

to somthing so - keep it respectful here.

-at a photo opportunity with his fitness czar, Arnold

Schwarzeneggar, on the need for caution when near a microphone.

Those are two hypo-rhetorical questions.

-during the Bush-Dukakis presidential debat, probing Dukakis'

defense policy.

I'm not going to hypothecate that it may - anything goes too fast.

-on the speed of reform in Eastern Europe.

Hey, hey, nihaoma. Hey, yeah, yeah. Heil, heil - a kind of Hitler salute.

-greeting foriegn tourists at Lafayette Park on his way home from

church. (Nihaoma is Mandarin for "how are you?")

Watch quite a bit. I watch the news and I don't like to tell you this, because

you'll think I'm into some weird TV freak here, but we - I have a set upstairs

that has five screens on it and I can sit on my desk and whip - just punch a

button if I see one off on the corner, that moves into the middle screen, the

other one goes to the side. Then I can run up an down the - up and down the

dial. So I - and you can record all four - four going at once, while you -

when you're watching. I don't quite know how to do that yet. But I cite this

because Barbara accuses me of being too much - not too much, but plugged into

TV too often, put it that way. Love sports on TV.

-during a C-SPAN interview on his favorite pastimes.

I know what I've told you I'm going to say, I'm going to say. And what else I

say, well, I'll take some time to figure out - figure that all out.

-working on the "message thing"

You know, I mentioned - and with realy from the heart - the concept of going

across the river. to this little church and watching one of our children -

adopted kid - be baptized. And that made for me - it was very emotional for

me. It helped me in reaching a very personal view of this question. And I

don't know.

-responding to criticism that his position supporting prosecution

of abortionists, but not of women choosing abortion was a double

standard.

We're delighted to be here, Barbara and I. There's a danger: You have

President Reagan, Governor Deukmejian, and George Bush. Watch out - Overdose

of charisma! That's not too good.

-At a campaign rally in Los Angeles. "I think I'm a charismatic

sun of a gun." He then added "I'm not going to depend entirely

on that to win.

You need to be able to do more than `just say no'. You need to have the

confidance to look you false friends in the eyes and say `Hell, no, I don't

want any of that.'

-At an anti-drug rally in Denver. Bush was hoping to save

youngsters from people he once called "narced-up terrorist kinda

guys."

I had an opportunity to than him eyeball-to-eyeball for the best

communications I belive any two countries could possibly have had.

-at a press conferance following his Camp David meeting with

President Ozal of Turkey.

No your not going to see me stay put... I am not going to forsake my

responsibilities. You may not see me put as much - I mean, un-put as much.

-clarifying travel plans for the coming year.

Barbara: I think it's because I don't threaten anybody. I don't make any big

decisions, I'm trying to say this nicley so I won't hurt my own fealings.

But-I mean-no Marilyn Monroe am I. I'm just not a threat to anybody. I like

people. And I feal for them. Maybe more than I should that's good for me.

George: Maybe Joe DiMaggio disagrees with you.

Barbara: What's that mean? Marilyn Monroe?

George: I think - Marilyn Monroe - maybe has the same high regard.

Barbara: Well that's nice.

-during an interview with David Frost.

Please don't look at part of the glass, the part that is only less than half

full.

-On the defeat of his friend Dick Thornburghin

Fluency in English is somthing that I'm not often accused of.

-toasting Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttoo at a White

House dinner.

And I guess with these cameras listening, be sure never to end your sentence

with a - without - end a sentance with a preposition because it will be duly

reported all across the countries by these gaurdians of the --

-Offering a quick grammar lesson to students.

All I was doing was appealing for an endorsement, not suggesting you endorse

it.

-To Roy Romer, governor of Colorodo, at a meeting of the National

Governors Association. After Bush outlined his growth plan, Romer

attacked it as being partisan.

I was shot down, and I was floating around in a little yellow raft, setting a

record for paddling. I thought of my family, my mom and dad, and the strength

I got from them. I thought of my faith, the seperation of church and state.

-relating his experiances in WWII.

This is not a tax break for the rich, it is a creation of small jobs.

-on his proposed capital gaines tax cut

And let me say in conclusion, thanks for the kids. I learned an awful lot

about bathtub toys - about how to work the telephone. One guy knows -

several of them know their own phone numbers - preperation to go to the

dentist. A lot of things I'd forgotten. So it's been a good day.

