dumb US presidents

[peaccenicked]

U.S. Presidents' Quotes

One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures. -George W. Bush

A conservative is a man who sits and thinks, mostly sits. -Woodrow Wilson

I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow. -Woodrow Wilson

Law alone cannot make men see right. -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

[peaccenicked]

Bush quotes.
"You don't need to be smart to be president"
--Republican Congressman J.C. Watts - said at a February campaign appearance on Bush's behalf. Washington Post, 6/11/00

"I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating."
--U.S. News & World Report, April 3, 2000

"Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning"
--Florence, SC, Jan. 11, 2000

"Actually, I -- 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."
--Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
--Reuters, May 5, 2000

"I think we agree, the past is over."
--On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000

"Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is sometime until we get an objective analysis."
--Meet the Press, April 15, 2000

"I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California."
--Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2000

"We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the obligations; their obligations as teachers. We want them to know how to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure there's not this kind of federal cufflink."
--Fritsche Middle School, Milwaukee, March 30, 2000

"The fact that he relies on facts -- says things that are not factual -- are going to undermine his campaign."
--New York Times, March 4, 2000

"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature."
--Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2000

"I understand small business growth. I was one."
--New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000

"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a system that simply suckles kids through?"
--Explaining the need for educational accountability, Beaufort, S.C.,Feb.16, 2000

"The senator 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."
--To reporters in Florence, S.C., Feb. 17, 2000

"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign."
--Hilton Head, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000

"We ought to make the pie higher."
-South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000

"I've changed my style somewhat, as you know. I'm less, I pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show. And I'm more interacting with people."
--Meet The Press, Feb. 13, 2000

"I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth to the middle class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth."
--Nashua, N.H., as quoted by Gail Collins, New York Times, Feb. 1, 2000

"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case."
--Pella, Iowa, as quoted in the San Antonio Express News, Jan. 30, 2000"

"This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve."
--Speaking during Perseverance Month at Fairgrounds Elementary School in Nashua, N.H.

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."
--Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses."
--At a South Carolina oyster roast; quoted in the Financial Times, Jan.14, 2000

"There needs to be debates, like we're going through. There needs to be townhall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is a huge country."
--Larry King Live, Dec. 16, 1999

"The important question is, How many hands have I shaked?"
--Answering a question about why he hasn't spent more time in New Hampshire; quoted in the New York Times, Oct. 23, 1999

"Keep good relations with the Grecians."
--Quoted in the Economist, June 12, 1999

"When it is all said and done, I will have made more money than I ever dreamed I would make."
--Source & Date unknown (please email us the source if you know)

"I don't remember debates. I don't think we spent a lot of time debating it. Maybe we did, but I don't remember."
--On discussing the Vietnam War as an undergraduate at Yale, in the Washington Post, July 27, 1999

"Put the 'off' button on."
--South Carolina, February 14, 2000

"I did denounce it. I de-I denounced it. I denounced interracial dating. I denounced anti-Catholic bigacy... bigotry."
--Referring to his Bob Jones University visit and the subsequent criticism, Virginia, February 25, 2000

"We believe in opportunity for all Americans: Rich and poor, black and white...."
--From a speech at Bob Jones Univ., in South Carolina, 2/2/00

"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself."
--George W. Bush puts an interesting twist on Jesus Christ's proverb: "Love thy neighbor." (Quote is from the Financial Times)

"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."
--South Carolina, February 14,2000

"My [tax cut] plan is realistic because it avoids meaningless 15-year projections."
--George W. Bush goes to extraordinary lengths to defend his tax cut plan. (Quote is from a Bush speech in Iowa, 12/1/99)

"The fundamental question is: 'Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy?' I will be, but until I'm the president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I think I'll be more effective."
--New York Times, 7/28/99

"There ought to limits to freedom"
--at a Press conference at the Texas State House, May 21, 1999, referring to GWBush.com

"We have struggle to not proceed but to preceed to the future of a nation's child."
--Journal Gazette 11/12/00

"My opponent seems to think that Social Security is a federal program. I believe that money is yours and you should be able to invest it yourself."
-The final Presidential debate

"Down in Washington they're playing with Social Security like it's some kind of government program!"
-NBC Nightly News (Date unknown, anyone out there know?)

