A few of our favorite quotes from the amazingly inarticulate George Bush, Jr.

Many of these quotes were culled from a collection compiled by Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate Magazine. Other quotes are culled from Shrubbish.com, or from numerous newscasts and print media sources.

"The CIA laid out several scenarios and said life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better, and they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like."

- New York, Sept. 21, 2004

 
"Free societies are hopeful societies. And free societies will be allies against these hateful few who have no conscience, who kill at the whim of a hat."

- Washington, D.C., Sept. 17, 2004

 
"That's why I went to the Congress last September and proposed fundamental—supplemental funding, which is money for armor and body parts and ammunition and fuel."

- Erie, Pa., Sept. 4, 2004

 
"Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN's aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."

- Sept. 6, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Mo.

 
"They've seen me make decisions, they've seen me under trying times, they've seen me weep, they've seen me laugh, they've seen me hug. And they know who I am, and I believe they're comfortable with the fact that they know I'm not going to shift principles or shift positions based upon polls and focus groups."

- Interview with USA Today, Aug. 27, 2004

 
"I didn't join the International Criminal Court because I don't want to put our troops in the hands of prosecutors from other nations. Look, if somebody has done some wrong in our military, we'll take care of it. We got plenty of capability of dealing with justice."

- Niceville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2004

 
"So community colleges are accessible, they're available, they're affordable, and their curriculums don't get stuck. In other words, if there's a need for a certain kind of worker, I presume your curriculums evolved over time."

- Niceville, Fla., Aug. 10, 2004

 
"Tribal sovereignty means that, it's sovereign. You're a—you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And, therefore, the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities."

- Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004

 
"Secondly, the tactics of our—as you know, we don't have relationships with Iran. I mean, that's—ever since the late '70s, we have no contacts with them, and we've totally sanctioned them. In other words, there's no sanctions—you can't—we're out of sanctions."

- Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004

 
"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."

- Washington, D.C., August 5, 2004

 
"I mean, if you've ever been a governor of a state, you understand the vast potential of broadband technology, you understand how hard it is to make sure that physics, for example, is taught in every classroom in the state. It's difficult to do. It's, like, cost-prohibitive."

- Washington, D.C., June 24, 2004

 
"And I am an optimistic person. I guess if you want to try to find something to be pessimistic about, you can find it, no matter how hard you look, you know?"

- Washington, D.C., June 15, 2004

 
"[A] free Iraq is essential to our respective securities."

- Washington, D.C., June 1, 2004

 
"I want to thank my friend, Sen. Bill Frist, for joining us today. … He married a Texas girl, I want you to know. (Laughter.) Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me."

- Nashville, Tenn., May 27, 2004

 
"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

 
"This has been tough weeks in that country."

- Washington, D.C., April 13, 2004

 
"[B]y the way, we rank 10th amongst the industrialized world in broadband technology and its availability. That's not good enough for America. Tenth is 10 spots too low as far as I'm concerned."

- Minneapolis, Minn., April 26, 2004

 
"My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate."

- Washington, D.C., April 21, 2004

 
"This is historic times."

- New York, N.Y., April 20, 2004

 
"Obviously, I pray every day there's less casualty."

- Fort Hood, Texas, April 11, 2004

 
"Recession means that people's incomes, at the employer level, are going down, basically, relative to costs, people are getting laid off."

- Washington, D.C., Feb. 19, 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."

- Los Angeles, Calif., March 3, 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."

- Springfield, Mo., Feb. 9, 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."

- 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."

- Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

 
"In an economic recession, I'd rather that in order to get out of this recession, that the people be spending their money, not the government trying to figure out how to spend the people's money."

- Tampa, Fla., Feb. 16, 2004

 
"King Abdullah of Jordan, the King of Morocco, I mean, there's a series of places - Qatar, Oman - I mean, places that are developing - Bahrain - they're all developing the habits of free societies."

- Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

 
"But the true strength of America is found in the hearts and souls of people like Travis, people who are willing to love their neighbor, just like they would like to love themselves."

- Springfield, Mo., Feb. 9, 2004

 
"My views are one that speaks to freedom."

- Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

"The recession started upon my arrival. t 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."

- Meet the Press, Feb. 8, 2004

 
"I was a prisoner too, but for bad reasons."

- 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

 
"[T]he illiteracy level of our children are appalling."

- Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

 
"Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter."

- Advising quail hunter and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 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."

- Washington, D.C., Jan. 9, 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."

