Bushisms: Move over, Mrs Malaprop

He is well known for having travelled little outside the United States. But nonetheless, President George W. Bush is infamous for speaking in a foreign tongue.

His gift for malapropisms - phrases such as 'they misunderestimated me' - has brought him ridicule and sympathy in equal measure.

A collection 'Bushisms'- wandering nouns, bizarre verbs and convoluted tenses - has even been published by a White House insider.

Here are some of Bush's finest foot-in-mouth sayings.


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

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

'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.'

'Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?'

'Laura and I really don't realise how bright our children is sometimes until
we get an objective analysis.'

'Welcome to Mrs Bush, and my fellow astronauts.'

'I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy
- but that could change.'

'I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.'

On the California power cuts: 'The crunch really is the result of not enough
power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of
generating plants.'

'It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our
imports come from overseas.'

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

'Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.'

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

'I understand small business growth. I was one.'

'I hope the ambitious realise that they are more likely to succeed with
success as opposed to failure.'

'Will the highways on the internet become more few?'

Trying to describe his brand of compassionate conservatism: 'I've got a record, a record that is conservative and a record that is compassionated.'

'Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.'

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

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

'When I have been asked who caused the riots and the killing in LA, my answer
has been direct and 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.'

'A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.'

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

'I don't know whether I'm going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I'm
ready for the job. And, if not, that's just the way it goes.'

'I am a person who recognises the fallacy of humans.'

'One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic
pictures.'

'Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.'

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

'Drug therapies are replacing a lot of medicines as we used to know it.'

A foreign policy priority: 'Keep good relations with the Grecians.'

'One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above
that which is expected.'

'Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it,
that's trustworthiness.'

'They said: "You know, this issue doesn't seem to resignate with the people."
And I said, you know something? Whether it resignates or not doesn't matter
to me, because I stand for doing what's the right thing, and what the right
thing is hearing the voices of people who work.'

'I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.'

'We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called
America will be the pacemakers.'

'I think we agree, the past is over.'

'We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold
our allies hostile.'

'The senator (John McCain) has got to understand if he's going to have he
can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low
road.'

'The most important job is not to be Governor, or First Lady in my case.'

'We're going to have the best educated American people in the world.'

On campaigning in New Hampshire: 'The important question is, How many hands
have I shaked?'

'I would have said yes to abortion if only it was right. I mean, yeah it's
right. Well no, it's not right. That's why I said no to it.'

'A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an economic
illness.'

'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.'

'I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy.'

'Kosovians can move back in.'

'Actually - this may sound a little West Texan to you, but I like it. When I'm talking about - when I'm talking about myself, and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me.'

On his controversial visit to South Carolina's Bob Jones University, where interracial dating is banned: 'The policy on interracial dating, I mean I spoke out on interracial dating. I spoke out against that. I spoke out against interracial dating. I support the policy of interracial dating.'

On the death penalty: 'The only things that I can tell you is that every case I have reviewed I have been comfortable with the innocence or guilt of the person that I've looked at. I do not believe we've put a guilty... I mean innocent person to death in the state of Texas.'

'When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who
they were. It was Us v. Them, and it was clear who 'Them' was. Today, we are not so sure who the 'They' are, but we know they're there.'

  • Some of these quotes are taken from George W. Bushisms, The Slate Book of The Accidental Wit And Wisdom Of Our 43rd President, edited by Jacob Weisberg (Fireside, £4.99).

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