George W. Bush on Principles & Values President of the United States, Former Republican Governor (TX)

Sub-sections under Principles & Values:
• Campaign Themes
• Florida Recount
• Leadership Style
• Religion
• Other issues under Principles & Values

1977: Met Laura in July; proposed in Sept.; married in Nov.

Laura and I discovered that we had grown up nea each other and both attended San Jacinto Junior High. We had even lived in the same apartment complex in Houston.

I've never been afraid to make a decision, and in late September I made a big one. I said, "Let's get married." She said yes right away. Ours had been a whirlwind romance, but we were ready to commit.

We picked the first Saturday available, Nov. 5, 1977. We had a small wedding with family and close friends in Midland. We had no ushers, no bridesmaids, and no groomsmen. It was just me, Laura, and her dad to walk her down the aisle.

I believe there is a reason Laura and I never met all those years before. God brought her into my life at just the right time, when I was ready to settle down and was open to having a partner at my side.

More than anyone, understood what run for president meant

I worried most about our 17-year-old daughters, Barbara & Jenna. I had learne that being the child of a politician is tougher than being a politician yourself. I understood the pain and frustration that comes with hearing your dad called nasty names. I knew how it felt to worry every time you turned on the TV. And I knew what it was like to live with the thought that any innocent slip could embarrass the president of the US. I had gone through all of this in my 40s. My girls would be in college when I took office. I could only imagine how much more difficult it would be for them

Pioneers: each raises $100K in campaign donations

I believed that as the front-runner Bush had to win four "invisible primaries" before facing any of the real ones: Money, Establishment, Reassurance, and Substance. The first was the easiest to understand: Would Bush's fund-raising total be larger than everyone else's in the rest of the pack by a sizable amount?

Different kind of Republican, who attracted Hispanics

We didn't want there to be two Bushes--a primary/more conservative Bush; and a general election/more moderate Bush. We wanted to run from start to finish with the same candidate, emphasizing a consistent theme.

1998: "Front Porch" campaign in pre-primary year

We began our own "Front Porch" campaign on June 8, 1998. At first the emphasis was on encouraging Bush's finance network to bring other fund-raisers from their state or region. They'd get into Austin in the morning in time for an early lunch. Governor Bush would break away from the Capitol, come to the Mansion, and join his guests, in groups up to 36, in th formal dining room.

While people ate, Bush stood at his table, held onto his chair, and held forth on his vision, the campaign he'd run, and the country's challenges. He'd take questions until his guests had to leave for planes or were exhausted.

1999 Announcement speech: usher in the responsibility era

Bush surprised th press and delighted the crowd with a simple, straightforward statement: "I'm running for the president of the United States. There's no turning back. And I intend to be the next president." What followed was what for most Americans would constitute a polite show of enthusiasm; for Iowans, it was a roar of approval.

He said his goal was to help "usher in the responsibility era...that stands in stark contrast to the last few decades, when the culture has clearly said: If it feels good, do it." He talked about tax cuts, Social Security, and education reform, his faith-based initiative, and the need for increased defense spending. He was mildly criticized for being light on specifics. It didn't bother me; there was plenty of time for details later.

Christ as favorite philosopher reached ordinary churchgoers

It stunned the audience and made some in the press corps nearly apoplectic. Many in the media just didn't get it and saw it as a cynical and raw appeal to evangelical voters. But it struck lots of ordinary people who said grace before a meal, went to church on Sunday, and turned to their Maker in times of need as being sincere and revealing of who Bush really was. And that's what it really was. It was not the kind of answer you would draw up in advance.

2000: Uninvolved with racist email attack on McCain in SC

It has since become an accepted myth that the Bush campaig was responsible for the e-mail attack. Some blamed me for a "Rove-orchestrated whispering campaign." But they're wrong. The Bush campaign & I had nothing to do with Hand's racially charged e-mail.

To hold him responsible, you would also have to believe that Bush, with his personal history of racial inclusion, would have sanctioned such an attack. Most South Carolina voters did not believe Bush would do such a thing. But the McCain campaign was convinced of it, and some reporters peddled the story.

Spoke with Bill Clinton regularly and privately

The irony of the situation tickled Bush, but he also felt sympathy for Bill. Hey, buddy, Bush said, I know you're coming under attack; you just gotta keep your chin up. Clinton thanked Bush--then treated him to a fifteen-minute tirade about the injustices that had befallen him and the sources of his suffering.

Believe in the goodness and wisdom of the American people

OpEd: Encroaches civil liberties, Constitution, & democracy

Nixon "substituted power for law, to impose a standard of amorality." Today that power runs "dark" prisons in paid-off countries, where loosely defined "terrorists" can be tortured out of our moral and media sight.

Wha Nixon did was "demean the importance of national security by using it as a handy alibi to protect common burglars." What Bush did was to exploit real fears for our national security after 9/11 to protect and advance the [neoconservative] agenda.

OpEd: White House had deliberately outed CIA agent Plame

In a press briefing, I was asked. "You told us that neither Karl Rove nor Lewis Libby disclosed any classified information. I wondered if you could tell us more specifically whether they told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA."

