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bushisms: The president's accidental wit and wisdom.

The Complete BushismsUpdated frequently.

By Jacob Weisberg
Updated Monday, April 28, 2008, at 7:14 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

"You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket—in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it—they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded it prevented additional opportunities for people to work."—Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 3, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 4:02.

"All of us in America want there to be fairness when it comes to justice."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 17:19.

"As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured."—New York, Sept. 26, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 8:40.

"We're also talking to different finance ministers about how we can send a message to the Iranian government that the free world is not going to tolerate the development of know-how in how to build a weapon, or at least gain the ability to make a weapon."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 7:40.

"I feel strongly that there ought to be fair justice."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 19:17.

"There is no question that there is some unsettling times in the housing market."—Washington, D.C., Sept. 20, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 4:57.

"Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit. I appreciate—APEC summit."—addressing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Sydney, Australia, Sept. 7, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 1:32.

"I'm going to try to see if I can remember as much to make it sound like I'm smart on the subject."—answering a question concerning a possible flu pandemic, Cleveland, July 10, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 1:02:50.

"I cannot look a mother and father of a troop in the eye and say, 'I'm sending your kid into combat, but I don't think we can achieve the objective.' "—Washington, D.C., July 12, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 18:46.

"More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way."—Martinsburg, W. Va., July 4, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 5:59.

"I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that."—discussing former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, as quoted by the Sun newspaper, June 27, 2007

"Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally, and this bill does that."—discussing an immigration reform bill, Washington, D.C., June 26, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 6:22.

"This process has been drug out a long time, which says to me it's political."—Discussing the controversy surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, Sofia, Bulgaria, June 11, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 23:18.

"These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved."—Sofia, Bulgaria, June 11, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 9:22.

"What I'm telling you is there's too many junk lawsuits suing too many doctors."—Washington, D.C., May 10, 2007

"We understand the fright that can come when you're worried about a rocket landing on top of your home."—Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007

Click here to hear audio of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 3:41.

"There's a lot of blowhards in the political process, you know, a lot of hot-air artists, people who have got something fancy to say."—Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007

Click here to hear audio of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 25:56.

"My relationship with this good man is where I've been focused, and that's where my concentration is. And I don't regret any other aspect of it. And so I—we filled a lot of space together."—on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007 (Thanks to Garry Trudeau.)

Click here to hear audio of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 31:03.

"Forms of government matter, in my opinion. It matters how—the nature of the government in which people live."—Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 12:08.

"Wisdom and strength, and my family, is what I'd like for you to pray for."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 57:04.

"The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear—I'm a commander guy."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 53:41.

"Information is moving—you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007

"If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about."—discussing the sorts of jobs many illegal immigrant workers perform, Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 56:45.

"And everybody wants to be loved—not everybody, but—you run for office, I guess you do. You never heard anybody say, 'I want to be despised, I'm running for office.' "—Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 1:18:47.

"One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be."—On benefits provided to military personnel, Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 1:07:47.

"And so, what Gen. Petraeus is saying, some early signs, still dangerous, but give me—give my chance a plan to work."—in an interview with Charlie Rose, April 24, 2007 (Thanks to Dana Stevens.)

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 8:02.

"My job is a job to make decisions. I'm a decision—if the job description were, what do you do—it's decision maker."—Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 6:07.

"There are some similarities, of course—death is terrible."—on comparisons between the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 42:12.

"I said to her, make sure the rug says 'optimistic person comes to work.' "—describing his instructions to the first lady in choosing a rug for the Oval Office, Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

"My attitude about the world changed, and I know the attitude about the world from a lot of folks here in America's attitude changed."—Discussing the Sept. 11 attacks, Fairfax, Va., April 10, 2007 (Thanks to David Stanford.)

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 5:41.

"Iraq is a very important part of securing the homeland, and it's a very important part of helping change the Middle East into a part of the world that will not serve as a threat to the civilized world, to people like—or to the developed world, to people like—in the United States." —Washington, D.C., April 3, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 36:50.

"That's why we are inconveniencing air traffickers, to make sure nobody is carrying weapons on airplanes."—Discussing the continuing need for heightened airline security, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2007

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 22:47.

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 11:21.

Click here to see a video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 50:16.

Click here to see a video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 50:17

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 19:07.
"We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge." —Washington, D.C., April 20, 2005

Click here to see video of Bush's comments. The Bushism is at 19:30.

"Now, there are some who would like to rewrite history—revisionist historians is what I like to call them."—Elizabeth, N.J., June 16, 2003

"I am determined to keep the process on the road to peace."—Washington, D.C., June 10, 2003 (Thanks to Tanny Bear.)

"The true strength of America happens when a neighbor loves a neighbor just like they'd like to be loved themselves."—Elizabeth, N.J., June 16, 2003

"We ended the rule of one of history's worst tyrants, and in so doing, we not only freed the American people, we made our own people more secure."—Crawford, Texas, May 3, 2003 (Thanks to Tony Marciniec.)

"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

"After all, a week ago, there were—Yasser Arafat was boarded up in his building in Ramallah, a building full of, evidently, German peace protestors and all kinds of people. They're now out. He's now free to show leadership, to lead the world."—Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002 (Thanks to M. Bateman.)

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."—as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

"I want to thank the dozens of welfare to work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."—Washington, D.C., April 18, 2002 (Thanks to George Dupper.)

"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



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Jacob Weisberg is editor of Slate and author of The Bush Tragedy.
Photograph by Rick Wilking/Reuters.
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