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Home Front: Politix
Rush Limbaugh Interview with President Bush
2004-09-01
Here is the Money Quote

(Preisdent Bush)

We will stay on the on the offense. We will bring them to justice in foreign lands so we don't have to face them here at home," and that's because you cannot negotiate with these people. And in a conventional war there would be a peace treaty or there would be a moment where somebody would sit on the side and say we quit. That's not the kind of war we're in, and that's what I was saying....

... It's a totally different kind of war. But we will win it. Your listeners have got to know that I know we'll win it, but we're going to have to be resolved and firm, and we can't doubt what we stand for, and the long-term solution is to spread freedom. I love to tell the story, Rush, about a meeting with Prime Minister Koizumi. He's my friend. He's the prime minister of Japan. It wasn't all that long ago that my dad, your dad, and others dads were fighting against the Japanese, but because after World War II we believed that Japan could self-govern and could be democratic in its own fashion, Japan is no longer an enemy; it's a friend, and so I sit down with him to help resolve issues like the North Korean peninsula. In other words, we're working together to keep the peace. The same thing is going to happen in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that's when I say the transformational power of liberty. That's what I'm talking about.

[added emphasis mine]
Posted by:OldSpook

#7  I lean to believing that GWB gives in on domestic issues to suppress Democrat fire on the home front to buy himself lattitude regarding the War on Terror.

Thanks for the link, OldSpook. And I hope one day that they'll come crawling to you on their hands and knees to beg you out of retirement and straighten out the CIA. (Not that you'd have to accept, but you deserve the Ego boost, my good man.)
Posted by: Ptah   2004-09-01 11:34:09 AM  

#6  I've always thought GWB was an honest and genuine man, and a leader that I would follow. Nothing the LLLs have been shreiking about has changed my opinion.

I have beefs about his entitlement spending and various domestic decisions he's made while in office, but he is far and away the best man to have in office during the terror wars. I don't have to like everything he does, but he's a likeable man and somebody I can get behind. The accusations of "dishonesty" and the avalanche of vitriol against him baffles me.
Posted by: Chris W.   2004-09-01 10:47:02 AM  

#5  Bush actually made a reference to Islamic terrorism a few weeks ago, a very pointed one. I expect a lot more of that in his second term, once he is free of the constraints imposed by re-election politics.
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-09-01 6:36:02 AM  

#4  We can win a war against the Islamic terrorism that's hogging the limelight at the moment, and I'm sure we will do, but you can't defeat terrorism. What is terrorism? Mainly murder, just done for political or religious ends. It's been around for millennia, and will be around for the forseeable future, I'm sure.
Posted by: Bulldog   2004-09-01 6:27:24 AM  

#3  This is exactly what I understood him as saying in the first place: that this is not the kind of war that will have a definitive ending, such as with a signing of surrender documents on the deck of the USS Missouri.

I myself don't find Bush all that hard to understand; but his awkward manner in off-the-cuff speech makes him a rich mother lode of material for people who want to misunderstand him and like to twist words.
Posted by: Dave D.   2004-09-01 6:00:12 AM  

#2  I think he did well when he clarified his "can't win the WOT" statement to "there won't be a VT day" when UBL signs a peace treaty.

I would have gone for a statement that went something like: "we will never kill the last terrorist because there will always be someone willing to die for a mistake."

Far fewer Americans would understand my overly nuanced statement.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-09-01 12:37:07 AM  

#1  I listened to this - and when George Bush isnt reading from a script, but speaking from his heart to people (and not hostile reporters who badger him), he is absolutely a solid speaker - he comes across genuine, honest and dedicated to his beliefs, much more personable than his scripted speeches. This interview harks back to him with the bullhorn on the rubble on 9/14/01, with the firefighters and construction workers.

His is also aware of his limitations and admits them (unlike Kerry, blaming others around him, like the secret service agent for tripping him), as evidenced by this quote about his fumble of a phrase with Matt Lauer the other day:

"I probably needed to be a little more articulate."

I hope the left keeps "misunderestimating" him, just like the Taliban did.
Posted by: OldSpook   2004-09-01 12:20:40 AM  

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