"As for the miners, Bush observed, "It was their determination to stick together and to comfort each other that really defines kind of a new spirit that's prevalent in our country, that when one of us suffer, all of us suffers." (Syntax in the original.)" --David Corn, The Nation, Aug. 6, 2002

Gary Markowitz

--"Oh Holy Night," Words by Chappeau de Roquemaure. Translated by John S. Dwight

BUSH'S TRIFECTA OF LIES: "It takes a brazen politician to make up a story that can be proven false and then to keep lying about it after being busted repeatedly. A case in point is President Bush's repetition last week of a story about a fictitious Chicago campaign statement, just days after his budget director was called on it by "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert....Bush's claim that he listed three exceptions under which he would run deficits during a 2000 Chicago campaign stop -- war, national emergency or recession -- is blatantly false" --Brendan Nyhan, 06.18.02

I hate the way the press protects his stupidity. --Bushwatcher, 12/03/01

BUSH: "You know, if you find a person that you've never seen before getting in a crop-duster that doesn't belong to you, report it...."Press Conference, 10/11/01

from the Washington Post, Oct 3: "I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." --Washington Post, Oct. 3, 2001

"But even in the tension of war preparation, Bush gave a clear sign that things were returning to normal, as he employed his favorite malapropism, "misunderestimate," three times in as many sentences."The folks who conducted to act on our country on September 11th made a big mistake," he said. "They underestimated America. They underestimated our resolve, our determination, our love for freedom. They misunderestimated the fact that we love a neighbor in need. They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too."" --Washington Post, 0/27/01 [but see Censored.]

"To the book of "Bushisms," add a footnote on Fleischerisms. Announcing President Bush's schedule on Thursday, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the president was meeting with religious leaders "to talk about the importance of tolerism, er, tolerance." Later in his morning briefing, Fleischer repeated the nonword, "tolerism." Reporters more accustomed to hearing such malaprops from the president himself could barely stifle their laughter. Fleischer jokingly begged: 'Don't think what you all are thinking! That was MY word. Stop it!'" --Washington Post, 9/20/01

"Sometimes we agree. Sometimes we don't. But I tell you we'll always answer his phone." --Speaking to a Labor Day crowd in Kaukauna, Wis., about Carpenters' Union President Doug McCarron, 9/3/01. AP

"Bush, who has tweaked the press about his choice of Crawford -- a sunbaked crossroads where summer temperatures hover around the century mark -- suspecting them of a preference for 'sucking in the salt air' on the East Coast, displayed similar disdain for those who would vacation on the West Coast. 'Brie and cheese,' he sniffed after learning one reporter had just returned from California." --Reuters, 8/23/01

"An expert in Texas trees, described by Bush as 'an arbolist,' is coming soon to identify all the varieties at the ranch. 'Look up the word,' he said. 'I don't know, maybe I made it up. Anyway, it's an arbo-tree-ist, somebody who knows about trees.'" --Judy Keen, 8/21/01

"Bush at night hatches quizzical new phrases. In Denver and Albuquerque, he talked about the "so- called surplus," making it sound as if he doubted the existence of the very money he deemed so bountiful that a tax cut was necessary. And Bush at night latches onto adjectives and doesn't let go. Eight times in about one minute, he called Senator Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, for whom he was raising money at the Albuquerque event, "passionate," and Mr. Domenici's passions knew no bounds. "Pete is passionate about the budget," the president said. He then erased more than two months of Congressional history, traveling back to a time before Democrats took control of the Senate, and put Mr. Domenici in charge of the Senate budget committee once again. "I can assure you, Mr. Chairman," Mr. Bush said to him, hurriedly adding: "Or I wish would be Mr. Chairman — should be Mr. Chairman, and will be Mr. Chairman after next 2002." Not to be confused with last 2002." --Frank Bruni, 8/19/01

"Well, sometimes we see the will on the other side, and sometimes that cycle overcomes the will. There's a lot of people in the Middle East who are desirous to get into the Mitchell process, but first things first. These terrorist acts and the responses have got to end in order for us to get the framework -- the groundwork, not framework -- the groundwork to discuss a framework, to lay the -- all right." --Bush Rmks To Travel Pool, 8/13/01

