“I stand by Al Gonzales, and I would hope that people would be more sober in how they address these important issues,” Bush said. “And they ought to get the job done of passing legislation, as opposed to figuring out how to be actors on the political theater stage.” – George Bush – May 21, 2007
Overture: Deer in Headlights
Act One: Savior
Act Two: Warrior
Act Three: False Prophet
Act Four: Braggadocio
“There are some that feel like if they attack us that we may decide to leave prematurely. They don’t understand what they are talking about if that is the case. Let me finish. There are some who feel like the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring ‘em on.” (Source)
Act Five: Fool
“Sometimes, words have consequences you don’t intend them to mean. ‘Bring ‘em on’ is the classic example, when I was really trying to rally the troops and make it clear to them that I fully understood, you know, what a great job they were doing.“And those words had an unintended consequence,” Bush continued. “It kind of, some interpreted it to be defiance in the face of danger. That certainly wasn’t the case. Or, you know, ‘dead or alive’ in referring to Osama bin Laden at the Pentagon. I can remember getting back to the White House, and Laura said, ‘What did you do that for?’
“I said, ‘Well, it was just an expression that came out. I didn’t rehearse it.’ . . . I don’t know if you’d call it a regret, but it certainly is a lesson that a president must be mindful of, that the words that you sometimes say — I speak plainly sometimes, but you’ve got to be mindful of the consequences of the words. So put that down. I don’t know if you’d call that a confession, a regret, something.” (Source) (Video)
