BUSHSPEAK - ACCIDENTAL WIT AND WISDOM

"It'll be hard to articulate." -George W. Bush, anticipating how he'll feel upon assuming the presidency, Jan. 2001

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified." -George W. Bush, commenting on Linda Chavez, Jan. 2001

"Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods." -George W. Bush, Dec. 20, 2000

"I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them." -George W. Bush, Dec. 20, 2000

"I also have picked a secretary for Housing and Human Development. Mel Martinez from the state of Florida." -George W. Bush, Dec. 20, 2000

"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - so long as I'm the dictator." -George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2000

"Dick Cheney and I do not want this nation to be in a recession. We want anybody who can find work to be able to find work." -George W. Bush, 60 minutes II, CBS, December 5, 2000

"The great thing about America is everybody should vote." -George W. Bush

"As far as the legal hassling and wrangling and posturing in Florida, I would suggest you talk to our team in Florida led by Jim Baker." -George W. Bush

"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law." -George W. Bush, Nov. 2000

"They misunderestimated me." -George W. Bush, Nov. 2000

"If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything!" -George W. Bush, Bellevue Community College, Nov. 2, 2000

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

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program." -George W. Bush

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." -George W. Bush
"If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it." -George W. Bush, during the third presidential debate

"The idea of putting subliminable messages into ads is ridiculous." -George W. Bush

"One of the common denominators I have found is that expectations rise above that which is expected." -George W. Bush

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." -George W. Bush

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." -George W. Bush

"Mr. Vice President, in all due respect, it is - I'm not sure 80 percent of the people get the death tax. I know this: 100 percent will get it if I'm the president." -George W. Bush, during the third presidential debate, Oct. 2000

"The woman who knew that I had dyslexia - I never interviewed her." -George W. Bush, responding to a magazine article claiming he suffered from dyslexia

"Laura and I are proud to call John and Michelle Engler our friends. I know you're proud to call him governor. What a good man the Englers are." -George W. Bush, Nov. 2000

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

"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness." -George W. Bush, in a CNN online chat, Aug. 2000

"We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.'' -George W. Bush

"I'm gonna talk about the ideal world, Chris. I've read - I understand reality. If you're asking me as the president, would I understand reality, I do." -George W. Bush, on MSNBC's "Hardball"

"The fact that he relies on facts - says things that are not factual - are going to undermine his campaign." -George W. Bush on Al Gore

"I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating." -George W. Bush

"This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve." -George W. Bush, speaking during "Perseverance Month" at Fairgrounds Elementary School in Nashua, New Hampshire

"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." -George W. Bush, on Sen. John McCain

"When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were. It was us versus them, and it was clear who them was. Today we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there." -George W. Bush, Jan. 2000

"I don't want to win? If that were the case, why the heck am I on the bus sixteen hours a day, shaking thousands of hands, giving hundreds of speeches, getting pillared in the press and cartoons and still staying on message to win?" -George W. Bush, Jan. 2000

"If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow." -George W. Bush, Jan. 2000

"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." -George W. Bush

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it." -George W. Bush

"Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" -George W. Bush

"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign." -George W. Bush

"Actually, I - this may sound a little West Texas 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." -George W. Bush

"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." -George W. Bush

"It was just inebriating what Midland was all about then." -George W. Bush, reflecting in 1994 about growing up in Midland, Texas