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Will the REAL George Bush please stand up?
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Click here to see the video.
| 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. | ||
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The Lies of George W. Bush - the book The Lies of George W. Bush - the blog |
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In the Words of the Experts
“Governor [George W.] Bush talks like his father, who was equally prone to malapropisms and non sequiturs, but he thinks like his mother, whom Nixon admired because, he reportedly said, ‘she knows how to hate.’ Which is a way of saying that George W. believes grudges should be transgenerational and involve corruption of blood and children avenging the wrongs visited on their parents.”[Emphasis added.] – Lou Dubose, “Screaming for Vengeance”, The Texas Observer, November 3, 2000
“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.” [Emphasis added.] – Mark Crispin Miller, The Bush Dyslexicon
“President 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.” [Emphasis added.] –Renana Brooks, “A Nation of Victims”, June 22, 2003, The Nation, archived at AlterNet.org
In his Own Words, by his Own Actions,
and
In the Words of his Family and Closest Friends
To listen to any of the audio files, you will need RealPlayer--it's free!
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*************** He has to puff himself up--and put others down. “My job is a decision-making job. And as a result, I make a lot of decisions… [I]t's important to delegate. There's a lot of action in Washington, D.C., believe me, and I've got a lot of decisions to make. And so I delegate to good people. I always tell Condi Rice, I want to remind you, Madam Secretary, who has the Ph.D. and who was the C student. (Laughter.) And I want to remind you who the advisor is and who the President is. (Laughter.) I got a lot of Ph.D.-types and smart people around me who come into the Oval Office and say, Mr. President, here's what's on my mind. And I listen carefully to their advice. But having gathered the device [sic], I decide, you know, I say, this is what we're going to do. And it's ‘yes, sir, Mr. President.’ And then we get after it, implement policy.” [Emphasis added] - The White House, speech to theLancaster, PA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, October 3, 2007 |
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“I thought an interesting comment was made — somebody said to me, I heard somebody say, “Now, where’s Mandela?” Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas." - Watch the video at Think Progress,September 20, 2007 |
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“Bush is a
classic insecure authoritarian who imposes humiliating tests of obedience
on others in order to prove his superiority and their inferiority. In
1999, according to Draper, at a meeting of economic experts at the Texas
governor's mansion, Bush interrupted Rove when he joined in the
discussion, saying, ‘Karl, hang up my jacket.’” [Emphasis added.] |
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"Speaking of George Bush, with whom Sharon developed a very close relationship, Uri Dan recalls that Sharon's delicacy made him reluctant to repeat what the president had told him when they discussed Osama bin Laden. Finally he relented. And here is what the leader of the Western world, valiant warrior in the battle of cultures, promised to do to bin Laden if he caught him: 'I will screw him in the ass!'" [Emphasis added.] - From "The pessimist was right", by Uri Dromi, February 22, 2007; review of "Ariel Sharon: An Intimate Portrait" by Uri Dan (Haaretz). Thanks to Chris Floyd at Empire Burlesque. |
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"[Bush loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few [farts] for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides, but forget about getting people to gas about that." [Emphasis added.] - U.S. News and World Report,August 20, 2006 |
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On taking responsibility: “All right. You've covered your ass, now.” [Emphasis added.] -------- “The e-mail stated that Bush was relieved that Brown -- and not Bush or Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff -- was bearing the brunt of the flak over the government's handling of Katrina.” [Emphasis added.] - CNN, June 11, 2006 -------- “Q Mr. President, you spoke about missteps and mistakes in Iraq. Could I ask both of you which missteps and mistakes of your own you most regret? “PRESIDENT BUSH: Sounds like kind of a familiar refrain here -- saying ‘bring it on,’ kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people. [Emphasis added.] I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner -- you know, ‘wanted dead or alive,’ that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted, and so I learned from that. And I think the biggest mistake that's happened so far, at least from our country's involvement in Iraq is Abu Ghraib. We've been paying for that for a long period of time. And it's -- unlike Iraq, however, under Saddam, the people who committed those acts were brought to justice. They've been given a fair trial and tried and convicted.” - The White House, press conference with Tony Blair,May 25, 2006 [Newsweek's Richard] “Wolffe: And for me the big giveaway was at the end of that answer, I don't know if you can see it on camera, but the President flashed a big grin to those of us sitting in the front rows. [Emphasis added.] It didn't seem that he was quite as contrite as his performance.” - on Keith Olbermann's Countdown, May 25, 2006. Crooks and Liars has thevideo. And here's a photograph taken of the smirking after the supposed apology:
