84 George W. Bush Quotes on Politics

George W. Bush quotes on politics

2. You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier.

5. I'm a uniter, not a divider.

7. There ought to be limits to freedom.

8. 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.'

14. The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're trying to get me into.

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

20. It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it.

25. 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.

28. We can do better in Washington D.C. We can have new leadership in Washington D.C., leadership that will lift this country's spirits and raise our sights. George P. knows what thousands of other youngsters know, that just because the White House has let us down in the past, that doesn't mean it's going to happen in the future. George P. joins us in a campaign that's going to restore honor and dignity to the White House.

34. This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elites; I call you my base.

39. I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them.

44. I think there is some methodology in my travels.

49. There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead.

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

52. It's amazing I won. I was running against peace and prosperity and incumbency.

53. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.

58. Dealing with Congress is a matter of give and take. The president doesn't get everything he wants, the Congress doesn't get everything they want. But we're finding good common ground. A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.

71. Americans are asking 'Why do they [terrorists] hate us?' They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

74. You are either with us or you are against us in the fight against terror.

82. Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes.

90. This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.

98. 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.

100. There's no bigger task than protecting the homeland of our country.

105. You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it will take time to restore chaos from order- order out of chaos. But we will.

109. I said you were a man of peace. I want you to know I took immense crap for that.

143. My meetings with [Ahmed Chalabi] were very brief. I mean, I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just kind of working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders. But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him.

144. I want to be the peace president

145. Today I'm going to give you some reasons for you to put me back in office, but perhaps the most important reason of all is so that Laura will be the First Lady for four more years.

147. Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, 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.

149. That's why I cut the taxes on everybody. I didn't cut them. The Congress cut them. I asked them to cut them.

153. In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table. But make no mistake about it, we are winning, and we will win.

163. I made it very plain: We will not have an all-volunteer army. [Crowd boos] Let me restate that. We will not have a draft. [Crowd Cheers]

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

170. I have earned capitol, and I intend to spend it.

172. I think people attack me because they are fearful that I will then say that you're not equally as patriotic if you're not a religious person. ... I've never said that. I've never acted like that. I think that's just the way it is. (Washington Times, 12 January 2005)

185. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. - May 24, 2005 [66]

186. I was going to say he's a piece of work, but that might not translate too well. Is that all right, if I call you a 'piece of work'?

188. I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached. And as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will. - September 1, 2005. [68]

192. I understand not everybody agrees with the decisions I've made, but that's not unique to Central or South America. Truth of the matter is, there's people who disagree with the decisions I've made all over the world. But that's what happens when you make decisions.

195. As Iraqi forces gain experience and the political process advances, we will be able to decrease our troop level in Iraq without losing our capability to defeat the terrorists. These decisions about troop levels will be driven by the conditions on the ground in Iraq and the good judgment of our commanders, not by artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington.

196. There was no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the attack of 9/11, I've never said that and never made that case prior to going into Iraq.[74]

200. One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq with the war on terror.

201. I like my buddies from West Texas. I liked them when I was young, I liked them when I was middle-age, I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after president.

202. I want to share some thoughts with you before I answer your questions [...] First of all, I expect this conversation we're about to have to stay in the room. I know that's impossible in Washington.

209. 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.

214. Liberty can be delayed, but it cannot be denied.

215. Germany is whole again.

222. If there's any comparison between the compassion and decency of the American people and the terrorist tactics of extremists, it's flawed logic. It's just - I simply can't accept that. It's unacceptable to think that there's any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children to achieve an objective.

227. Both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them.

229. ...Hunt asked me the question one week before the campaign, and basically it was, are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the Vice President? And my answer was, they're going to stay on. And the reason why is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer.

234. ...The battle against the Sunnis - Sunni extremists - some of them Saddamists, some of there are al Qaeda, but all of them aiming to try to drive the United States out of Iraq before the job is done.

243. I think that the vice president is a person reflecting a half-glass-full mentality, and that is he's been able to look at - as have I, and I hope other Americans have - the fact that the tyrant was removed, 12 million people voted, there is an Iraqi constitution in place that is a model for - and unique for the Middle East.