I was ready with a reply. "I spoke with those individuals, they assured me they were not involved in this." It sounded final & definitive--just as I intended. I'd chosen my words carefully. I could never know with 100% certainty that it was true. So I purposely put the onus on them. I was confident, at the time, that neither the president nor the vice president would knowingly send me out to mislead the public.

There was only one problem. What I'd said was not true.

The "sixteen words" became near-fatal blow to credibility

The next step in the development of the Niger controversy was the president's 2003 State of the Union address.

What would become known as "the sixteen words"--his first presidential reference to the Niger uranium claim: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Those sixteen words would become the nexus of the controversy that delivered a near-fatal blow to the credibility of the president and his administration.

Rice & Cheney were most important advisors beginning in 1999

From the beginning, the president wanted the vice president and his staff included in his White House processes and operations. Dick Cheney and his key advisors were considered integral members of the team.

Of course, Cheney heavily influenced foreign policy. He also took particular interest in economic policy, especially tax and energy issues.

Held "strategery" meetings (admitted mangling English)

Strategery meetings were focused on long-range planning and strategy. Rove's Office of Strategic Initiatives helped coordinate the efforts, including preparing materials and doing research to see how previous White Houses might have handled similar challenges. Electoral success was the ultimate objective--winning more Republican seats in Congress in 2002 and getting George Bush reelected to the presidency in 2004.

Those attending the strategery meetings included Rove, Karen Hughes, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Vice Presidential Counselor Mary Matalin.

9/20/01: You're either with us or with the terrorists

2000: Won SC primary, & killed McCain's run with negatives

When it came to John McCain, the media suddenly found itself rooting for the loser. Instead of raving about the no-holds-barred brilliance of Karl Rove's S.C. campaign, which revived Bush's momentum and halted his opponent's, reporters wrote denunciations of the tactics used by the Bush campaign and its S.C. supporters.

It is a privilege to see America’s greatness up close

America wants Congress to cross the aisle to get things done

We are not the first to come here with government divided and uncertainty in the air. Like many before us, we can work through our differences, and achieve big things for the American people. Our citizens don’t much care which side of the aisle we sit on--as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done.

OpEd: Will be remembered for standing tall in 9-11 ashes

Outperformed by Kerry in debates & campaign lost ground

Bush righted himself in the 2nd debate, but the impression his first performance had left was hard to erase. Under the ground rules negotiated by Bush & Kerry’s advisors, the final debate would be about domestic issues, Kerry’s territory.

The president, stunned by his earlier debate defeats, doing his best to be dynamic & aggressive, scored points, but the focus--on education, healthcare, Medicare, & Social Security--was so skewed in Kerry’s favor that there was little he could do to prevent the Democrat from winning. Kerry, who had seemed dead as he entered the debates, acquired a new life. After the debates, the race was nip and tuck.

2004: received most votes ever cast for president

The 2004 elections were significant for a number of reasons. First, the majority of the voters stated that they based their presidential vote on moral issues, which include opposition to same-sex marriage initiatives and partial-birth abortion.

Second, President Bush received a majority of the vote among Catholic and Protestant voters and increased the percentage of support among a number of other demographic groups, including members of racial minorities and voters who live in urban areas.

Third, the U.S. electorate sent to Congress a "working majority" of Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate.

Kerry introduced some 300 bills and he’s passed five

KERRY: Once again, Bush is misleading America. I’ve actually passed 56 individual bills that I’ve personally written and, in addition to that, and not always under my name, there are amendments on certain bills. But more importantly, with respect to the question of no record, I helped write- I did write, I was one of the original authors of the early childhood health care and the expansion of health care that we did in the middle of the 1990s. And I’m very proud of that. So Bush’s wrong.

Iraqi war and tax cuts were not mistakes

BUSH: On the big questions, about whether or not we should have gone into Afghanistan, the big question about whether we should have removed somebody in Iraq, I’ll stand by those decisions because I think they’re right. When they ask about the mistakes, that’s what they’re talking about. They’re trying to say, “Did you make a mistake going into Iraq?” And the answer is absolutely not. It’s a right decision. On the tax cut, it’s a big decision. I did the right decision. Our recession was one of the shallowest in modern history. I made some mistakes in appointing people, but I’m not going to name them. I don’t want to hurt their feelings on national TV. But history will look back, and I’m fully prepared to accept any mistakes that history judges to my administration, because the president makes the decisions, the president has to take the responsibility.

Free societies will be hopeful societies

This young century will be liberty’s century

America will be more secure as freedom advances

Screens all audiences to avoid hecklers

The Bush campaign billed his visit to Beaverton as a chance for ordinary citizens to pose questions to the president. But this was no town hall appearance before a cross-section of citizens. Bush-Cheney re-election headquarters had instructed Oregon campaign officials to distribute tickets, so the school gymnasium was filled last Friday with 2,000 passionate Bush backers.

Kerry’s more open approach carries political risks. Sometimes protesters show up and try to disrupt his appearances. Such dissent is never a problem for Bush. When the time came to “Ask President Bush” Friday, none of his 16 questioners challenged him on his policies. Several did not ask questions at all, but simply voiced support.