-at the Emily Harns Head Start center in Maryland.

My running mate took the lead, was the author, of the Job Training Partnership

Act. Now, because of alot of smoke and frenzying of bluefish out there, going

after a drop of blood in the water, nobody knows that.

-on Dan Quayle. He then stated "There's somthing very exciting

about putting some confidence in someone in his 30's or 40's."

She refurbished the White House with the dignity that is her legacy.

-on former first lady Nancy Reagan.

We have a complicated three-way conundrum at this point.

-on the dificulty of restoring the economy to post invasion

Panama while ensuring democracy and Panama's sovereignty (ha ha).

Bush: Let me be clear, I'm not in favor of new taxes. I'll repeat that over,

and over, and over again. And this one compromise that - where we begrudgingly

had to accespt revenues, revenue increases, is the exception that proves the

rule.

Reporter: The exception that proves what rule?

Bush: The rule that I'm strongly opposed to raising taxes.

-he justified his change of heart to reporters by saying "I'm

doing like Lincoln did, `Think anew.' I'm thinking anew"

It's no exaggeration to say the undecideds could go one way or another.

-At a campaign rally in Ohio in '88, speculating to local voters

that Ohio's 23 electorial votes might be the "swing votes" that

would determine the election.

I think there are some differences, there's no question, and will still be.

We're talking about a major, majore situation here... I mean we've got a major

rapport - relationship of economics, major in the security, and all of that,

we should not loose sight of.

-durring a conference before his vist to Japan, where he would

puke on Prime Minsister Miyazawa.

We have - I have - want to be positioned in that I could not possibly support

David Duke, because of the racism and because of the... bigotry and all of

this.

-distancing himself from Duke, whom he described as an "insicere

charlatan"

Boy, they were big on crematoriums, weren't they?

-during a tour of Auschwitz

When I need a little free advice about Saddam Hussein, I turn to country

music.

-at a country music awards ceremony in Nashville. He then refered

to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as the "Nitty Ditty Nitty Gritty

Great Bird"

Get this passed. Later on, we can all debate it.

-on his economic growth plan.

High tech is potent, precise, and in the end, unbeatable. The truth is, it

reminds a lot of people of the way I pitch horseshoes. Would you believe some

people? Would you believe our dog?

-on the importance of high tech.

Obviously when you see somebody go berserk and get a weapon and go in and

murder people, of course it troubles me.

-on the Killeen massacre, where a lone gunman killed 23 people in

Texas.

It has been said by some cynic, maybe a former president, "If you want a

friend in Washington, get a dog." We took them literaly - that advice -

as you know. But I didn't need that because I have Barbara Bush.

-I wonder what Barbara thought?

I'm delighted that Barbara Bush is with me today, and I - She got a good clean

bill of health yesterday from Walter Reed Hospital, I might add, and then -

But I'm taking another look at our doctor. He told her it's ok to kiss the dog

- I mean - no - it's ok to kiss your husband, but don't kiss the dog. So I

don't know exactly what that means.

-At a New Jersey high school.

Reporter: Do you know to what extent the U.S and Colombia are in fact

cooperating militarily now, in terms of interdiction efforts?

Bush: Well I - Yes I know that.

R: Can you share that with us?

B: No.

R: Why not, sir?

B: Because I don't feel like it.

-durring a press conference before attending the drug summit.

I don't want to just sit here blaming Congress. I mean, we're all in this

together.

-on a TV interview

I think the Congress should be blamed.

-several minutes later.

I'm not the most articulate emotionalist.

-at a question-and-answer session, following the Malta summit

with Gorbachev, when asked "what was it like for you sitting

across from this man."

I am less intersted in what the definition is. You might argue technically,

are we in a recession or not. But when there's this kind of slugishness and

concerns - defintions, heck with it.

-At an interview in Philidelphia.

I had a good long talk bilaterally with Francois Mitterrand this morning.

-during a news conferance, after a Nato confereance in Rome.

If your worried about the caribou, take a look at the arguments that were used

about the pipeline. They'd say the caribou would be extinct. You've got to

shake them away with a stick. They're all making love lying up against the

pipeline and you got thousands of caribou up there.

-At a Bush/Quayle '92 fund raiser, defending his plan to offer

oil companies "enviromentaly responsive access" to the Alaskan

National Wildlife Reserve.