"The reason we start a war is to fight a war, win a war, thereby causing no more war!"
--The first Presidential debate

"They said, 'You know, this issue doesn't seem to resignate [sic] with the people.' And I said, you know something? Whether it resignates [sic] 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.
--Portland, Ore., Oct. 31, 2000

"It's your money. You paid for it."
--LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet.
-Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000

"If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it."
--The Presidential Debates. St. Louis, Mo., October 18, 2000

"It's going to require numerous IRA agents."
--On Gore's tax plan, Greensboro, N.C., Oct. 10, 2000

"I don't think we need to be subliminable [sic] about the differences between our views on prescription drugs."
--Orlando, Fla., Sept. 12, 2000. He then repeatedly mispronounced the word after his press conference.

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

"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"
--Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000

"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas."
--Beaverton, Ore., Sep. 25, 2000

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier...just as long as I'm the dictator..."
--Washington, DC, Dec 18, 2000, during his first trip to Washington as President-Elect

"They misunderestimated me."
--Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

"That's a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century."
--On the Lewinsky scandal, Arlington Heights, Ill., Oct. 24, 2000"

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
—LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000"

"There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say, 'I don't want you to let me down again.'"
— Boston, Massachusetts, October 3, 2000

"I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question"
--Reynoldsburg, Ohio, October 4, 2000

"You teach a child to read and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
--February 21, 2001 - President Bush at Townsend Elementary School, touting his education reform plans.

[peaccenicked]

Ronald Reagan
Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.
Ronald Reagan

Facts are stupid things.
Ronald Reagan

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.
Ronald Reagan

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
Ronald Reagan

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Ronald Reagan

You can tell alot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
Ronald Reagan

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
Ronald Reagan, Said during a radio microphone test, 1984

[peaccenicked]

Richard nixon quotes

Richard Nixon - Quotes
"A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."

"By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of the healing."

"For years politicians have promised the moon, I'm the first one to be able to deliver it."

"I can see clearly now ... that I was wrong in not acting more decisively and more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate..."

"I can take it... The tougher it gets, the cooler I get..."

"I gave 'em a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. and I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing."

"I have impeached myself by resigning."

"I was under medication when I made the decision to burn the tapes."

"I would have made a good pope."

"If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest shopping center in the world?"

"If you want to make beautiful music, you must play the black and the white notes together."

"I'm a lawyer, and I can't make head or tail out of thecurrent [tax] form."

"In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars."

"It is necessary for me to establish a winner image. Therefore, I have to beat somebody."

"I've analyzed the best I can ... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not an acceptable course."

"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

"We are all in it together. This is a war. We take a few shots and it will be over. We will give them a few shots and it will be over."

"When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal."

"You must pursue this investigation of Watergate even if it leads to the president. I'm innocent. You've got to believe I'm innocent. If you don't, take my job."

[President Dick Nixon]

Richard Nixon was America's last chance for morality

[Anonymous]

Ronald Reagan was probably one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century.

[vox]

"Ronald Reagan was probably one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century."

On what is this bold statement made? Specifics, please, not the general idealism that right-wingers like so well. Specifically, what did Reagan do that was good?

vox

[Anonymous]

Read This (http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/monos/craig/home.html)

[The Che]

peacenicked, I believe too that most if not all of US presidents have been pretty dumb. However, in all fairness I must say that you are taking out of context some of the quotes you put there from Bush. In a lot of the cases he was making jokes, but one of course cannot tell that from written quotes.

I also saw once that he was making fun of himself, quoting stuff from the book on Bushism, it was pretty funny.

[vox]

The link provided by Dark Capitalist is nothing but right-wing propaganda that is long on opinion and short on facts.

For a more penetrating look at the Reagan years, I suggest reading through this site (http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/1THE_REAGAN_YEARs.htm).

vox

[Capitalist Imperial]

Peacenicked: many of those quotes, especially reagan's/nixon's, were legit, and purposely humorous. How were they indicative of stupidity?

Also, While I don't agree with El Che that US presidents are dumb, he is right to say that many of those Bush quotes were taken out of context, and some were just poor english use.

Vox, I fing often that references to your "progressive" website are also often filled with propogandizing opinion and one sided stories

[Xvall]

Yes. If you're going to state your support for soemthing, put it in your OWN words. Don't give us some link.

[Americana]

CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXTO!

[Mazdak]

Ronald Reagan was a scumbag. He called the soviets the "evil Empire," actually supported the trickle down economy, and invested so much into the "star wars" program.

and the douche bag bush (senior)said Atheists weren't american citizens. What about freedom of religion?