Comforted mother Barbara at age 7 when his sister died

Bush’s parents had not told him how serious her condition was. They were afraid he might tell her. When they drove to his school to tell him she had died, George, in the second grade, spotted them and thought he saw Robin. “I got to the car still thinking Robin was there,” Bush said later, “but of course, she was not.”

Barbara Bush said in her memoirs, “He asked a lot of questions and couldn’t understand why we had known for a long time.“ George felt an obligation to comfort his mother, who leaned on her son for support while her husband traveled. He would joke and laugh and make her feel better. The loss gave him a sense of how fleeting and arbitrary life can be, contributing to his lighthearted approach. Bush was bothered by the fact that, outside their family, no one mentioned Robin and her death. As he would later in life, Bush liked to confront issues.

IQ of 120 puts him above 90% of the population

On paper, Richard Nixon was one of the smartest presidents, with an IQ of 143, yet he orchestrated the Watergate cover-up, leading to his resignation. Bush had little interest in learning for its own sake. He was goal oriented and prized actions over words. Only if learning helped him to make a decision was he interested. What he wanted, he would say in rare reflective moments, was to “get as much out of life as possible and to do as much as possible.” When he retires someday to his ranch, he has said, “I want to turn to my wife and say, My dance card was full. I lived life to the fullest.”

Member of secret society Skull and Bones & a fraternity guy

In Skull & Bones’ house were faded portraits of venerable Bonesmen-Rockefellers, Harrimans, Tafts, Whitneys, and Bushes-posing with skull and crossbones. Members called themselves “good men,” a term Bush would use to describe people he trusted and admired.

Bush drank at fraternity parties and engaged in pranks. “George was a fraternity guy, but he wasn’t Belushi in Animal House,” recalled Calvin Hill, a DKE with Bush. He was a goodtime guy. But he wasn’t the guy hugging the commode at the end of the day.

“I think he was far less wild than the media portrays it,” his Skull and Bones friend Donald Etra said. “He drank but not to excess. I never saw any drugs.”

Bush’s smirk shows he’s perturbed, not that he’s arrogant

The entire performance was a manifestation of Bush’s intense distaste for acting and pretense. When responding to loaded questions from reporters or an unfair charge by Gore, Bush’s honesty impelled him to signal, if ever so subtly, what he really thought. The smirk was not a signal of arrogance but rather an effort to convey his true feelings: that he was participating in a charade. When emerging from sessions with political types, he would roll his eyes and grouse under his breath about the “B.S.” meeting he had just had. In debates with Gore, he could not very well say, “That’s B.S.,” so he would smirk.

“He’s a bad actor, a bad pretender,” an aide said. “What you see is what you get.. A real actor would not show that.”

Ad: Kerry missed votes in the Senate by campaigning

ANALYSIS: This Bush campaign ad is literally accurate, but artfully worded to avoid tipping off viewers to the real controversy over the Peterson bill Kerry opposed-the legal right to abortion. And when the ad faults Kerry for missing a vote to fund our troops, it leaves out the fact that the bill passed both houses of Congress without a single vote against it. The ad is true enough when it says Kerry has missed the great majority of Senate votes while campaigning for President. But it twists the facts in its descriptions of the bills it cites to support its argument that Kerry’s priorities are misplaced.

John Dean: Bush impeachable if WMD info manipulated

From time to time, I fired off flares, hoping to throw a bit of light-if not a warning-on where they were headed. I did so by raising these matters in my regular Find Law column. For one such column, in which I discussed the potential of impeachment if the Bush administration had intentionally manipulated government intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction an editor at Salon, which reprinted the column, used the title “Worse than Watergate”-drawing his own conclusion from the material. I could not deny that it describes perfectly what I have to say in more ways than I had anticipated.

Bush elected as the un-Clinton

But the lines that divided the two groups [of voters] were not mainly lines of race, nor class, but of family status and religious observance. Bush’s strongest supporters were the people most outraged by Clinton’s misconduct. What they wanted most from him was simple: They wanted him not to be Clinton. They were pretty much indifferent to everything in his program except the promise to lay off the interns. That was not much of a mandate to govern.

Well, if the country wanted an un-Clinton administration, they had hired the right man. Was Clinton famously unpunctual? Bush was always on time. Were the Clintons morally slack? Bush opened every cabinet meeting with a prayer.

Our grandest ideal: no insignificant person was ever born

I am honored and humbled to stand here, where so many of America’s leaders have come before me, and so many will follow.

We have a place, all of us, in a long story, a story we continue, but whose end we will not see. It is the American story, a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.

The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding American promise: that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, that no insignificant person was ever born. Americans are called to enact this promise in our lives and in our laws. And though our nation has sometimes halted, and sometimes delayed, we must follow no other course.

Citizenship is as important as government

What you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort, to defend needed reforms against easy attacks, to serve your nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens. Citizens, not spectators. Citizens, not subjects. Responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character.

Americans are generous and strong and decent, not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.

