Famous and Ongoing Dyslexic Quotes of George W. Bush

Famous Quotes of Bush Senior | On Bush's Dyslexia | Latest |

"I must say I agree with what I'm sure he didn't mean to say"
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS (see On Bushes Dyslexia)

"Bush often uses speech not to say anything, but merely to depict himself as 
saying something, "boldly" and "decisively." Tautology is but the 
intellectual consequence of just such verbal posturing. Even if he is dyslexic, however, 
that condition can't account for all his verbal slips, which are so many
and so various as to indicate a range of disabilities, including simple ignorance." 
Mark Miller, author, The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder

2002

There's no doubt in my mind that we should allow the world worst leaders to hold America hostage, to threaten our peace, to threaten our friends and allies with the world's worst weapons."—George W. Bush, South Bend, Ind., Sept. 5, 2002

"If you don't have any ambitions, the minimum-wage job isn't going to get you to where you want to get, for example. In other words, what is your ambitions? And oh, by the way, if that is your ambition, here's what it's going to take to achieve it." —George W. Bush, speaking to students in Little Rock, Ark., Aug. 29, 2002

"See, we love — we love freedom. That's what they didn't understand. They hate things; we love things. They act out of hatred; we don't seek revenge, we seek justice out of love." —George W. Bush, Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002

"There's no cave deep enough for America, or dark enough to hide." —George W. Bush, Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002 

"President Musharraf, he's still tight with us on the war against terror, and that's what I appreciate. He's a — he understands that we've got to keep Al Qaeda on the run, and that by keeping him on the run, it's more likely we will bring him to justice." —George W. Bush, Ruch, Ore., Aug. 22, 2002

"I'm a patient man. And when I say I'm a patient man, I mean I'm a patient man. Nothing he [Saddam Hussein] has done has convinced me — I'm confident the Secretary of Defense — that he is the kind of fellow that is willing to forgo weapons of mass destruction, is willing to be a peaceful neighbor, that is — will honor the people — the Iraqi people of all stripes, will — values human life. He hasn't convinced me, nor has he convinced my administration." —George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Aug. 21, 2002

"I'm thrilled to be here in the bread basket of America because it gives me a chance to remind our fellow citizens that we have an advantage here in America — we can feed ourselves." —George W. Bush, Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002

"The federal government and the state government must not fear programs who change lives, but must welcome those faith-based programs for the embetterment of mankind." —George W. Bush, Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, 2002

"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." —George W. Bush, speaking at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"Tommy (Thompson) is a good listener, and he's a pretty good actor, too."  —George W. Bush, apparently confusing his Health and Human Services secretary with Sen. Fred Thompson, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"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." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"The trial lawyers are very politically powerful. … But here in Texas we took them on and got some good medical — medical malpractice." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"I firmly believe the death tax is good for people from all walks of life all throughout our society." —George W. Bush, Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"I love the idea of a school in which people come to get educated and stay in the state in which they're educated." —George W. Bush, Milwaukee, Wis., Aug. 14, 2002

"August was a month of accomplishment here in Washington." -- Apparently speaking in the future past tense, White House, Aug. 2, 2002

"I first of all, there's a lot of brains in this room. And you get to decide whether there's a brain drain in Russia. I tell Vladimir all the time -- I mean, Mr. President all the time -- that Russia's most precious resource is the brain power of this country. And you've got a lot of it. It's going to take a lot of brains in Russia to create a drain."  -- The Russian interpreter must have had a great time with this statement from George W. Bush at St. Petersburg University, St. Petersburg, Russia, May 25, 2002

"Do you have blacks, too?" -- Question posed to Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with no hint of sarcasm or jest, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001 (reported in Der Spiegel May, 19, 2002)

"As a matter of fact, the people who love the children in Wisconsin are the people of Wisconsin." -- A vacuous statement made matter-of-factly at Logan High School, LaCrosse, Wisconsin, May 8, 2002

"The invisible part of everything that you thought you could see, you can't see."
-- Offering his appraisal of the Palestinian/Israeli situation, Interview with ITN, Crawford, Texas, Apr. 5, 2002

"There is no cave deep enough for the justice of the United States of America." -- Just ask Johnny Cochran for confirmation, eh Dubya? Another confusing statement from the king of misstatement, Missouri Republican Party dinner, St. Louis, Missouri, Mar. 19, 2002

"Now I'm going to eat my lasagna. If it gets cold you have to eat the lasagna." -- Obviously he meant to say something here, only this probably wasn't it, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, Mar. 15, 2002

2001

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah."  -George W. Bush, at a White House Menorah lighting ceremony, Dec. 10, 2001

"And so one of the areas where I think the average Russian will realize that the stereotypes of America have changed is that it's a spirit of cooperation, not one-upmanship, that we now understand one plus one can equal three, as opposed to us and Russia we hope to be zero." - Crawford, TX, Nov. 15, 2001.

