Mayors' conference

Bush-speak.

  White House transcript

"As I said in the State of the Union, many of the provisions in the [Patriot Act] have been used to catch embezzlers or criminals. We need to make sure those provisions stay in the law. We're at war. We're trying to hunt terrorists. It's a different kind of war."

So, correct me if I'm misunderstanding - but is he not saying that embezzlers or criminals (that's pretty broad) are terrorists?

We want to work with you on defending America. The best way to defend America, however, is to stay on the offensive and to find these killers, one by one, and bring them to justice. That's precisely what our government is doing and will continue to do. There are thousands of military personnel, with aid from intelligence personnel, on an international manhunt...I said in the speech the other night that two-thirds of known leaders have been captured or killed. That's a significant number when you think about where we were prior to September the 11th. We're, slowly but surely, demolishing them.

So that's why the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq has trickled to a virtual standstill. Somebody get this man a report of what's going on.

And, by the way, if we weren't on a manhunt to get these guys one by one before September 11, and that's what is going to make us safe, then why the hell weren't we doing it then? He was in office for nine months and hadn't said a single thing about an international manhunt to rid the world of terrorists and make it safe.

We're making progress. It's important for America to speak clearly, and when America says something, to mean it. And so when I said right after September the 11th, if you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorist, I meant it. I meant it as clearly as I could say it.

Which is pretty funny, actually. And I don't understand why there was no laughter at this point in the speech. The first few minutes there was a laugh or applause at about every other sentence, no matter whether they were funny or not. And as for harboring terrorists, let's talk to Jeb.

I'm never going to forget the lessons of September the 11th, 2001.

He said that twice in this speech. I don't know how many times he's parroted it in other speeches. It's one of the mantras he has memorized. And the reason that he is not going to forget the lessons of September the 11th is because he never learned them.

And so, when we saw a threat -- we saw a threat we dealt with it. We dealt in this way: I went to the United Nations, and I said, you've given this man warning, after warning, after warning, and he's totally ignored you. You've got to have credibility. We want international institutions to work. But he ignored them. And the more he ignored them, the weaker the United Nations became.

So now we invaded Iraq to stop the weakening of the United Nations (whose decisions we ignore when they don't suit us - how's that for strengthening the UN?).

Free societies are peaceful societies.

Well, except for the warrior United States, I guess he meant to say. Or just assumed it was understood.

So this economy is growing, and we've got to make sure people are prepared to meet the jobs of the 21st century. It starts with making sure there's a literate America, which -- make sure that the schools work well.

Oh, he's stepped onto dangerous ground here - a literate America. You can just feel it, can't you?

I laid out the other night a jobs for the 21st century program. A part of that is to make sure there's additional money to help junior high and high school students who have been just simply shuffled through the system. And that's what's happened, as you know. If you want to be blunt about what has taken place, sometimes when you don't measure, you just shuffle kids through. Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are (sic) appalling.

...

I know HUD is working to simplify the contracts, and to make it easier and less expensive for people to enter the process of buying a home, by simplifying the forms.

I don't see how simplifying forms is going to make it less expensive to buy a home.

I don't know if you felt it yet. We're expanding counseling services around the country -- many times run by faith-based groups, by the way -- to help people understand what it means to buy a home. First-time home buyers are sometimes confused by not only the regulations, but the obligations. And we've got counseling services being expanded out of HUD. And if you haven't had one in your neighborhood, call HUD. Get them to show up. It's a useful service. It's a helpful service to close the home ownership gap.

Faith-based counseling to buy a home? I haven't felt that yet - I haven't heard of it - I'm a little wary of it. For some reason.

He sure spoke a long time about faith-based initiatives.

I don't know what to tell you.

If Bush is reselected: Run.

Got your passport in order?

....hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

There. I think I sounded stupid enough in that post. I edited out most of what I had written. It was a lot worse when I was cracking back on all of the idiot's grammar and nonsensical statements.