Favorites: PB&J, tacos, Winston Churchill, kissing Laura

Bush’s favorite things, responding to questions on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show:
• Favorite sandwich: Peanut butter and jelly on white bread.
• Favorite gift to give: Kiss to wife Laura.
• Favorite gift to receive: Cufflinks passed on from his grandfather, Senator Prescott Bush.
• Favorite fast food: Taco.
• Thing he can’t live without: Running.
• Favorite song: “Wake up Little Susie”
• Favorite historical figure: Winston Churchill
• Favorite memory: Little League baseball in Midland

No need to excuse Cheney from energy issues

Baseball is fun, politics is not

“He’d just come up [to the big leagues] and gotten a quick look,” Bush recalled painfully. In 25 games, Sosa was batting a meager .238. Who could have predicted then that Sosa would become a superstar, slamming 66 homers for the Chicago Cubs in 1998 and dramatically dueling Mark McGwire for the all-time season home run record?

The team managers recommended the deal and he approved it, Bush remembered. “We were coming down the stretch, chasing Oakland. We were either going to kick in and stay or fade.” The Rangers faded. Oakland won the pennant and the World Series. “It just didn’t work out. Sosa just didn’t kick in.”

This is the fun stuff to talk about, I noted. “Politics is not, not fun,” Bush instantly replied.

Priorities: Reaganesque tax cuts; education & health reform

Gov. George W. Bush. He’s a once-in-a-generation leader with a bold agenda, a successful governor with a fresh leadership style.
• So every child reads, he’ll fight for education reforms hailed as the most sweeping in a decade.
• While Washington deadlocked, he delivered a patients’ bill of rights that’s a model for America.
• He’s the candidate with a tax cut called ‘Reaganesque’ and ‘worthy of a new president.’

Challenges the orthodoxy but is still a devout conservative

Bush’s centrism: free trade; private IRAs; no new taxes

Government can create an environment for prosperity

Prosperity is not a given. Governments don’t create wealth. Wealth is created by Americans -- by creativity and enterprise and risk-taking. But government can create an environment where businesses and entrepreneurs and families can dream and flourish.

Match conservative minds with compassionate hearts

OpEd: Compassionate conservatism means big spending

Republicans have become America's minority party because they have been poor salesmen of the benefits of true freedom. As Americans have become more dependent on government, Republican have tried to use a "Democrat lite" approach, trying to appeal to voters' desire for more security. George W. Bush tried to appeal to America's need for security with his big-spending, "compassionate conservative" agenda. But few Republicans have been willing to tell Americans the truth: people are most secure when they are most free.

Building a Safer, Stronger and Better America

President Bush’s Agenda for Building a Safer, Stronger and Better America
• Economy: President Bush will not be satisfied until we turn our economic recovery into lasting prosperity.
• Homeland Security: The President’s most important job is to protect and defend the American people.
• Education: The President’s No Child Left Behind Act is already showing results for America’s children.
• Social Security: Voluntary personal retirement accounts would enable individuals to build financial wealth and security.
• Health Care: President Bush’s comprehensive health care agenda improves health security for all Americans by building on the best features of American health care.
• Environment: Clear Skies will clean our skies, bring greater health to our citizens, and encourage environmentally responsible development.
• Energy: President Bush proposed a comprehensive National Energy Policy and has taken steps to implement it. Source: Campaign website, GeorgeBush.com, “Agenda” , Aug 31, 2004

  Calls on Americans to be citizens, not spectators

  In his Inaugural Address, the President called on Americans to become citizens, not spectators - to work together to improve our communities and reach out to our neighbors. For the past two-and-a-half years, compassionate conservatism has been the President’s governing philosophy as the Administration has tackled some of society’s toughest assignments, such as educating our children, helping those in need, and fighting poverty at home and abroad. Source: Campaign website, www.georgewbush.com , Aug 29, 2003

  “Compassionate conservatism” disliked by conservatives

  Bush described himself as a “compassionate conservative,” which sounded less like a philosophy than a marketing slogan: Love conservatism but hate arguing about abortion? Try our new compassionate conservatism-great ideological taste, now with less controversy. Conservatives disliked the “compassionate conservative” label in the same way that people on the Left would dislike it if a Democratic candidate for president called himself a “patriotic liberal.”

  The 2000 election was the messiest and most nerve-racking in 125 years. Bush’s reinvention of the Republican Party did not quite work. He lost the popular vote by half a million ballots and had to be carried over the finish line by the Supreme Court.

  In the nineteenth century, three presidents received fewer votes than their main opponent. But it has been a long time since it last happened, and in the meantime, the country’s attitudes toward voting and democracy have changed dramatically. Bush arrived in office politically crippled.

  Source: The Right Man, by David Frum, chapter 1 , Jun 1, 2003

  Communitarianism: Society over unfettered individualism

  Bush’s actions have less to do with the left vs. right than with his embrace of many of the ideas contained in the movement known as “communitarianism.” Communitarianism, or “civil society” thinking, at its center is a notion that years of celebrating individual freedom have weakened the bonds of community and that the rights of the individual must be balanced against the interests of society as a whole. Inherent in the philosophy is a return to values and morality, which can best be fostered by community organizations.

  Many of Bush’s early proposals fit this approach, [such as his support for Charitable Choice], AmeriCorps, and character education in schools. Bush’s inaugural address was full of words like “civility,” “responsibility” and “community.”

  Communitarians say Bush has yet to embrace some of their other favorite ideas: workplace flexibility, limits on urban sprawl, campaign finance reform, and having the wealthy pay more for certain government benefits.

