"I was not on point (about Al-Qaeda)... I didn't feel that sense of urgency."
--George W. Bush to Bob Woodward in the 2002 book Bush at War
So if the President admits it, why is everyone making such a fuss about Richard Clarke?
Q. After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say? And what lessons have you learned from it?
A. "Hmmm. I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it. I'm sure historians will look back and say, Gosh, he could have done it better this way or that way. You know, I just -- I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet."
, by Paul Krugman, New York Times, October 1st, 2004 "As a result of the American military," President Bush declared last week, "the Taliban is no longer in existence."
By Gerald Rellick, Intervention Magazine, August 12, 2004
"We actually misnamed the war on terror--It ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world."
Reportedly told to journalists attending the Unity Convention
in August 2004. (Source)
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
Quoted at the signing of The Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2005, August 5th, 2004 (Source)
"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein."
-- Washington, D.C., May 25, 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."
to Ken Auletta of the New Yorker, January 11th, 2004
"I'm the master of low expectations."
-- Air Force One, June 4, 2003.
"We found the weapons of mass destruction."
(5/29/03 during an interview with TVP, Poland...is he lying, delusional, or stupid--and which scares you more?)
"Fuck Saddam. we're taking him out."
-- 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. 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. (Time, March 31st, 2003)
"We will not deny, we will not ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, other presidents, and other generations. We will confront them with focus, and clarity, and courage."
-State of the Union Speech, January 2003. (So, hows come we're on pace to leave them with the biggest debt in history and a perpetual state of war?)
"There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. 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."
—Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002
President Bush has not, as yet, attended a funeral or memorial of a single American killed in action.
"There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas -- that says, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again."
-- Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002.
"I learned some good lessons from Vietnam. First, there must be a clear mission. Secondly, the politics ought to stay out of fighting a war. There was too much politics during the Vietnam War." Associated Press, March 2002
"I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war."
Houston Chronicle, January 2002
Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is."
-- Omaha, Neb., Feb. 28, 2001.
"Do you have blacks, too?" (to Brazilian President Cardoso.)
-- Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001.
"It's amazing I won. I was running against peace, prosperity, and incumbency." (to Göran Persson, unaware he was still on live TV)
-- June 14, 2001
"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
-- Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001.
"They misunderestimated me."
-- Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000.
"I know how hard it is to put food on your families."
Speech to Greater Nashua, NH, Chamber of Commerce January 27, 2000
"There ought to be limits to freedom."
AP, May 21, 1999
"They [The Texas Air National Guard] could sense I would be one of the great pilots of all time."
Houston Chronicle, August 1988
"I have never been a long-term planner about anything. I have lived my life with more of a short-term focus."
( When cameraman T. Patrick Murray filmed Bush during the wedding reception at a Lubbock country club, the future governor took some rambling--and we presume good-natured--swipes at the newlyweds, the bride's parents, and her brother Kelly.)
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(updated Jasnuary 14th, 2005)