George W. Bush Quotes
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George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. Bush was elected president in 2000 after a close and controversial win over Democratic rival Al Gore, becoming the fourth president to be elected while receiving fewer popular votes than his opponent.

From a prominent political family, he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States, making him only the second president to assume the nation's highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. His brother, Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida, was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election. His paternal grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a United States Senator from Connecticut.

The September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine: launching a "War on Terror", an international military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001 and the Iraq War in 2003. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform, and amending the Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. He signed into law broad tax cuts, the Patriot Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors, and funding for the AIDS relief program known as PEPFAR. His tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture.

In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another relatively close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the political spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and other challenges. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections. In December 2007, the United States entered its longest post-World War II recession, often referred to as the "Great Recession", prompting the Bush administration to obtain congressional passage of multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system. Nationally, Bush was both one of the most popular and unpopular presidents in history, having received the highest recorded presidential approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, as well as one of the lowest approval ratings during the 2008 financial crisis.

Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Dallas. In 2010, he published his memoir, Decision Points. His presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians' polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s.

✵ 6. July 1946   •   Other names George Walker Bush, Джордж Буш
George W. Bush photo
George W. Bush: 675   quotes 11   likes

George W. Bush Quotes

“Our health care system is the envy of the world.”

3rd Presidential Debate http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004d.html (October 13, 2004).
2000s, 2004

“Good morning. This coming week I will be making the trip up Pennsylvania Avenue to address a joint session of Congress. We have some business to attend to called the budget of the United States. The federal budget is a document about the size of a big city phone book, and about as hard to read from cover to cover. The blueprint I submit this week contains many numbers, but there is one that probably counts more than any other – $5.6 trillion. That is the surplus the federal government expects to collect over the next 10 years; money left over after we have met our obligations to Social Security, Medicare, health care, education, defense and other priorities. The plan I submit will fund our highest national priorities. Education gets the biggest percentage increase of any department in our federal government. We won't just spend more money on schools and education, we will spend it responsibly. We'll give states more freedom to decide what works. And as we give more to our schools we're going to expect more in return by requiring states and local jurisdictions to test every year. How else can we know whether schools are teaching and children are learning? Social Security and Medicare will get every dollar they need to meet their commitments. And every dollar of Social Security and Medicare tax revenue will be reserved for Social Security and Medicare.”

2000s, 2001, Radio Address to the Nation (February 2001)

“We will fight terrorism in all its forms. Iraq must never again be a haven for terrorists of any kind.”

2000s, 2003, A Vision for Iraq and the Iraqi people (March 2003)

“You know, I could run for governor and all this but I'm basically a media creation. I've never really done anything. I've worked for my dad. I worked in the oil industry. But that's not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office.”

In an interview with the Midland Reporter Telegram on 4 July 1989, quoted in Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential (John Wiley and Sons, 2003) by James Moore and Wayne Slater, p. 161.
1980s

“A political candidate who jumps to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief.”

Bush to supporters at an airport rally, October 27, 2004 http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6631109
2000s, 2004

“I believe in justice, not revenge.”

Interview with Matt Lauer http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbc-news/40073863#40074234 (2010), aired 8 November 2010.
2010s, 2010, Interview with Matt Lauer (November 2010)

“Yes, Peter. Are you going to ask that question with shades on?… I'm interested in the shade look, seriously…. For the viewers, there’s no sun.”

Teasing Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten during a White House press conference, unaware that Wallsten suffers from Stargardt’s disease and is partly blind.
"Bush shows his sensitive side, telling blind journalist: 'I'm interested in the shade look'" http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1089264.ece, The Independent, June 16, 2006.
2000s, 2006

“Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere… Nope, no weapons over there… Maybe under here.”

Narrating a humorous slide show at the Radio and Television News Correspondents Association, with a series of photos depicting himself searching through the Oval Office of the White House for the weapons of mass destruction which his administration had claimed to exist, but ultimately failed to find, in Iraq. http://www.wherearethewmd.org/evolutionary_rhetoric.php, March 25, 2004
2000s, 2004

“Every Iraqi atrocity has confirmed the justice and the urgency of our cause. [applause] Against this enemy we will accept no outcome except complete victory.”