  Source: Dana Milbank, Washington Post, Page A1 , Feb 1, 2001

  Build a single nation of justice and opportunity

  While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise - even the justice - of our own country. Sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share a continent, but not a country.

  We do not accept this, and we will not allow it. Our unity, our union, is the serious work of leaders and citizens in every generation. And this is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single nation of justice & opportunity. I know this is in our reach, because we are guided by a power larger than ourselves, who creates us equal in his image. And we are confident in principles that unite and lead us onward.

  America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

  Source: Inaugural speech , Jan 20, 2001

  Commitment to civility, courage, compassion and character

  Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation’s promise through civility, courage, compassion and character.
  • America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness.
  • America at its best is also courageous. We must show courage in a time of blessing, by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations.
  • America at its best is compassionate. In the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation’s promise. And whatever our views of its cause, we can agree that children at risk are not at fault.
  • America at its best is a place where personal responsibility is valued and expected. Our public interest depends on private character, on civic duty and family bonds and basic fairness, on uncounted, unhonored acts of decency which give direction to our freedom.
  Source: Inaugural speech , Jan 20, 2001

  End season of cynicism and politics of anger

  Bush’s message on the final day will be the well-honed one he now delivers everywhere. It boils down to it being the time for a change in Washington. “We need to get rid of the politics of anger, we need a fresh start after a season of cynicism,” he said in Florida on Sunday. Source: BBC News On-line , Nov 6, 2000

  President should be a role model and uniter

  There’s Democrats all around America who understand there’s a better day tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be the way it is in Washington. We need a uniter, not a divider. The president can set an example for the moms of dads of America. Source: Speech in Pittsburgh , Nov 4, 2000

  They have not led. We will.

  [Bush said of Gore], “he trusts government, he doesn’t trust the people. He wants to add, incredibly enough, 182 new mandates of 132,000 pages of rules and regulations in Washington, D.C.”

  [Referring to Gore’s health care plan, Bush said], “Trust me, this is an incredible maze of what the health care plan would look like under the vision of more government control in our lives. We’ll modernize the system. by trusting seniors with other options if they’re unhappy with the Medicare plan.” Bush said, “We’ll say you can have other options, you know why? Because we trust you.”

  [Bush concluded by echoing his nomination speech theme], again hitting Gore on the Clinton-Gore administration’s record on Medicare and Social Security: “On all the big issues facing this country, our message on November 7 will be loud and clear: You’ve had your chance. You have not led, and we will.”

  Source: CNN.com report from West Allis, WI , Nov 3, 2000

  Barnstorm for Reform: End D.C. cynicism & zero-sum politics

  Bush was campaigning along with three GOP governors in his “Barnstorm for Reform” tour. “They are constructive reformists,” Bush said of his companions. He vowed to “give the nation a fresh start after a season of cynicism.” “Washington, D.C., doesn’t have to be a place of zero-sum politics, with one winner and one loser.” Source: Ian Christopher McCaleb, CNN.com , Oct 24, 2000

  Blueprint for the Middle Class: from birth thru retirement

  The “Blueprint for the Middle Class” describes Bush’s plans to help real people on the issues of education; healthcare; Social Security; taxes; family, and community. “My plans help real Americans at every stage of their lives,” Bush said. “From birth through the retirement years, I have a plan to improve education, lower taxes, strengthen Social Security, and provide healthcare. This handy Blueprint guides voters through my policies, all of which lead to stronger families and safer communities.” Source: Blueprint for the Middle Class , Sep 17, 2000

  Real Plans for Real People: Bush promises honest talking

  Bush stumped Friday under the newly coined theme “Real Plans for Real People,” and vowed to speak plainly regardless of what surveys indicated. “I’ve got to get out and talk to people, and I’m going to do a lot of it,” Bush said. “I’m going to tell you what I think and let the political chips fall where they may.” A spokesman said that in addition to the “Real Plans” theme, changes would include offering Republican governors for Sunday talk-show interviews instead of campaign officials. Source: CNN.com , Sep 8, 2000

  Now is the time to do the hard things

  Bush: “This is a moment in history when we have a chance to focus on tough problems. It’s not always popular to say ‘Our children can’t read’ or ‘Social Security needs improving’ or ‘We have a budget surplus and a deficit in values.’ But those are the right things to say. And the right way to make America better for everyone is to be bold and decisive, to unite instead of divide. Now is the time to do the hard things.” Source: Television advertisement script, “Hard Things” , Aug 21, 2000

  My generation tested limits; now we’re coming home

  A hundred years from now, this must not be remembered as an age rich in possessions and poor in ideals. Instead, we must usher in an era of responsibility.

  My generation tested limits -- and our country, in some ways, is better for it. Women are now treated more equally. Racial progress has been steady, if still too slow. We are learning to protect the natural world around us. We will continue this progress, and we will not turn back. At times, we lost our way. But we are coming home.

  Source: Speech to Republican National Convention , Aug 3, 2000

  Theme: change how Washington works & restore moral purpose

  In the past two days, Gore and Bush have both put down markers on the themes they believe can carry them to the White House. Bush will seek to exploit the country’s disgust with the scandals, gridlock, and partisanship that have enveloped Washington in the 1990s. “In just seven months, we will leave our current president to the judgment of history,” Bush said yesterday. “What matters now is whether the bitterness that now prevails in Washington will continue after his term.”