247. A year ago my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone. Ah, those were the good ol' days.

254. 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.

258. I'll see you at the bill signing.

278. Amigo, amigo!

279. The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case.

291. I would still invade Iraq even if Iraq never existed.

298. I will put a high priority on detecting and responding to terrorism on our soil. The federal government must take this threat seriously - working closely with researchers and industry to increase surveillance and develop treatments for chemical and biological agents.

299. Defending our nation is just the beginning of our challenge. My third goal is to take advantage of a tremendous opportunity - given few nations in history - to extend the current peace into the far realm of the future. A chance to project America's peaceful influence, not just across the world, but across the years.

302. Our military and our nation are entering another period of consequences - a time of rapid change and momentous choices.

309. We are no longer fighting a great enemy, we are asserting a great principle: that the talents and dreams of average people - their warm human hopes and loves - should be rewarded by freedom and protected by peace. We are defending the nobility of normal lives, lived in obedience to God and conscience, not to government.

311. The peaceful transfer of authority is rare in history, yet common in our country. With a simple oath, we affirm old traditions and make new beginnings.

317. The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution.

335. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.

336. We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation - the moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.

355. No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it. And one of the main sources of reaction and opposition is radical Islam - the perversion by a few of a noble faith into an ideology of terror and death.

361. Our own generation is in a long war against a determined enemy - a war that will be fought by presidents of both parties, who will need steady bipartisan support from the Congress. And tonight I ask for yours. Together, let us protect our country, support the men and women who defend us, and lead this world toward freedom.

374. No, I don't know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God.

383. Ike had lots to do. First off, he had to clean up the big mess left by Franklin Roosevelt, a President who wasted so much taxpayer money on needless and wasteful social programs that us Republicans had to impose a two-term limit.

393. If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it.

408. But we've got a big border in Texas, with Mexico, obviously - and we've got a big border with Canada - Arizona is affected.

411. Freedom is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman.

418. Let me put it to you this way. I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.

423. On the one hand, you've got people who're working here to alleviate poverty, to help rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS. They're working on ways to have a clean environment... And on the other hand, you've got people killing innocent people. The contrast couldn't be clearer, between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill: those who've got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks. The war on terror goes on. - July 7, 2005; speaking to the press outside the G8 Conference at Gleneagles, in response to the London bombings. BBC News 24.

426. I'm trying to figure out what else I can say that you - I didn't say yesterday that sounds profound to you without - without actually answering your question.

429. Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility.

438. That international criminal, I mean George Bush... If there is any justice in the world, undoubtedly, this man and his ilk, without a doubt, should be sentenced to 100 deaths. There is no doubt about it.

440. Whether you love or loath George W. Bush, you can not deny that he has learned how to read a teleprompter.

441. US President Bush is a great leader, great friend of Israel and a source of inspiration.

442. I heard Bush say, 'You know, the truth is I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not. We had some pretty wild parties back in the day, and I just don't remember.' I remember thinking to myself, How can that be? How can someone simply not remember whether or not they used an illegal substance like cocaine? It didn't make a lot of sense.

444. I do not believe that the President was in any way directly involved in the leaking of her identity, but that was a very disillusioning moment for me when I found out when it initially hit the press, and I was in North Carolina, if I remember correctly, and a reporter shouted out to the President, 'Is it true that you authorized the secret leaking of this classified information?' We walked onto Air Force One, and the Presidents asks, 'What was the reporter asking?', and I said, 'He asserted that you were the one who authorized Scooty Libby leaking this information,' and he said, 'Yeah, I did.'

445. As a Texas loyalist who followed Bush to Washington with great hope and personal affection and as a proud member of his administration, I was all too ready to give him and his highly experienced foreign policy advisers the benefit of the doubt on Iraq. Unfortunately, subsequent events have showed that our willingness to trust the judgment of Bush and his team was misplaced.

     Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

446. This is the dysfunctions and motivations of the Bush administration laid bare.