He Said It

In case you missed the president’s press conference this morning, and your cable news network of choice doesn’t re-run the exchange in its entirety during prime time, the following might escape your notice:

George W.: “What did Iraq have to do with 9/11? Nothing.”

Thank you. Although I suppose that “off message” comment will earn a time-out from Dick Cheney.

On the subject of the upcoming mid-term elections, Bush noted that if he were a candidate, he’d run on the economy and tell voters that Democrats want to raise taxes and “spend your money for you,” while Republics want to lower taxes and let the good citizens of this country spend their money as they darn well please.

The logic of this escapes me. Aren’t the Republic congress and Republic White House spending billions and billions of dollars on a war and weaponry that nobody seems to want? I know another “smart” bomb is not on my wish list. But truly, if we were to take the president at his word, I’m pretty sure people wouldn’t voluntarily offer up their income to fund silly little things like interstate highways, public schools or health care. Oops, did I say health care?

“Suiciders.”

Somebody—Tony Snow, Karl Rove, anyone?—has got to scrub this from W.’s lexicon. It’s not a word, it sounds stupid and it makes me laugh every time I hear it at a topic that’s not the slightest bit funny.

"Peroration."

Now, this is a word and Bush did use it correctly in a sentence. He just refused to explain to reporters what the hell he meant. "Look it up," he told the press corps. Perorate: 1) To conclue a speech, esp. with a formal recapitulation. 2)To speak at great length.