[President Dick Nixon]

And he was right. Any nation which crushes the liberties of over a DOZEN nation-states and brings them under Russian domination, while slaughtering over 30 million people in 70 years of rule is indeed an Evil Empire. As for Reagans support of a Free Market economy, it is interesting to note that it was under his administration that the Stock Market grew to such a FANTASTIC degree that business and industry were able to expand the American standard of living, and indeed, WESTERN standard of living to a point unrivaled in history. Most legitimate economists credit his Capital Gains tax cut (And the precident set by it) for the economic boom of the 90s. And it was UNTIL the magnificent economic growth of the 90s, Ronald Reagan presided over the greatest peace time expansion in history.

As to 'Star Wars', it amuses me how you seem to find virtue in a policy of MUTUALLY ASSURED ANIHILATION. A peace predicated on the massacre of all human life, not to mention the habitability of the planet. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY ENDORSE the effort to make nuclear weapons obsolete. And APPLAUD Mr. Reagan for his desire to make that noble dream a reality.

[Michael De Panama]

Holy shit. The anti-semitic closet-Nazis just LOVE this place, don't they?

[President Dick Nixon]

Panama, you are an idiot. I already said I was not an anti semite in a previous thread. Don't go around generalizing people whose views differ from yours, airhead.

[Xvall]

Denial is not a river in Africa. You've stated your anti-semetism on other boards before. But whatever. I have no idea why the Lyceum freaks are taking refuge here.

[President Dick Nixon]

Don't talk out of your ass Dracoli. I will say one more time that I am not an anti-semite. This is another typical left tactic. You cannot rebunk what a conservative said, therefore you change the topic or give personal insults. Pitiful

[Stormin Norman]

Dark Capitalists,

Thanks for bringing that article to my attention. The author did an excellent job articulating the Reagan Legacy.

It's funny how Vox calls facts right wing propaganda. Maybe the article was approached through pro-Reagan sentiment. However, its assertions buttressed with hard reality.

[Mazdak]

Quote: from President Dick Nixon on 2:57 am on Aug. 11, 2002
And he was right. Any nation which crushes the liberties of over a DOZEN nation-states and brings them under Russian domination, while slaughtering over 30 million people in 70 years of rule is indeed an Evil Empire. As for Reagans support of a Free Market economy, it is interesting to note that it was under his administration that the Stock Market grew to such a FANTASTIC degree that business and industry were able to expand the American standard of living, and indeed, WESTERN standard of living to a point unrivaled in history. Most legitimate economists credit his Capital Gains tax cut (And the precident set by it) for the economic boom of the 90s. And it was UNTIL the magnificent economic growth of the 90s, Ronald Reagan presided over the greatest peace time expansion in history.

As to 'Star Wars', it amuses me how you seem to find virtue in a policy of MUTUALLY ASSURED ANIHILATION. A peace predicated on the massacre of all human life, not to mention the habitability of the planet. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY ENDORSE the effort to make nuclear weapons obsolete. And APPLAUD Mr. Reagan for his desire to make that noble dream a reality.


So reagan improved the economy so much that clinton had to spend so much time fixing what reagan had ruined.

[Stormin Norman]

Go back and read that article in its entirety, dumbass. I think you will find the answer to your own question.

[vox]

For "hard reality," I suggest people look at the site I previously linked. The evidence is clear.

vox

[ArgueEverything]

let me add one:

"If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible...."

- future president, Harry S. Truman, june, 1941

[Stormin Norman]

Truman was right in equating the communist and nazi threats. To me this demonstrates his understanding of the evils of socialism and communism alike. He knew that we would have to face Russia sooner or later.

Stalin looked to be like another Hitler, as many of his methods were the same. The thought of Soviet expansion was a concern prior to the end of WWII. Our alliance began to fall apart during the Yalta conference. When we detonated Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we essentially sealed the fate of Soviet/US relations. Thus the start of the Cold War.

Unfortunately, a spy sold the Soviets the information necessary to give them equal footing in the world of weaponry, and about fifty years of fear insued. Luckily, Reagan put and end to the long standing Soviet threat.

Now we face a threat caused by the collapse of a failed system. Breakaway entities and an insecure system of weapons handling has led to rouge nations aqcuiring materials for the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.

[Mazdak]

HAha, according to what i heard, japan was going to surrender and the US knew this. However, it needed to scare the Soviet Union and test its new weapons so it attacked Japan anyway.

How can you compare a nazi who wants to enslave the world and make living conditions good only for his aryan race, to a communist, who wants living conditions for everyone to improve(except the rich)

[Capitalist Imperial]

Quote: from Mazdak on 10:47 pm on Aug. 13, 2002
HAha, according to what i heard, japan was going to surrender and the US knew this. However, it needed to scare the Soviet Union and test its new weapons so it attacked Japan anyway.

