George W. Bushisms: The Slate Book of Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Our 43rd President

by Jacob Weisberg

They misunderestimated me.

Or did they?

Judge for yourself. Here are over 100 memorable misstatements by our syntactically challenged president, collected, annotated, and introduced by Slate magazine's Jacob Weisberg.

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."

"We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."

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

"I do know I'm ready for the job [the presidency].
And if not, that's just the way it goes."

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Politics, History, 21st Century, Comedy, Classics

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Jacob Weisberg (born 1964) is an American political journalist, who served as editor-in-chief of The Slate Group, a division of Graham Holdings Company. In September 2018, he left Slate to co-found Pushkin Industries, an audio content company, with Malcolm Gladwell. Weisberg was also a Newsweek columnist. He served as the editor of Slate magazine for six years before stepping down in June 2008. He is the son of Lois Weisberg, a Chicago social activist and municipal commissioner.

Reviews

[W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trump can't hold a candle to the epic disaster that was George W.Bush.

But I've always enjoyed the accidental wit and wisdom of America's 43rd President,which has been so lovingly collected in so many volumes by Slate magazine.

The first volume of Bushisms is the best.

They "misunderestimated" him.

"I know I am ready for the job,and if not,that's just the way it goes".

"One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."

"It's clearly a budget,it's got lots of numbers in it."

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful,and so are we.They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country,and neither do we."

This is a laugh out loud funny book and also makes me wonder about the US political system which can inflict the likes of the shrub on the world. And not once,but twice.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sure, some of these had me laughing.

"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.'"

"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor just like you like to be liked yourself."

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."

"The Bob Jones policy on interracial dating, I mean I spoke out on interracial dating. I spoke out against that. I spoke out against interracial dating. I support the policy of interracial dating."

"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"

"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."

It's fun to chuckle at bad Republican presidents' malapropisms. Jacob Weisberg (of Slate) and other elite members of the mainstream media helped us chuckle. But while we liberals were chuckling and feeling superior, Republicans were packing the Courts and subverting the rule of law. Now here we are.

[Lauren McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole concept of this book is hilarious to me, and so were many of the things in it!! So mind blowing how a person who becomes the president (in my eyes one of the most important speech givers in the entire world) can be so linguistically mediocre!!! Very interesting to see all the slip ups that Bush had in his speeches

[Madi Badger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was absolutely silly. I sometimes couldn't even understand what I had read- but it still made me laugh. I'm not sure if the narrative here is "you can be a President even if you aren't well spoken/the smartest", or "Being a President is a joke", but regardless it should inspire you to follow your dreams, even if you think you'll be bad at it. Hahaha

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love W I really do, but this book had me laughing out loud until my sides hurt.

[♡ Dakota ♡ (Sarcasm is my middle name) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge: 4/339. Four Stars.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much else seems to make me feel better (other than rewatching the LOTR trilogy for the millionth time) if I have a migraine, a bout of depression, or if I'm just going through a rough patch than rereading my favorite Bushisms or rewatching these on YouTube.

My favorites are:

(He said this gem with a lot of genuine concern) "I know the human being and fish *can* coexist peacefully."

“Too many OB/GYN’s aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.”

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

"These terrorist acts and, you know, the responses have got to end in order for us to get the
framework – the groundwork – not framework, the groundwork to discuss a framework for
peace, to lay the – all right."

[Owen Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of a series of books exposing the idiotic misstatements of America's least intelligent president. It's hilarious. The perfect book for your bathroom. My only complaint is that it is too short. A larger compilation (in one volume) is a better purchase. Here are some examples of quotes from this book: "It's your money, you paid for it". "It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature." "Will the highways on the internet become more few?" "I think we ought to raise the age at which juveniles can have a gun." "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" "FAMILIES IS WHERE OUR NATION FINDS HOPE, WHERE WINGS TAKE DREAM."

[Rudy Gutierrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

It matters not if you love him or hate him, this book is hilarious. I know most of the saying in the book are taken out of context but the fact that it came out of his mouth to begin with cracks me up. There are some that I find myself quoting at times and I don't even need to say who said it my kids already know what I am refereeing to. Like "I know that human beings and fish can coexist peacefully" and "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family" & my favorite "They misunderestimated me". Don't MISUNDERESTIMATE this book, it good plain fun from beginning to end.

[Brooke Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. I wish I hadn’t. I find this book very unkind - intentionally unkind. I’m a person who wasn’t five years old when this book was written, a person who identifies as a progressive now. I hoped this book would provide some insight into that political time I missed. Instead it showed me that humans can do cruel things on both sides of the aisle.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never thought the day would come when I would actually miss George Bush and I cannot say that’s exactly what I’m feeling now, but in view of who we have about to enter the White House, I’d welcome pushback over this guy in a minute.


Oh — The jokes here are really funny and had me an absolute hysterics. Very good to read if you’re wanting to laugh a little.

[Kenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

(5 stars is half joking. Seriously, tho if you’re depressed, reading the dumb things this guy said as PRESIDENT will make you giggle). I read this out loud to Z all in one sitting. Golly, this dude is so funny

[Halah]

No hate, but this book is hilarious. I was literally wheezing out loud. They misunderestimated him.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

yeah, it’s funny sometimes. harder to laugh at ones where it was clear what he meant and the joke is just that he said it clumsily, and the piece in the beginning attempting to pathologize his particular way with words but then deciding that he is stupid was disheartening. if gwb _does_ have dyslexia, which is certainly how you could interpret some of these mistakes, than the main focus of this book is to mock someone’s disability. this is kind of an uncharitable way to look at this, but the other interpretation we can take isn’t super flattering either. it is objectively funny when people speak broken english—it subverts our expectations, and it’s ok to laugh at this. so often, though, are people really laughing at the speaker than the language they used, and why do people speak broken english? because they’re neuro-atypical, because english is their second language, because they grew up in an impoverished community without access to quality education. gwb obviously had opportunities, and he’s a native speaker. he squandered a harvard education. i acknowledge that these things are true. regardless, the book carries that same smarmy elitist tone that you would get from someone making fun of AAVE or people from poor areas. some of these quotes are simple mistakes, not outlandish and funny. liberals struggle with this and it’s part of why the dems are so ineffective.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of some of the odd, grammatically incorrect and head scratching things that have been said by President George W. Bush. I picked it up because it is part of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. This was published shortly after his election and it has been eight years since he left office, so it is a bit out of date now. It gave me a few laughs and made me feel almost nostalgic for the days when I thought he was the worst president of my lifetime. I was no fan of Dubya, but compared to the joke of a president we currently have in office, Donald Trump, he almost seems good. Overall, a quick read that made me laugh and shake my head.

[Paula]

I don’t know what to think about the book.
From one hand, some “wisdoms” were funny, from the other hand, we all make mistakes. If I had to give a speech in front of thousands of people I would probably say even dumber things. I will not rate this book.


*SPOILER ALERT*
My two favourite quotes:
“I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family”
and
“One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures”

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Call me crazy but I did not find a 100 page book of quotes making someone sound stupid amusing. As someone who misspeaks quite often, I would be humiliated if someone made fun of me this way. Maybe I’m taking it too seriously but I think it’s mean spirited and didn’t enjoy it. I only read it because it’s on the Rory Gilmore reading list and it was too short to bother DNFing.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

God, this was so depressing. I gave it three stars because it reminded me that trump isn't necessarily the dumbest president we've ever had. But it made me relive the bush administration and all the horrors we are still paying for--all of us, that is, except for the people who are responsible for it.

[Andie Albin · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was rough. Maybe because it was published before the world literally changed. Maybe because I'm looking back on it through the lens of what we've been through for the past 25 years since. Luckily, it was a short read. If it wasn't on a reading list I'm determined to master, I wouldn't have read it.

[Natalie Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed way too hard at some of these quotes. I was in middle school when he became president. If you want a good laugh, this book is for you. I will definitely be keeping it for those days I need a laugh out loud book to get me through my dark days.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got a lot of chuckles out of this one. The best part was when I came to the realization that the shame I feel over the things our last president would say just might be something we will laugh about a decade or two later.

[Jennifer]

Read as part of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. He did come across as a dufus many times during his presidency. But his errors seem quaint and inconsequential compared to our current unintelligible president.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mildly amusing. A long way to say Weisberg is smart with the power of Google, Bush is stupid. Which is probably true, because of Google.

[AnnieM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who would have ever thought I’d long for the day when the dumbest things I heard were so safe.

[Lky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A two minute read, but quite funny, good memories!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

While in office, George W. Bush used a lot of bad grammar and malapropism. Reminds me of President #44 in speaking skills minus the ego of #44.
Out of office, Bush is a charming human being.

[Stefania Ultraviolet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una carinissima raccolta straordinaria divertente di antani come se fosse

[Dexter Lawson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garbage

[Chadijah Mastura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaaaaaaahhhhh, Bush, Bush, Bush... Of course, despite his misstatements, he caused us all a kind of addiction to him--or should I say that his misstatements has caused us all addicted to him?

No wonder he could be a two-times elected President. Or should I say how could he ever been elected two times as the President of the great United States of America?

Some of his misstatements are very hilarious! Like:

"I do know I'm ready for the job (the precidency). And if not, that's just the way it goes."

"We'll let our friends be the peacekeepers and the great country called America will be the pacemakers."

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."

"Is our children learning?"

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

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

A very hilarious book that would keep you laughing constantly.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good ones, but a lot of these seemed pretty petty. After all, the guy has dylsexia, so if he says "presumptive" instead of "presumptuous," it doesn't seem to me like that big of a deal. And as he said (in the roundabout fashion reminiscent of his dad): "What I'm suggesting to you is, if you can't name the foreign minister of Mexico, therefore, you know, you're not capable of what you do. But the truth of the matter is you are, whether you can or not." Mostly this book seemed like some New York(er) type snickering and smirking at somebody else's region.