I think it is safe to say that you can’t be an idiot and become President of the United States. You can however play a pretty convincing idiot on TV. Our President has said some pretty stupid things over his years in the White House. These quotes are often referred to as ‘Bushisms’.
The term ‘Bushism’ was coined by Jacob Weisberg in 1992 after George H.W. Bush made the following speech: “Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial and the Civil War and all that stuff. You can’t be. And we are blessed. So don’t feel sorry for — don’t cry for me, Argentina. We’ve got problems out there and I am blessed by good health, strong health. Jeez, you get the flu, and they make it into a federal case. Anyway, that goes with the territory.” That term has been passed down to his son.
One of my favorite George W. Bushisms is one that was made during a speach about the need for the United Nations to confront Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein, Bush told an audience at a school in Nashville, Tennessee:
“We’re trying to figure out how best to make the world a peaceful place.
There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, it’s probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on … shame on you. It fool me. We can’t get fooled again.”
The evidence suggests Mr Bush was trying to say: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” After that he decided to keep it simple. The United Nations, he insisted, “must not be fooled”.
Want to read more? Check out these Bushisms.
Wisdom Quotes - wisdomquotes.com
Recent Bushisms- politicalhumor.about.com