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“U.S. President George W. Bush told a German newspaper his best moment in more than five years in office was catching a big perch in his own lake. ‘You know, I've experienced many great moments and it's hard to name the best,’ Bush told weekly Bild am Sonntag when asked about his high point since becoming president in January 2001. ‘I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake,’ he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.” [Emphasis added.]- Reuters,May 7, 2006 From Hullabaloo: “There are, imo, only three ways to understand this comment, assuming it's true. Quite possibly it's the pathetic whine of a deeply, perhaps clinically. depressed man who believes himself a total failure. Or maybe this is a man so uninterested in his job, let alone in serving his country, that he has no business whatsoever being president. Or perhaps this is simply an arrogant bastard who holds in utter contempt anyone who dares to ask him a question, so he responds with the stupidest thing he can say. (Obviously, nothing precludes all three or some combination of two.)” - Tristero, May 7, 2006
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You would think from the above statement that George Bush was the one who lost a loved one in his misbegotten war on Iraq. But he hasn't. Perhaps he thinks CINDY SHEEHAN should just get on with HER life, but Bush thinks the universe revolves around him. Therefore, he's the one who gets to go on with his life. |
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“‘I think you can do your
job better if you're fit. People think more clearly if you're fit.’”
[Emphasis added.] Is Bush saying that OTHER PEOPLE think more clearly if HE is fit? Is that not the essence of narcissism? |
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Click here to listen. (Rerecorded from Crooks and Liars.) |
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President Bush on Friday said that attendingthe funeral of Pope John Paul II was “one of the highlights of my presidency”... [Emphasis added.] - Associated Press,April 8, 2005
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On his plan to “save” Social Security: “Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. “Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.” At a taxpayer-funded event where only supporters of Social Security privatization were allowed entrance, in Tampa, FL, February 4, 2005, exactly as posted on the White House website |
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From a man who never lost any sleep over work or even over any of his crimes:
“THE PRESIDENT: Fantastic. First of all, you've got the hardest job in America, being a single mom... “THE PRESIDENT: And so thank you for asking that. You don't have to worry. “MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute. “THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs? [Emphasis added.] “MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes. “THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.) [Emphasis added.] “MS. MORNIN: Not much. Not much. “THE PRESIDENT: Well, hopefully, this will help you get you sleep to know that when we talk about Social Security, nothing changes.” At a taxpayer-funded event where only supporters of Social Security privatization were allowed entrance, in Omaha, NE, February 4, 2005, exactly as posted on the White House website |
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“The [Washington] Post: Why do you think [Osama] bin Laden has not been caught? “THE PRESIDENT: Because he's hiding.” [Emphasis added.] - Washington Post, January 16, 2005 |
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“The evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson has set off a partisan fight by telling a television interviewer that President Bush serenely assured him just before the invasion of Iraq,‘Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties.’” [Emphasis added.] - The New York Times, October 21, 2004 |
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“As a deep insider myself, I have independent confirmation of President Bush using an earpiece to assist him in communicating intelligently with others.” [Emphasis added.] - Democrats.com, October 10, 2004 Mysterious bulges at the first two debates-- And didn't Ronald Reagan wear a, um, “hearing aid”? |
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In the second 2004 debate, Bush forgot for a moment who he was debating.
“First, the National Journal named Sen. Kennedy [sic] the most liberal senator of all. And that's saying something in that bunch. You might say that took a lot of hard work.” - CNN Transcript, October 9, 2004 |
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“‘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,’
Bush said on Thursday.”