How can you compare a nazi who wants to enslave the world and make living conditions good only for his aryan race, to a communist, who wants living conditions for everyone to improve(except the rich)

Is that why the 1st a-bomb at hiroshima was dropped, and the japaneze still failed to acknowledge surrender?

We gave them an opportunity to do so, and they would not, so we hit nagasaki. Only then did they give in.

Yet another ridiculous, un-founded, and ill-fated leftist conspiracy theory.

Get serious

[Capitalist Imperial]

"So reagan improved the economy so much that clinton had to spend so much time fixing what reagan had ruined" ...Mazdak

LOL,LOL, LOL, LMAO, ROFL, oh fuck, LOL,LOL, Jesus Christ, LMAO, LOL, LOL, oh man, LOL, LOL, oh wow , ROFL

[Capitalist Imperial]

"So reagan improved the economy so much that clinton had to spend so much time fixing what reagan had ruined" ...Mazdak


OH, MAN, I JUST HAD TO READ THAT AGAIN! LOL,LOL, ROFL, LMAO,LMAO,LMAO,LMAO

[Anonymous]

Quote: from Mazdak on 10:22 pm on Aug. 11, 2002

Quote: from President Dick Nixon on 2:57 am on Aug. 11, 2002
And he was right. Any nation which crushes the liberties of over a DOZEN nation-states and brings them under Russian domination, while slaughtering over 30 million people in 70 years of rule is indeed an Evil Empire. As for Reagans support of a Free Market economy, it is interesting to note that it was under his administration that the Stock Market grew to such a FANTASTIC degree that business and industry were able to expand the American standard of living, and indeed, WESTERN standard of living to a point unrivaled in history. Most legitimate economists credit his Capital Gains tax cut (And the precident set by it) for the economic boom of the 90s. And it was UNTIL the magnificent economic growth of the 90s, Ronald Reagan presided over the greatest peace time expansion in history.

As to 'Star Wars', it amuses me how you seem to find virtue in a policy of MUTUALLY ASSURED ANIHILATION. A peace predicated on the massacre of all human life, not to mention the habitability of the planet. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY ENDORSE the effort to make nuclear weapons obsolete. And APPLAUD Mr. Reagan for his desire to make that noble dream a reality.


So reagan improved the economy so much that clinton had to spend so much time fixing what reagan had ruined.


I think we all know what thread that belongs in (http://www.che-lives.com/cgi/community/topic.pl?forum=22&topic=793) :smile:

[Valkyrie]

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY ENDORSE the effort to make nuclear weapons obsolete. And APPLAUD Mr. Reagan for his desire to make that noble dream a reality.

----
Huh? I can guess you probably weren't alive when the diabolical Reagan was taxing people up the ass (and cutting students loans and all other helpful programs) and spending to make his Star Wars possible. Was his favorite movie as he said.

it was not at all like how you flowerly percieve it. Nightmarish to say the least; but yet I see this Bush and these Republicans as exponentially far worse in the repercussions that will be handed out far and wide and without reservation with their policy of revenging the world over. The bequeath of Ronald Reagan.

Gee, thanks Ronnie.


(Edited by Paris at 4:55 pm on Oct. 17, 2002)


(Edited by Paris at 4:57 pm on Oct. 17, 2002)

[Valkyrie]

Ha ha! Just checked, Dick Nixon. You're a Reagan-era baby! I get it now.

[RedCeltic]

I do remember those years well. It encompassed ages 15- when the Republicans - Reagan et el, descended their evilness on the citizenry and the world at large, to 27, when it ended with that other temporary reprieve of a reject (Clinton)

Ah ha! Now we know your real age! ;) .. For what it's worth, you're only six years older than me, and I remember Reaganomics all too well.

[edit]: How did you know how old Nixon is?

(Edited by RedCeltic at 1:21 am on Aug. 14, 2002)

[Valkyrie]

Reagenomics, yeah, a whole new system for accounting for profit and loss.

(Edited by Paris at 5:01 pm on Oct. 17, 2002)

[RedCeltic]

oh.. lol... he's 22 so he was born in 1980. Which means he would remember Reagan's presidency as well as I remember Nixon's presidency.. Ford's the first president I remember... and than, only him leaving office in 76.

BTW: You say your in your late 30's but look younger, waist long braided hair, and an 'anarcho-socialist'... ?! All I can say is DROOL... lol...

(Edited by RedCeltic at 7:35 am on Aug. 14, 2002)