The Nation.


Nation Poll

What Is Bush's Dumbest Utterance?

  1. How did The Nation ever limit the list to "just" 5?

    For a great ref: The Bush Dyslexicon - Observations on a National Disorder by Mark Crispin Miller (2002)

    And to think that since '02 it has only gotten "worser" ... sigh!

    vs/Retired Navy Lieutenant Commander ps: "Bipartisanship: I'll hug your elephant if you'll kiss my ass."

    Posted by rwk at 05/17/2007

  2. I love simple and I laugh at the basic things. I laughed for several minutes at "The illiteracy level of our children are appalling," perhaps becase of my own struggle with English. I had to go through a summer session, having to pass two of the three classes, before I could get into a very mediocre state college. Three semesters later I failed out. Two years after that I hit the deans list at a much better school. I know what it is to struggle academically. As such, that is probably what is so funny about that silly little muff by Mr. Bush, the irony of it all. I don't laugh at Mr. Bush, I laugh at the irony that he's a Yale graduate that ended up President of America but when he speaks it's clear to most that he's not very bright. So much for a Yale education and the intelligence of more than half of the American voters.

    Posted by Lucem ferre at 05/17/2007

  3. DUMB AND DUMBER...

    This is definitely an "all of the above" type question. Forced to choose just one, I picked "young cows" mainly because the PHRASE "young cows" just sounds so utterly idiotic.

    Some of the others like "connect Iraq" and "enter illegally" were definitely "vintage Bush," and both unwittingly self-exposing and tautological but not, to my mind, up there with "young cows" somehow. "Lose a loss of life" and "level...are" come pretty close, but the latter is just poor grammar (not actually illiteracy), the type of mistake a lot of (fairly) intelligent people make when they make their main verb agree with the nearest noun in front of it instead of with the actual subject of the sentence. (But then, hey, I'm a recovering English teacher.)

    I just hope those young cows aren't violating the law by crossing the border illegally!

    Posted by w_m_bear at 05/18/2007

  4. The cutting floor must be a mess. Not only has Chimpy left 3 countries worse than he found them, he has left a wake of mangled language behind him that will confound school children for decades to come.

    Posted by crabwalk at 05/18/2007

  5. My favorite of all time was not included - "We have to make the pie higher"

    So simple it is almost zen.

    Posted by kjonsberg at 05/18/2007

  6. http://publish.seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/05/259462.shtml

    "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!" - GW Bush, September 13, 2001

    "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - GW Bush, March 13, 2002

    [publish.seattle.indymedia.org] Congress needs to Act on Impeachment of Cheney Now. author: Voter May 13, 2007 04:45

    Forgery is a crime, and knowingly using forged documents for preemptive war is impeachable.

    Why has the media been silent on this issue? I haven't seen headlines yet that say an impeachment of the Vice President has been sponsored by two other Congressmen.

    Bill Moyer's Documentary Buying the War shed some light on this. Ironicaly it shed more light than was probably planned.

    Congress needs to Act on Impeachment of Cheney Now.

    Posted by Rese at 05/18/2007

  7. My favorate(?) is:

    "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - just so long I'm the dictator." December 18, 2000 George Bush

    When someone tell you who they are, believe them.

    Posted by COProgressive at 05/18/2007

  8. I had a bunch of quotes in a file I'd draw on for my email sigs. The only one that I have right now (due to a computer crash) is:

    "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- Aug. 5, 2004.

    Posted by unclesteve at 05/18/2007

  9. "I believe God wants me to be president." - G.W. Bush "You're doin' a heck of a job Bushie". - Satan

    Posted by Qris J at 05/19/2007

  10. Ironically, Shrub's malapropisms constitute Absurdist art in our increasingly artless imperialistic nation-state.

    Be gone Gonzales and impeach Cheney, please.

    Posted by lewwelge at 05/19/2007

  11. Keep em' coming.

    More wisdom from the mountain.

    Posted by hhemwm at 05/19/2007

  12. It was hard to pick the dumbest comment, they are all wonderfully ignorant. Why O why doesn't someone pull a prison bus in front of the white house, and load it up with the Bush administration.Then they need to garnesh his wealth to pay for the Huge disservices he has done to the earth and all its denizens.

    Posted by Guitar Man at 05/21/2007

  13. Strictly speaking,I chose the comment with the border-crossing cows as the "dumbest". It's interesting when juxtaposed with the fact that these words are coming from the world's most powerful leader; his mind filled with images of wandering cows. It's nice to smile at George Bush, for a change.

    Posted by amd at 05/22/2007

  14. My fav was also not included: "We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their...their love, with women all across the country."

    Posted by tohubohu at 05/22/2007

  15. yeah, there are books of these. but, no offense intended, i must disagree with the passing reference to "more than half of the American voters" never happened. not 5-4 and not the night i went to sleep in California content with the exit polls. what's happened since then, well... but it was never the doing of more than half the voters.

    Posted by mnparker at 05/22/2007

  16. no offense taken but actually, if you add the results from both elections, it was more than half the voters. While bush lost round one, he won round two, not including the votes not counted, by about 3 million. sorry for not clarifying that.