Click here to listen. (Rerecorded from The Smoking Gun.) |
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“According to [Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud] Abbas, … Bush said: ‘God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them.’” [Emphasis added.] – Ha’aretz, April 8, 2004 |
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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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September 16, 2003 9/11: from tragedy to hilarity Michael Moore has done us the favor of transcribing part of an interview with George and Laura Bush, conducted by Peggy Noonan, which appears in the current print edition of Ladies Home Journal: Peggy Noonan (the interviewer): You were separated on September 11th. What was it like when you saw each other again? Laura Bush: Well, we just hugged. I think there was a certain amount of security in being with each other than being apart. George W. Bush: But the day ended on a relatively humorous note. The agents said, “you’ll be sleeping downstairs. Washington’s still a dangerous place.” And I said no, I can’t sleep down there, the bed didn’t look comfortable. I was really tired, Laura was tired, we like our own bed. We like our own routine. You know, kind of a nester. I knew I had to deal with the issue the next day and provide strength and comfort to the country, and so I needed rest in order to be mentally prepared. So I told the agent we’re going upstairs, and he reluctantly said okay. Laura wears contacts, and she was sound asleep. Barney was there. And the agent comes running up and says, “We’re under attack. We need you downstairs,” and so there we go. I’m in my running shorts and my T-shirt, and I’m barefooted. Got the dog in one hand, Laura had a cat, I’m holding Laura — Laura Bush: I don’t have my contacts in , and I’m in my fuzzy house slippers — George W. Bush: And this guy’s out of breath, and we’re heading straight down to the basement because there’s an incoming unidentified airplane, which is coming toward the White House. Then the guy says it’s a friendly airplane. And we hustle all the way back up stairs and go to bed. Mrs. Bush: [LAUGHS] And we just lay there thinking about the way we must have looked. Peggy Noonan (interviewer): So the day starts in tragedy and ends in Marx Brothers. George W. Bush: That’s right — we got a laugh out of it. The important thing is, you know, that the day ended on a happy note. |
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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 toSki 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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Bush inherited and/or learned psychopathic behavior from his mother. Barbara Bush declares deaths and body bags irrelevant. DIANE SAWYER,
ABC NEWS [01]09:43:52 FORMER FIRST LADY BARBARA BUSH, UNITED STATES [01]09:43:53 DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS [01]09:43:54 FORMER FIRST LADY BARBARA BUSH, UNITED STATES - 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. 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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A “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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“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 olls indicate, the backing of the American people.” - Marty Jezer, AlterNet.org, January 23, 2003 |
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“WAR IS PEACE “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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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, thegesture 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 |
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“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 |
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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'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, 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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“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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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.
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“Asked by a reporter about an
‘inevitable’ attack on Iraq, he snapped back: ‘I'm the person who gets to
decide, and not you.’” [Emphasis added.] – The Observer (U.K.),
September 1, 2002 |
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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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“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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“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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“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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“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.
“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 |
“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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"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. Go to MediaResearch.org to view a video of part of the exchange. |
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“[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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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 |
“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
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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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“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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“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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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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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 3/5/02Mike Malloy Show.
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“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. (from theMike Malloy Show - Mike got it from network news tapes.) 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 (article no longer available on the MSNBC website) |
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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:
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
Now changed to: “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. 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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“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
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“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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Apparently the deaths of almost 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001 and waging a war against Afghanistan weigh lightly on Bush. “All in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me.” [Emphasis added.] — 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.’”
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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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"I want justice," [President Bush] said after a meeting at the
Pentagon, where 188 people were killed last Tuesday when an airliner
crashed into the building. "And there's an old poster out West that says,
'Wanted: Dead or Alive.' " [Emphasis added.] |
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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.]
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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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“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
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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.]
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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 |
More at Slate
magazine's The
Complete Bushisms
“
“
“President Bush, noting that lots of people want to talk to the
president and 
“
“Someday
you will appreciate the grammar and verbal skills you learned here.
(Laughter and applause.) And if any of you wonder how far a mastery of the
English language can take you, just look what it did for me.”
(Laughter and applause.) [Emphasis added.] - Calvin College,
“MS.
MORNIN: Okay, I'm a divorced, single mother with three grown, adult
children. I have one child, Robbie, who is mentally challenged, and I have
two daughters. 
“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,
“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.
“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.
“As
his advisers scared the nation stiff with talk of doomsday, Shrub immersed
himself in a hectic, heavyweight schedule…
“[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, 
“Do you have blacks too?” - Bush asks of Brazilian president
Fernando Henrique Cardoso as reported in Der Spiegel.
Honor
and Dignity in the White House, according to 
Bush thinks he's at war with Democrats.
Thanks to 
Speaking
to 
“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.]
“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.] 
While
campaigning for Elizabeth Dole in South Carolina,
“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.] 
“[T]he [Alexandra] Pelosi video [the documentary “
“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.