"We will never get to Mitchell until the leadership works to reduce and stop violence. These terrorists acts, which are despicable, will prevent us from ever getting into the Mitchell process. 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. And so long as terrorist activities continue, it will be impossible to get into Mitchell or any other discussion about peace under the threat of terrorism." --to reporters, 8/13/01

"I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe -- I believe what I believe is right," he said, to the confusion of some of the listening journalists during an informal meeting near the steps of Rome in Italy where orators used to speak. --Reuters, 7/23/01

"After the [Ellis Island citizenship] ceremony, Bush led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance, mistakenly urging them to hold up their right hands rather than place them on their hearts, as is customary. 'Right hand up, please,' Bush said, prompting most of the group to follow suit, before catching his mistake. 'Actually right hand on your heart.'" --Reuters, 7/11/01

"Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I--it's--I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values."--Visiting the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C., July 2, 2001

"I'm sure you can imagine it's an unimaginable honor to live here." --June 18, 2001 in a White House address to agriculture leaders. (thanks, Sari)

"When George W. Bush announced from Sweden on June 14 that he planned to pull the US Navy out of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques by 2003, it struck some as odd when he referred to the people of Vieques, all US citizens, as "our friends and neighbors" who "don't want us there." It was as though he was saying Puerto Rico is a foreign country." --Falcon

"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease."--After meeting with the leaders of the European Union, Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

"President Bush reports that European leaders are warming up to his missile defense plan now that he has gone over and explained to them "the logic behind the rationale." Now, whatever you do, don't try to examine the phrase "the logic behind the rationale" logically. I tried, and the results weren't pretty:
"A rationale, of course, is the logic behind some position or course of action. So the "logic behind the rationale" is the logic behind the logic behind some position or course of action—a concept I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around. Of course, if we adopt the more cynical sense of the word "rationale"—the purported but not actual logic behind a position—then Bush's phrase could have some actual meaning. For example: Maybe he explained to European leaders that behind the official rationale for missile defense—smacking down missiles launched by wacko leaders of rogue states—lie the actual goals of feeding the military industrial complex and keeping Donald Rumsfeld off the streets. But somehow I doubt it, even though one of those goals would indeed be laudable." --Robin Wright, 6/19/01

"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

"Russia is no longer our enemy, and therefore we shouldn't be locked into a Cold War mentality that says we keep the peace by blowing each other up. In my attitude, that's old, that's tired, that's stale."--Des Moines, Iowa, June 8, 2001

"Bush, in a taped interview with Spanish TV 'mispronounced the prime minister's name.' Bush 'said he looked forward to meeting Aznar -- but the name came out as Anzar.' Bush also 'mangled Spanish grammar with gender disagreement and emphasis on the wrong syllables.' 'If I don't practice I am going to destroy this language' -- President Bush, on his Spanish." --AP, 6/12/01, as reported by Hotline.

"Our nation must come together to unite." --Tampa, Fla., 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."--Remarks to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Institute, Washington, D.C., May 22, 2001

"Thirdly, the explorationists are willing to only move equipment during the winter, which means they'll be on ice roads, and remove the equipment as the ice begins to melt, so that the fragile tundra is protected." --Conestoga, Pa., May 18, 2001

IS BUSH CLOSE ENOUGH FOR GOVERNMENT WORK? Ever since mainstream reporters filed their Bush First Hundred Days reports, they've gone easy on him about his verbal gaffes. He's still providing his Bushisms, but they're not being reported and the transcripts of his spur-of-the-moment informal press conferences are being cleaned up. During Friday's sneak attack by Bush on the English language, a Bush Watcher caught him saying de-ter-iate for "deteriorate," hay-ee-nous for "heinous," and vent-ed for "vetted." Please keep us informed of future Bush verbal transgressions while the media continues to be derelict in its duties. --Politex, 5/14/01

"But I also made it clear to [Vladimir Putin] that it's important to think beyond the old days of when we had the concept that if we blew each other up, the world would be safe."--Washington, D.C., May 1, 2001

Here's what Bush said about how far he would have the U.S. go to defend Taiwan: "Whatever it took to help Taiwan defend theirself." --Good Morning America, April 25, 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

"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."--Washington, D.C., April 10, 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

"And we need a full affront on an energy crisis that is real in California and looms for other parts of our country if we don't move quickly."--Press conference, Washington, D.C., March 29, 2001

"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically."--Radio-Television Correspondents Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 29, 2001

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