  Bush’s address was his latest attempt to say “I will be different” as he outlined a series of steps that he said would help de-escalate tensions, encourage compromise, and clean up some of the pork-barrel spending practices that have soured the public on politicians from both sides.

  Bush explicitly promises to change the way Washington does business by reaching out to Democrats, sharing credit, and seeking results over partisan gains. But he also promises to restore a sense of moral purpose to the presidency.

  Source: Dan Balz, Washington Post, p. A1 , Jun 9, 2000

  Bush’s conservatism: local solutions within limited govt

  I am a conservative because I believe in the power of each individual. My philosophy trusts individuals to make the right decisions for their families and communities [instead of] from distant bureaucracies. I am a conservative because I believe government should be limited and efficient. I am a conservative because I believe in a strong national defense [and] I support free markets and free trade. I am a conservative because I believe government closest to the people governs best. Source: “A Charge to Keep”, p.235 , Dec 9, 1999

  Government if necessary, not necessarily government

  [Citing his gubernatorial inauguration speech], “Texans can run Texas,” I told my fellow Texans. “I will ask the federal government to return to us the power to set our own course. My guiding principle,” I said, “will be government if necessary, not necessarily government.” I talked about the need to change our culture, and reform our schools and welfare and criminal justice laws. “I feel the wind at our backs,” I concluded. Source: “A Charge to Keep”, p. 44 , Dec 9, 1999

  “Compassionate conservatism” allows individual potential

  A conservative philosophy is a compassionate philosophy that frees individuals to achieve their highest potential. Conservative to cut taxes and compassionate to give people more money to spend. Conservative to reform welfare by insisting on work; compassionate to free people from dependency. Conservative to insist on consequences for bad behavior; compassionate to recognize that discipline and love go hand in hand. Source: Exploratory Committee Announcement , Mar 7, 1999

  Prosperity with a purpose: Peaceful & prosperous future

  I want the 21st century to be one of prosperity with a purpose. If America pursues limited government, low taxes, free and fair trade and free markets, our country will continue to be prosperous. America must be prosperous and strong so the next century is peaceful, and so our citizens can find high quality, high paying jobs. And we must make the purpose of prosperity to help every single person have a shot at achieving the American dream. Source: Exploratory Committee Announcement , Mar 7, 1999

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  George W. Bush on Florida Recount

  2000 OpEd: By any count, Bush would have won Florida

  The Supreme Court voted 5-4 for Bush. But the facts showed Bush still would have won Florida and the presidency if a thorough statewide recount had been completed. That was the conclusion of two studies--one by "USA Today" the "Miami Herald" and Knight Ridder, and another by a large media consortium composed of the Associated Press, CNN, and nine newspapers. Both ballot studies revealed Bush would have won under almost all standards and scenarios and, in many instances, by a much wider margin. Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p.222-223 , Nov 2, 2010

  FL recount strategy: Follow law as it stood on Election Day

  The US Constitution and federal law required that Florida's election laws in effect on Election Day be followed. If they were, Bush would narrowly win the election. The only way Gore could overturn our victory was to get local officials to change the rules after the election had ended and recount votes in precincts where Gore was strong.

  On Election Day, these instructions were printed for voters to see: "After voting, check your ballot card to be sure your voting selections are clearly and cleanly punched and there are no chips left hanging on the back of the card."

  The law said that any ballot with a hanging chip, or "Chad" to use the media's favorite term, was not a legal vote. The question was if that law would be followed or if election boards would throw it out and use different standards at different times--or different standards at the same time in the same room--to determine voter intent.

  Source: Courage and Consequence, by Karl Rove, p.203-204 , Nov 2, 2010

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  George W. Bush on Leadership Style

  1999: Felt call to run like Moses called to lead

  The key question was whether I felt the call to run [for president]. During my second inauguration as governor, as we walked into the church, I told Mother I had been struggling with the decision. "George," she said, "get over it. Make up your mind, and move on."

  Rev. Mark Craig, in his sermon, spoke about when God called Moses to action. Moses' first response was disbelief: "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?" He had every excuse in the book. He hadn't led a perfect life; he wasn't sure if people would follow him; he couldn't even speak that clearly. That sounded a little familiar.

  Mark described God's reassurance that Moses would have the power to perform the task he had been called to do. Then Mark summoned the congregation to action. Like Moses, he concluded, "We have the opportunity, each and every one of us, to do the right thing, and for the right reason."

  Then Mother caught my eye and mouthed, "He is talking to you." After the service, the pressure evaporated. I felt a sense of calm

  Source: Decision Points, by Pres. George W. Bush, p. 60-61 , Nov 9, 2010

  OpEd: coherent set of easily-remembered principles

  Where Republican campaign professional were movement conservatives and tended to sharpen Republicans' resolve, many Democratic pollsters tended to reinforce Democrats' tendency to equivocate. It is literally impossible to deliver a forceful message fille with equivocation.

