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BUSH ON CHANGE:
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 paradigm shift."—Washington, D.C., July 1, 2003 (Thanks to Michael Shively.)
BUSH ON BUSH:
"I'm the master of low expectations."—Aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003
BUSH ON THE POOR:
"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."—Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003
BUSH ON WAR:
"I think war is a dangerous place."—Washington, D.C., May 7, 2003
BUSH ON GOD:
"I don't bring God into my life to—to, you know, kind of be a political person."—Interview with Tom Brokaw aboard Air Force One, April 24, 2003
BUSH ON FREEDOM:
"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."—Washington, D.C., April 13, 2003
BUSH ON TRUST:
"I think the American people—I hope the American–I don't think, let me—I hope the American people trust me."—Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002
BUSH ON THE TROOPS:
"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
BUSH ON ENERGY:
We need an energy bill that encourages consumption."—Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002
BUSH ON BEING FOOLED:
"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
BUSH ON TOUGH TIMES:
"There may be some tough times here in America. But this country has gone through tough times before, and we're going to do it again."—Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002
BUSH ON SACRIFICE:
"And so, in my State of the—my State of the Union—or state—my speech to the nation, whatever you want to call it, speech to the nation—I asked Americans to give 4,000 years—4,000 hours over the next—the rest of your life—of service to America. That's what I asked—4,000 hours." —Bridgeport, Conn., April 9, 2002
BUSH ON BLACKS:
"Do you have blacks, too?"—To Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001
BUSH ON CALIFORNIA:
"Brie and cheese."—Taunting a reporter who recently spent time on the West Coast, Crawford, Texas, Aug. 23, 2001
BUSH ON HIS BELIEFS:
''I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe—I believe what I believe is right."—Rome, July 22, 2001
BUSH ON AFRICA:
"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease."—GW Bush, Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001
BUSH ON COMING TOGETHER:
"Our nation must come together to unite."—Tampa, Fla., June 4, 2001
BUSH ON PERSONAL GROWTH:
"If a person doesn't have the capacity that we all want that person to have, I suspect hope is in the far distant future, if at all."—Remarks to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute, Washington, D.C., May 22, 2001
BUSH ON EDUCATION:
"I want it to be said that the Bush administration was a results-oriented administration, because I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as opposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be—a literate country and a hopefuller country."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 11, 2001
BUSH ON A QUESTIONER:
"I would have to ask the questioner. I haven't had a chance to ask the questioners the question they've been questioning. On the other hand, I firmly believe she'll be a fine secretary of labor. And I've got confidence in Linda Chavez. She is a—she'll bring an interesting perspective to the Labor Department."—Austin, Texas, Jan. 8, 2001
BUSH ON LINDA CHAVEZ:
"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified."—Austin, Texas, Jan. 8, 2001
BUSH ON THE ECONOMY:
"I mean, these good folks are revolutionizing how businesses conduct their business. And, like them, I am very optimistic about our position in the world and about its influence on the United States. We're concerned about the short-term economic news, but long-term I'm optimistic. And so, I hope investors, you know—secondly, I hope investors hold investments for periods of time—that I've always found the best investments are those that you salt away based on economics."—Austin, Texas, Jan. 4, 2001
BUSH ON FEMA:
"The person who runs FEMA is someone who must have the trust of the president. Because the person who runs FEMA is the first voice, oftentimes, of someone whose life has been turned upside down hears from."
Austin, Texas, Jan. 4, 2001
BUSH ON LINDA CHAVEZ:
"She is a member of a labor union at one point."
Announcing his nomination of Linda Chavez as secretary of labor. Austin, Texas, Jan. 2, 2001
BUSH ON NATURAL GAS:
"Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."
Austin, Texas, Dec. 20, 2000
BUSH ON THE GOVERNMENT:
"I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them." Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2000
BUSH ON VOTING:
"The great thing about America is everybody should vote."
Austin, Texas, Dec. 8, 2000
BUSH ON FINDING WORK:
"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
BUSH ON ELECTION 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
BUSH ON LAW:
"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law."
Austin, Texas, Nov. 22, 2000
BUSH ON HIMSELF:
"They misunderestimated me."
Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000
BUSH ON SOCIAL SECURITY:
"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program."
St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 2, 2000
BUSH ON LIFE SUPPORT:
"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
BUSH ON IMMIGRATION:
"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."
-campaigning in Cleveland, July 1, 2000
BUSH ON FOREIGN POLICY:
"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 in the New York Times, June 28, 2000
BUSH ON EXECUTIONS:
"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
BUSH ON ABORTION:
"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
BUSH ON SOCIAL SECURITY:
"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
BUSH ON SPANISH LANGUAGE
BUSH: "First of all, Cinco de Mayo is not the independence day. That's dieciseis de Septiembre, and ..." MATTHEWS: "What's that in English?" BUSH: "Fifteenth of September." (Dieciseis de Septiembre = Sept. 16)
-Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000
BUSH ON HIMSELF:
"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
BUSH ON UNCERTAINTY:
"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
BUSH ON GIULIANI:
"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
BUSH ON FACTS:
"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
BUSH ON MCCAIN:
"I think we agree, the past is over."
-On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000
BUSH ON A BUDGET:
"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
-Reuters, May 5, 2000
BUSH ON HIS BROTHER:
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
BUSH ON WEST TEXAS:
"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
BUSH ON PERSONAL ATTACKS:
"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 (a LETTER!)
BUSH ON SUGGESTIONS:
"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
BUSH ON VOTING FOR HIMSELF:
"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."
-Interview with the Associated Press, March 8, 2000
BUSH ON A TAX PLAN:
"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature."
-Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2000
BUSH ON SMALL BUSINESS:
"I understand small business growth. I was one."
-New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000
BUSH ON MCCAIN:
"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
BUSH ON HIS DAD:
"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
BUSH ON CYNICISM:
"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
BUSH ON EDUCATION:
"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
BUSH ON WEALTH:
"We ought to make the pie higher."
-South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000
BUSH ON HIS NEW STYLE:
"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
BUSH ON THE MIDDLE CLASS:
"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 in the New York Times, Feb. 1, 2000
BUSH ON ?:
"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
BUSH ON THE INTERNET:
"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"
-Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000
BUSH ON PERSERVERENCE:
"This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve."
-Speaking during "PERSEVERENCE Month" at Fairgrounds Elementary School in Nashua, N.H. As quoted in the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 2000
BUSH ON HARD TIMES:
"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."
-Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000
BUSH ON QUOTAS:
"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."
-The San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 21, 2000
BUSH ON THE ENEMY:
"When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were. It was us vs. them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there."
-Iowa Western Community College, Jan 21, 2000
BUSH ON HIS ADMINISTRATION:
"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
BUSH ON THE DANGEROUS WORLD:
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses."
-At a South Carolina oyster roast, as quoted in the Financial Times, Jan. 14, 2000
BUSH ON LOVE THY NEIGHBOR:
"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself."
-ibid
BUSH ON LEARNING:
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"
-Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000
BUSH ON FAILURE:
"Gov. Bush will not stand for the subsidation of failure."
-ibid
BUSH ON DEBATES:
"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
BUSH ON BIRTH CONTROL:
"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
BUSH ON CAMPAIGNING:
"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
BUSH ON VIETNAM:
"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
BUSH ON BOOZE:
"It was just inebriating what Midland was all about then."
-From a 1994 interview, as quoted in First Son by Bill Minutaglio
BUSH ON HIS ABILITY:
"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
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