    Posted by Lucem ferre at 05/22/2007

  17. I hope someone patient has the time to put out a video collection of Bush's Foul-Ups, Bleeps and Blunders from the past eight years. Provided the world hasn't been engulfed in a nuke-yoo-lar holocaust by that time.

    Posted by habiba at 05/23/2007

  18. It was hard to pick the dumbest utterance. I chose the "young cow" craziness because unlike the others you can't tell from the sentance what the context is. Who was he talking about when he made this comment?

    My favorite bushism not listed is "more and more of our imports are coming from overseas".

    Posted by nicolegk at 05/24/2007

  19. on my own email signature block I have

    "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

    with the text linked to the actual recording....

    Posted by leftofcenter at 05/24/2007

  20. weird...reverse time flow thread?

    Posted by leftofcenter at 05/24/2007

  21. My favorate(?) is:

    "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - just so long I'm the dictator." December 18, 2000 George Bush

    When someone tell you who they are, believe them.

    Posted by COPROGRESSIVE 05/18/2007 @ 4:38pm |

    DICTATOR = DICK + TATER...

    And I think we all know who is which.

    Coprog -- I've been warning people for years that Bush "would if he could" -- become President for Life, that is. And I've never ruled it out. If the utter assholes who architected the Iraq Mess and presided over the dismantling of effective national government in the U.S. can figure out a way.... (And I'm convinced they're staying up nights trying to do exactly that.) This is why I always wince when people say something like, "Well, at least in 2009 we'll be rid of Bush & Co." Hopefully, but it's not wise to COUNT on it, let along take it for granted. The price of democracy is eternal vigilance.

    Posted by w_m_bear at 05/24/2007

  22. "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000

    with the text linked to the actual recording....

    Posted by LEFTOFCENTER 05/24/2007 @ 2:22pm |

    Of course, if the fish get out line, we may have to consider a pre-emptive strike....

    Posted by w_m_bear at 05/24/2007

  23. i absolutely agree with the 2008 election is not a guaranteed thing.if there is a way to postpone it,cancel it or whatever these are the times the first presidential election will be altered in some way.i pray i am wrong but if al quieda can strike this is when they will forcing the election to be postponed at first then whatever the american do to respond will decide what happens next.

    Posted by creig77 at 05/25/2007

  24. I never realized how much damage one idiot in a President costume could cause! :(

    Posted by gwats1957 at 05/29/2007

  25. Molly was right....somewhere in Texas, A village IS missing it's idiot!

    Posted by gwats1957 at 05/29/2007

  26. I really think this might be one of the more honest things he's puked out of his deception hole, but clearly, from a "Republican agenda" standpoint, the dumbest. It would, afterall, be impossible to lie about EVERYTHING.

    Posted by dalikar985 at 05/30/2007

  27. Bring them on

    Posted by mexicali at 05/30/2007

  28. My fave is definitely this one;

    "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."

    And I submit this one for inclusion as well;

    “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

    Two of the greatest Freudian slips in political history.

    Posted by Buddy-Rey at 05/30/2007

  29. "is our children learning?"

    Posted by Joshua Zo at 05/31/2007

  30. There is no doubt that W can butcher the English language with the best of them. I for one cannot listen to him speak even when the grammar and pronunciation are correct. But most of the "dumb" remarks above were never said by him but by others who attributed the remarks to him or were the product of his poor speaking ability rather than stupidity. Very similar to quotes attributed to Yogi Berra that were never uttered or the books full of "Quayleisms" never uttered by Dan Quayle.

    Posted by bean22 at 06/11/2007

Past Polls

  1. 9/ 2/2008 What previous VP nominee will Sarah Palin most resemble this fall?
  2. 8/30/2008 What effect will the Sarah Palin VP selection have on McCain's campaign?
  3. 8/25/2008 What should be the chief objective of Obama's campaign at the Democratic Convention?
  4. 8/22/2008 What effect will the Joe Biden VP selection have on the Obama campaign?
  5. 8/17/2008 Barack Obama is expected to choose his running mate this week. Which one of these top contenders is the best choice?
  6. 8/ 3/2008 What will be the Beijing Olympics' legacy?
  7. 7/27/2008 What effect did Obama's foreign trip have on his chances for victory in November?
  8. 7/21/2008 John McCain is expected to announce his running mate this week. Who would be the absolute worst choice?
  9. 7/14/2008 Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling this week. What would be a better short-term solution to our gas price problem?
  10. 7/ 8/2008 Now that telecom immunity bill has passed, how can the Democratic Congress redeem itself?
  11. 7/ 6/2008 What should be the main focus of the G-8 Summit?
  12. 7/ 2/2008 Who would you invite to your July 4 picnic?
  13. 6/26/2008 How can Hillary Clinton best help Barack Obama achieve victory this fall?
  14. 6/23/2008 In light of Don Imus's latest offensive racial remark, what should the fallout be?
  15. 6/18/2008 What tactic should Obama embrace to win the White House?
  16. 6/16/2008 Who would you like to see become the next host of Meet the Press?
  17. 6/ 9/2008 What would you like to see Hillary Clinton do next?
  18. 6/ 2/2008 Which 2004 red state has the most potential to turn blue in 2008?
  19. 5/19/2008 Which GOP senator is most likely to lose his re-election bid in November?
  20. 3/25/2008 What's ahead for the US economy?
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