  Putting aside the details of policy issues, consider the metamessage of the past 28 years: Republicans may run roughshod occasionally, but they keep the country safe. I don't like a lot of [Reagan's, Bush's] position, but at least yo know where he stands.

  Even someone as verbally incoherent as George W. Bush could be made to sound like a leader because he was anchored in a coherent set of principles. Free market good, government bad. Poor people are the consequence of poor values. America must be strong. Even Bush could remember that much. In the end, however, no amount of technique or resolution could compensate for policies that drove the economy aground.

  Source: Obama`s Challenge, by Robert Kuttner, p.110 , Aug 25, 2008

  2005: I earned political capital, & now I intend to spend it

  June 22, 2005 was a heady time for the activists who had gathered to honor Karl Rove, widely praised as the architect of Republican victories in 2000, 2002, and 2004. President Bush had been reelected five months earlier by a margin of 3.5 million votes, despite fierce campaigning by grassroots Democrats and millions of dollars poured into the race by liberal donors. Republicans and conservatives viewed Bush's victory over John Kerry as nothing less than an emphatic affirmation of Americans' support for their principles. Bush himself said at a press conference two days after the election, "I've got the will of the people at my back." The Republican victory in fact owed a good deal to superior political tactics, and Bush and his party were still benefiting from the emotions surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but those factors were downplayed in the post-election euphoria. "I earned capital on the campaign--political capital," Bush said. "And now I intend to spend it." Source: The Thumpin': Rahm Emanuel, by Naftali Bendavid, Chapter 1 , May 8, 2007

  Cheerleader at Andover & Yale; as full of energy now

  [A friend at Yale, Clay] Johnson said Bush’s strengths were the same then as now: “He’s full of energy. He is as quick to make fun of himself as anyone else. It’s not negative or caustic humor. He likes people. He doesn’t like them as a class. He likes them as individuals. That’s why he’s so good at recalling names, because he just zeros in on them. He’s not someone who studies names to win votes or curry favor.” At Andover and Yale, he said, “Everyone seemed to know who George W. Bush was. He wasn’t running for anything, but everyone knew him.“

  Bush became a cheerleader at the all-boys school. He would wield a megaphone at football games and make barbed remarks about spectators and players. The show that he and his cohorts put on overshadowed the game, causing some grumbling. But the school paper came to his defense. ”George’s gang has done a commendable job, and now is not the time to throw a wet blanket over cheerleading,“ an editorial said. ”School spirit had never been higher,“ Johnson said.

  Source: A Matter of Character, by Ronald Kessler, p. 22 , Aug 5, 2004

  John Dean: ending Bush’s secrecy will avoid scandal

  To compare the Bush-Cheney presidency with Nixon’s tenure and Watergate and assert that it is worse than Watergate is not a charge to be made lightly. Nor do I-Watergate symbolizes totally unacceptable presidential behavior and was a very messy presidential scandal. Certainly no comparable scandal has occurred during the Bush-Cheney tenure-at least not yet. Scandals have a way of smoldering before erupting, as with Teapot Dome, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and L’affaire Lewinsky. There are simply too many problems rumbling just below the surface of the Bush-Cheney presidency to avoid making the comparison.

  It goes without saying that it would be best to have neither a scandal nor something far worse. There is, however, only one antidote: an end to the obsessive, unjustified, and disproportionate secrecy that defines the Bush-Cheney White House.

  My hope along the way is not to scandalmonger, but rather to spray as much antiscandal disinfectant-called light-as I possibly can.

  Source: Worse Than Watergate, by John W. Dean, first chapter , May 2, 2004

  Clarke: Bush admin uses war on terror for political gain

  Randy Beers [senior counterterrorism official] states, “the Bush Administration is using the War on Terror politically. You know that document from Karl Rove’s office that someone found in the park? Remember how it said the Republicans should run for election on the war issue? Well, they did. They are doing ‘Wag the Dog”! They ran against Max Cleland, saying he wasn’t patriotic because he didn’t agree 100% with Bush on how to do homeland security. Cleland lost 3 limbs for this country in Vietnam!“ Source: Against All Enemies, by Richard Clarke, p.242 , Mar 23, 2004

  Bush places personal loyalty over loyalty to the truth

  It seemed, suddenly, that there were no “let’s-look-at-the-facts brokers” in any of the key White House positions. A strict code of personal fealty to Bush--animated by the embrace of a few unquestioned ideologues-- eemed to be in collision with a faith in the broader ideals of honest inquiry. Even quite junior staff would sometimes hear quite senior staff pooh-pooh any need to dig deeper for pertinent information on a given issue. Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 125 & 171 , Jan 13, 2004

  O’Neill: Bush is an ideologue, not a centrist

  Was it possible, O’Neill wondered, that the country thought it had elected a centrist when in fact it had empowered an ideologue? An incident with [EPA chief Christie Todd] Whitman was the start of a rolling revelation. Whitman’s spokesperson said the EPA chief would ‘follow the president’s lead.’ The president was relying on ideologues like [supply-side economist] Larry Lindsey, Karl Rove and, he now feared, his old friend Dick Cheney. Energy concerns and the thinly supported jeremiad by industry lobbyists that the United States was in the early stages of an energy crisis had eclipsed considerations about action on global warming [at the energy task force led by Dick Cheney] This Presi Source: The Price of Loyalty, by Ron Suskind, p. 124-130 , Jan 13, 2004

  Conspicuous intelligence unwelcome in Bush White House

  If you looked around the Bush cabinet, you saw very able, solid, and reliable people-but only one, Donald Rumsfeld, whose mind could truly be said to sparkle. If you looked at the White House staff, there was again a dearth of really high-powered brains. One seldom heard an unexpected thought or met someone who possessed unusual knowledge. Aside from Mitch Daniels in OMB & of course Karl Rove, conspicuous intelligence seemed actively unwelcome in the Bush White House.