If you want to have a philosophical discussion, I take your point, because I

think it is important that if we - that if you presented me with a hypothesis,

"You've got to do this or you've got to do that," and I would accept it and

understand the political risks that'd be involved if I showed any flexibility

at all in even discussing it - I would have to say that - that a - that you

make a very valid point in your question, because, as I tried to indicate in

my remarks, it's job creation, and that is attraction of capital that is realy

the best antidote to poverty.

-Money is an antidote to poverty? Where did he get that crazy

idea???

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to the editors of the New Republic for compiling and finding most

of these quotes!

This list was typed completly by Asher Feldman. You can do whatever you want

with it, but please leave this, and the info at the top intact. I plan on

maintaining and updating this list. If you have an addition/corection/comment

than feel free to send me E-mail at the following adresses :

PORTAL : Wizard0

NETCOM : asher

Internet : asher@netcom.com

wizard0@cup.portal.com

If you have any lists of funny Bush/Quayle quotes, or related material, please

send them to me. My U.S. Snail adress

--------------------------------------

SHADES OF GEORGE C. WALLACE

George W. Bush and lawyer, James A. Baker III are on dangerous Constitutional ground when they

suggested to the Florida State Legislature that it unilaterally overrule the Florida Supreme Court. Anthony

Lewis, in his column calls it, "playing with fire."

When the court decided that the hand recount could continue in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties,

Baker called their decision a "judicial fiat." Shades of George C. Wallace. Anthony Lewis said, "The next day

Governor Bush said the court had "usurp[ed] the authority of Florida's election officials." The court "cloaked

its ruling in legalistic language," he said. "But make no mistake, the court rewrote the law." Those menacing

words - usurpation, judicial fiat - recalled a dark episode in our recent history. They were exactly the words

used by George C. Wallace and other Southern governors in defying court orders to end racial segregation."

"Why do the words matter? Because willingness to abide by decisions of the courts has been an essential

element in holding this great, diverse, disputatious country together. When a court speaks, presidents

accept. Harry Truman was unhappy but unquestioningly obeyed when the Supreme Court said he had

exceeded his powers in seizing the nation's steel mills to prevent a strike during the Korean War. Richard

Nixon obeyed the order to turn over the incriminating Watergate tapes that drove him from the presidency."

[Lewis]

http://pnews.org/art/4art/3ele.shtml

-----------------------------------------

!(Believe it or Not!)

*****Transcript from press conference after meeting with congressional leaders, Dec. 18, 2000:

"I told all four [Congressional Leaders]that there are going to be some times where we don't agree with each other, but that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it

would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

-George W. Bush

"The march to war hurt the economy. Laura reminded me a while ago that remember what was on the TV screens" she calls me, 'George W.' - 'George W.' I call her, 'First Lady.' No, anyway - she said, we said, march to war on our TV screen." George W. Bush, Bay Shore, New York, Mar. 11, 2004

"God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear." George W. Bush, Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 2004

"Recession means that people's incomes, at the employer level, are going down, basically, relative to costs, people are getting laid off." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Feb. 19, 2004

"The march to war affected the people's confidence. It's hard to make investment. See, if you're a small business owner or a large business owner and you're thinking about investing, you've got to be optimistic when you invest. Except when you're marching to war, it's not a very optimistic thought, is it? In other words, it's the opposite of optimistic when you're thinking you're going to war." George W. Bush, Springfield, Mo., Feb. 9, 2004

"In my judgment, when the United States says there will be serious consequences, and if there isn't serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences." George W. Bush, Meet the Press, Feb. 8, 2004

"There is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of iron-clad absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon." George W. Bush, Meet the Press, Feb. 8, 2004

"The recession started upon my arrival. It could have been some say February, some say March, some speculate maybe earlier it started - but nevertheless, it happened as we showed up here. The attacks on our country affected our economy. Corporate scandals affected the confidence of people and therefore affected the economy. My decision on Iraq, this kind of march to war, affected the economy." George W. Bush, Meet the Press, Feb. 8, 2004

"See, one of the interesting things in the Oval Office - I love to bring people into the Oval Office - right around the corner from here - and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

"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." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

"Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

"Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter." George W. Bush, advising quail hunter and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 2004

"I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the courageous spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful example for the young of our country." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. Jan. 14, 2004