- Washington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2004

 
"And if you're interested in the quality of education and you're paying attention to what you hear at Laclede, why don't you volunteer? Why don't you mentor a child how to read?" - St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 5, 2004

 
"So thank you for reminding me about the importance of being a good mom and a great volunteer as well."

- St. Louis, Jan. 5, 2004

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."

—as quoted by The New York Daily News,
April 23, 2002

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."

—Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003

"One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end."

—Washington, D.C., Jan. 8, 2003

"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

"The goals for this country are peace in the world. And the goals for this country are a compassionate American for every single citizen. That compassion is found in the hearts and souls of the American citizens."

—Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2002

"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

"These people don't have tanks. They don't have ships. They hide in caves. They send suiciders out."

—Speaking about terrorists, Portsmouth, N.H., Nov. 1, 2002

"I know something about being a government. And you've got a good one."

—Stumping for Gov. Mike Huckabee,
Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 4, 2002

"I need to be able to move the right people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate."

—South Bend, Ind., Oct. 31, 2002

"You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch."

—Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

—Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002

"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

"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."

—Speech 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."

—Oklahoma City, Aug. 29, 2002

"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here."

"I can assure you that, even though I won't be sitting through every single moment of the seminars, nor will the vice president, we will look at the summaries."

"Tommy [Thompson, Health and Human Services secretary,] is a good listener, and he's a pretty good actor, too."

"The trial lawyers are very politically powerful. … But here in Texas we took them on and got some good medical—medical malpractice.""I firmly believe the death tax is good for people from all walks of life all throughout our society."

—Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

"There was no malfeance involved. This was an honest disagreement about accounting procedures. ... There was no malfeance, no attempt to hide anything."

—White House press conference,
Washington, D.C., July 8, 2002

"We're working with Chancellor Schröder on what's called 10-plus-10-over-10: $10 billion from the U.S.,$10 billion from other members of the G7 over a 10-year period, to help Russia securitize the dismantling—the dismantled nuclear warheads."

—Berlin, Germany,
May 23, 2002

"Do you have blacks, too?"

- Bush to Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
in Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001, as reported in Der Spiegel.
Condoleeza Rice interceded explaining that
Brazil has the greatest number of
black citizens of any nation outside of Africa.,

"This is a nation that loves our freedom, loves our country."

—Washington, D.C, May 17, 2002

"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society."

—Santa Clara, Calif.,
May 1, 2002

"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

"It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber."

—Washington, D.C.,
April 10, 2002

"We've tripled the amount of money—I believe it's from $50 million up to $195 million available."

—Lima, Peru,
March 23, 2002

"There's nothing more deep than recognizing Israel's right to exist. That's the most deep thought of all... I can't think of anything more deep than that right."

—Washington, D.C.,
March 13, 2002

"I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region."

—Washington, D.C.,
March 13, 2002

"Anyway, I'm so thankful, and so gracious—I'm gracious that my brother Jeb is concerned about the hemisphere as well."

—Miami, Fla.,
June 4, 2001

"First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country."

—On the Kyoto accord in an interview
with the Washington Post, April 24, 2001

"It's very important for folks to understand that when there's more trade, there's more commerce."

—Quebec City, Canada,
April 21, 2001

"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican."

—Declining to answer reporters' questions
at the Summit of the Americas,
Quebec City, Canada, April 21, 2001

"The Senate needs to leave enough money in the proposed budget to not only reduce all marginal rates, but to eliminate the death tax, so that people who build up assets are able to transfer them from one generation to the next, regardless of a person's race."

—Washington, D.C.,
April 5, 2001

—Radio-Television Correspondents Association dinner,
Washington, D.C., March 29, 2001

—to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce;
Washington, D.C., March 19, 2001

"I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions: How'd your meeting go with so-and-so? … How did you feel when you stood up in front of the people for the State of the Union Address—state of the budget address, whatever you call it."

—Interview with the Washington Post,
March 9, 2001

"Ann and I will carry out this equivocal message to the world: Markets must be open."

—Swearing-in ceremony for
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman,
Washington, D.C., March 2, 2001

"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

"We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House—make no mistake about it."

—Washington, D.C.,
Feb. 7, 2001

"I confirmed to the prime minister that we appreciate our friendship."

—After meeting with
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada,
Feb. 5, 2001

"There's no such thing as legacies. At least, there is a legacy, but I'll never see it."

—To Catholic leaders
at the White House, Jan. 31, 2001

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

—Washington, D.C.,
Jan. 29, 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."

—Pre-inaugural interview
with U.S. News & World Report,
Jan. 22, 2001 issue

"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

"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

"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

"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

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

—St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 2, 2000