The East Room of the White House, March 28, 2003 http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030328-6.html
2000s, 2003

“I've heard he's been called Bush's poodle. He's bigger than that.”

speaking with the Sun on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6243858.stm(June 27, 2007)
2000s, 2007

“Because free peoples believe in the future, free peoples will own the future.”

2000s, 2005, Address to the National Endowment for Democracy (October 2005)

“I believe that a prosperous, democratic Pakistan will be a steadfast partner for America, a peaceful neighbor for India and a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world.”

Televised speech in India, March 3, 2006; According to one news report, "White House spokesman Scott McClellan later had to explain aboard Air Force One en route to Pakistan that Bush meant to say 'Muslim world' — uncomfortably noting that Pakistan is not an Arab nation."
"Bush's Pakistan visit not 'risk-free'" Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2006
2000s, 2006

“I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it.”

2000s, 2003
Source: October 1, 2003, Suntimes.com http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-bush01.html (see also July 18, 2005)

“I watched his interview with her, though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder. 'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.”

During the Larry King-Karla Faye Tucker exchange, Tucker never actually asked to be spared.
1990s
Source: "Devil May Care" by Tucker Carlson, Talk Magazine, September 1999, p. 106.

“Lucky me, I hit the trifecta.”

In reference to his prior, oft-repeated promises to run a year-to-year budget surplus, except in the event of war, recession, or national emergency. Statement made to budget director Mitchell Daniels, mid-September; as quoted by him in an address to the OMB Conference Board (October 16, 2001) http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/omb/pubpress/daniels_conference_board_speech10-16-01.html repeated as a dubious joke through 2002: at Robin Hayes for Congress and Elizabeth Dole for Senate luncheon, Charlotte NC, February 27; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/02/20020227-6.html at Latham for Congress Luncheon, DesMoines IA, March 1; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020301-6.html at Saxby Chambliss for Senate Dinner, Atlanta GA, March 27; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020327-10.html at Graham for Senate Luncheon, Greenville SC, March 27; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020327-5.html at Cornyn for Senate Luncheon, Dallas TX, March 29; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020328.html at Fisher for Governor Reception, Philadelphia PA, April 3; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020403-1.html at Leaders of the Fiscal Responsibility Coalition, Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg, April 16; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020416-8.html at Heather Wilson for Congress Luncheon, Albuquerque NM, April 29; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020429-4.html at Simon for Governor Luncheon, Santa Clara CA, May 1; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020501-2.html at Taft for Governor Luncheon, Columbus OH, May 10; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020510-3.html at 14th Annual World Pork Expo, DesMoines IA, June 7; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020607-4.html at 21st Century High Tech Forum, Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg, June 13; http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020613-11.html at Texans for Rick Perry, Houston TX, June 14. http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020614-8.html
Quoted by Paul Krugman in "Hitting the Trifecta," The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/07/opinion/07KRUG.html
2000s, 2001

“Ages of experience have taught us that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society. Government, by recognizing and protecting marriage, serves the interests of all.”

Radio Address (June 3, 2006); quoted in "Bush, senators renew fight against gay marriage" at CNN.com (June 5, 2006) http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/05/same.sex.marriage.ap/index.html
2000s, 2006

“The best ethics course is to handcuff one of the bastards.”

On Enron, meeting with his Corporate Responsibility Task Force, published by Wall Street Journal, and republished by Buffalo News https://archive.is/20130628093222/www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32611018_ITM and Corporate Bodies and Guilty Minds By William S. Laufer http://books.google.com/books?id=RLwjP0ySmNcC&pg=PA263&sig=W1mDN3zZNfaEoqHM_5CM0EafB-E&dq=wall+street+journal+the-best-ethics-course-is-to-handcuff+%22September+27,+2002%22+%22See+John+R.+Wilke,+President+Praises+Work+of+Task+Force+on+Business+Crime,+Wall+Street+Journal,+September+27,+2002,+p.+%22. (July 12, 2002).
2000s, 2002

“Now, the American people have got to go about their business. We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't conduct business, where people don't shop.”

Press conference http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/10/20011011-7.html (11 October 2001).
2000s, 2001