"I was a prisoner too, but for bad reasons." George W. Bush, to Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, on being told that all but one of the Argentine delegates to a summit meeting were imprisoned during the military dictatorship, Monterrey, Mexico, Jan. 13, 2004

"One of the most meaningful things that's happened to me since I've been the governor - the president - governor - president. Oops. Ex- governor. I went to Bethesda Naval Hospital to give a fellow a Purple Heart, and at the same moment I watched him get a Purple Heart for action in Iraq - and at that same - right after I gave him the Purple Heart, he was sworn in as a citizen of the United States - a Mexican citizen, now a United States citizen." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 2004

"See, without the tax relief package, there would have been a deficit, but there wouldn't have been the com miserate - not 'commiserate' - the kick to our economy that occurred as a result of the tax relief." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2003

"[T]he Iraqis need to be very much involved. They were the people that was brutalized by this man." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2003

"This very week in 1989, there were protests in East Berlin and in Leipzig. By the end of that year, every communist dictatorship in Central America had collapsed." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2003!

"[A]s you know, these are open forums, you're able to come and listen to what I have to say." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 28, 2003

"The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the - the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2003

"[W]hether they be Christian, Jew, or Muslim, or Hindu, people have heard the universal call to love a neighbor just like they'd like to be called themselves." George W. Bush, Washingto! n, D.C., October 8, 2003

"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruc- tion." George W. Bush, Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

"Washington is a town where there's all kinds of allegations. You've heard much of the allegations. And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it. And that would be people inside the information who are the so-called anonymous sources, or people outside the information - outside the administration." George W. Bush, Chicago, Sept. 30, 2003

"[W]e've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legis- lative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them, and I want to know who the leakers are." George W. Bush, Chicago, Sept. 30, 2003

"I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003

"We had a chance to visit with Teresa Nelson who's a parent, and a mom or a dad." George W. Bush, Jacksonville, Florida, Sept. 9, 2003

"As Luce reminded me, he said, without data, without facts, without information, the discussions about public education mean that a person is just another opinion." George W. Bush, Jacksonville, Florida, Sept. 9, 2003

"I'm a follower of American politics." George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Aug. 8, 2003

"We had a good Cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Sec- retary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2003

"Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the road map to peace." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003

"Our country puts $1 billion a year up to help feed the hungry. And we're by far the most generous nation in the world when it comes to that, and I'm proud to report that. This isn't a contest of who's the most generous. I'm just telling you as an aside. We're generous. We shouldn't be bragging about it. But we are. We're very generous." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 16, 2003

"It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America." George W. Bush, Dakar, Senegal, July 8, 2003

"You've also got to measure in order to begin to effect change that's just more - when there's more than talk, there's just actual - a para- digm shift." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., July 1, 2003

"I'm the master of low expectations." George W. Bush, aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things." George W. Bush, aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

"I've got very good relations with President Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdallah and the King of Jordan, Gulf Coast countries." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 29, 2003

"All up and down the different aspects of our society, we had mean- ingful discussions. Not only in the Cabinet Room, but prior to this and after this day, our secretaries, respective secretaries, will continue to interact to create the conditions necessary for prosperity to reign." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003

"I think war is a dangerous place." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2003

"We ended the rule of one of history's worst tyrants, and in so doing, we not only freed the American people, we made our own people more secure." George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, May 3, 2003

"We've got hundreds of sites to exploit, looking for the chemical and biological weapons that we know Saddam Hussein had prior to our entrance into Iraq." George W. Bush, Santa Clara, Calif., May 2, 2003

"I don't bring God into my life to - to, you know, kind of be a political person." George W. Bush, interview with Tom Brokaw aboard Air Force One, April 24, 2003

"You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order - order out of chaos. But we will." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003

"Now, we talked to Joan Hanover. She and her husband, George, were visiting with us. They are near retirement - retiring - in the process of retiring, meaning they're very smart, active, capable people who are retirement age and are retiring." George W. Bush, Alexandria, Va., Feb. 12, 2003

The following were submitted on 5/5/04. Some may be duplicates:

" The march to war hurt the economy. Laura reminded me a while ago that remember what was on the TV screens" she calls me, 'George W.' - 'George W.' I call her, 'First Lady.' No, anyway - she said, we said, march to war on our TV screen." George W. Bush, Bay Shore, New York, Mar. 11, 2004