"And there's no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail." - to labor department employees, Oct. 4, 2001.

"I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." -George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

"One of the interesting initiatives we've taken in Washington, D.C., is we've got these vampire-busting devices. A vampire is a - a cell deal you can plug in the wall to charge your cell phone."  -George W. Bush, Denver, Aug. 14, 2001

My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the - in the Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell the different parties involved that peace will never happen." -George W. Bush, Crawford, Texas, Aug, 13, 2001

"A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it."  -George W. Bush, July 27, 2001

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right."
-George W. Bush, in Rome, July 22, 2001

It is white." -George W. Bush, asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001

I haven't had a chance to talk, but I'm confident we'll get a bill that I can live with if we don't." -George W. Bush, referring to the McCain-Kennedy patients' bill of rights, June 13, 2001

Our nation must come together to unite." - June 4, 2001

"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."
-George W. Bush, May 22, 2001

"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it."
-George W. Bush, May 14,2001

"There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead."
-George W. Bush, May 11, 2001

"It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade, there's more commerce."
-George W. Bush, at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, April 21, 2001


"This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We're making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end." -George W. Bush, April 10, 2001


"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically." 
-George W. Bush, speaking at the Radio & Television Correspondents dinner, March 29, 2001

"But the true threats to stability and peace are these nations that are not very transparent, that hide behind the -that don't let people in to take a look and see what they're up to. They're very kind of authoritarian regimes. The true threat is whether or not one of these people decide, peak of anger, try to hold us hostage, ourselves; the Israelis, for example, to whom we'll defend, offer our defenses; the South Koreans." 
-George W. Bush, in a media roundtable discussion, March 13, 2001

"I do think we need for a troop to be able to house his family. That's an important part of building morale in the military." -George W. Bush, speaking at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, March 12, 2001

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.''
-George W. Bush, Feb. 21, 2001

"We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House - make no mistake about it." -George W. Bush, Feb. 7, 2001

"There's no such thing as legacies. At least, there is a legacy, but I'll never see it."
-George W. Bush, speaking to Catholic leaders at the White House, Jan. 31, 2001

"Then I went for a run with the other dog and just walked. And I started thinking about a lot of things. I was able to - I can't remember what it was. Oh, the inaugural speech, started thinking through that." 
-George W. Bush, in a pre-inaugural interview with U.S. News & World Report

"Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment." -George W. Bush, Jan. 2001

I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure." 
-George W. Bush, Jan. 2001

"The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants." -George W. Bush, Jan. 2001

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well." - Jan. 29, 2001.

2000

"Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods." -George W. Bush, Dec. 20, 2000

"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." -George W. Bush, Dec. 20, 2000

"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - so long as I'm the dictator." -George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2000

If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything. If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything.       -Austin-American Statesman, November 2, 2000

"The great thing about America is everybody should vote." -George W. Bush

"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law." - Austin, Texas, Nov. 22, 2000, Slate

"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures." -George W. Bush

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program." -George W. Bush

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." -George W. Bush

"If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it." -George W. Bush, during the third presidential debate

"The idea of putting subliminable messages into ads is ridiculous." -George W. Bush

"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  

"One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected."- Los Angeles, Sept. 27, 2000

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." -George W. Bush

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

"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." -George W. Bush, during the third presidential debate, Oct. 2000

"Should I be fortunate enough to earn your confidence, the mission of the United States military will be to be prepared and ready to fight and win war. And therefore prevent war from happening in the first place." - from the 3rd Presidential Debate, St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 17, 2000.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."

"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child."

"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

"Reading is the basics for all learning."- Announcing his "Reading First" initiative in Reston, Va., March 28, 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.

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"- Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000  

"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself."- At a South Carolina oyster roast, as quoted in the Financial Times, Jan. 14, 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

PRE-2000 & Miscellaneous

"You know I could run for governor but I'm basically a media creation. I've never done anything. I've worked for my dad. I worked in the oil business. But that's not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office." - 1989

"You fucking son of a bitch. I saw what you wrote. We're not going to forget this. " - said to Wall Street Journal columnist Al Hunt, 1986.

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit...Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." August 11,1994

"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." September 15,1995

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change." May 22,1998

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is 'to be prepared'." December 6,1993

"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things." November 30, 1996

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."


The future will be better tomorrow."

"We're going to have the best educated American people in the world." September 21, 1997

"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."

"I stand by all the mis-statements that I've made." to Sam Donaldson, August 17, 1993

"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."

"Public speaking is very easy."

"I am not part of the problem. I am a Republican"

"A low voter turn-out is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."

"When I have been asked who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct & simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame.

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur." September 22, 1997

"For NASA, space is still a high priority." September 5, 1993

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children." September 18, 1995

"The American people would not want to know of any mis-quotes that George Bush may or may not make."

"We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made."

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."

"[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system."

 

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