  Clinton had brought in eccentrics, some of them, perhaps, but also powerful intelligences, open to new ideas. The country could trust the Bush administration not to cheat or lie. But could the administration cope with an unprecedented problem? That might be rather dicier.

  The reason for the bias toward the ordinary was Richard Darman, the most conspicuously brilliant person in Bush 41’s White House. In the 1992 election, he attacked Bush 41 himself. And the lesson the younger Bush took from that experience was: no new Darmans.

  Source: The Right Man, by David Frum, p. 20 , Jun 1, 2003

  Has not succeeded at goal of being above party & ideology

  Bush had wanted to be an Eisenhower figure-a president above party and ideology. Obviously, he was not a success. Why not? His opponents offer two explanations for their attacks on Bush.

  The first is ideological. Bush, they say, is a president beholden to something they call the radical right wing. This suffers from an important defect: It’s just wrong. Bush is indeed a generally conservative president, and those who oppose conservatism are right to oppose him. But he is nothing like a pure ideologue.

  The second explanation for the rising anger against Bush focuses not on his policies but his politics-and especially on his supposedly uniquely ruthless campaign methods. This also falls a little short of the truth. Bush virtually never speaks disrespectfully of the Democratic Party and he rarely criticizes his opponents at all. Bush is certainly a competitive politician, and yes, he prefers to win rather than lose. But that’s politics-and by the standards of the recent past, gentle politics.

  Source: The Right Man, by David Frum, p.288-90 , Jun 1, 2003

  Reads people well; prefers one-on-one with legislators

  Bush is touting an agenda of broad tax cuts, limiting the role of the federal Government and encouraging individual choice and responsibility to solve the nation’s problems. Bush, who reads people extremely well, would likely hold one-on-one meetings with lawmakers in a bid to bargain and flatter his way toward consensus. Bush believes it is his job to direct the “broad strokes of policy” and leave most of the details to others. Source: Mike Ferullo, cnn.com , Oct 30, 2000

  A leader has vision, credibility, and loyalty to friends

  Q: How would you lead during the mid-east crisis?

  BUSH: It requires a clear vision, willingness to stand by our friends, and the credibility for people, both friend and foe, to understand when America says something, we mean it.

  GORE: I see a future when the world is at peace, with the United States of America promoting the values of democracy and human rights and freedom around the world. What can I bring to that challenge? I volunteered and went to Vietnam. In the House of Representatives, I served on the House Intelligence Committee. When I went to the United States Senate, I asked for an assignment to the Armed Services Committee. I was one of only 10 Democrats, along with Senator Joe Lieberman, to support Governor Bush’s dad in the Persian Gulf War resolution. And for the last eight years, I’ve served on the National Security Council.

  Source: St. Louis debate , Oct 17, 2000

  End bickering in Washington to revive politics

  Q: How will you engage youth in politics?

  GORE: Sometimes people who have great dreams, as young people do, are apt to stay at arm’s length from the political process because they think if they invest their hopes, they’re going to be disappointed. But thank goodness we’ve always had enough people who have been willing to push past the fear of a broken heart and become deeply involved in forming a more perfect union. We’ve got to address one of the biggest threats to our democracy: the current campaign financing system. I will make the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill the very first measure that I send to the Congress as president.

  BUSH: A lot of people are tired of the bitterness in Washington. There are a lot of young folks saying, you know, “Why do I want to be involved with this mess?” And what I think needs to happen is to set aside the partisan differences and set an agenda that will make sense. I don’t think it’s the issues that turn kids off. I think it’s the tone.

  Source: (X-ref Gore) St. Louis debate , Oct 17, 2000

  Put U.S. interests first and execute goals with good team

  Q: What are your ideas about leadership?

  BUSH: The first question is what’s in the best interests of the United States. Peace in the Middle East is in our nation’s interests. Having a hemisphere that is free for trade and peaceful is in our nation’s interests. An administration is dedicated citizens who are called by the president to serve the country. One of the things I’ve done in Texas is I’ve been able to put together a good team of people. I’ve been able to set clear goals.

  Source: Presidential Debate at Wake Forest University , Oct 11, 2000

  The president must have credibility; Gore doesn’t

  Q: Do you think the voters should question the Vice President’s credibility?

  BUSH: It’s important for the president to be credible with Congress and foreign nations. It’s something people need to consider. I’m going to defend my record against exaggerations. Exaggerations like only 5% of seniors receive benefits under my Medicare package. That’s what he said the other day. That’s simply not the case.

  GORE: I got some of the details wrong last week. I’m sorry about that. One of the reasons I regret it is that getting a detail wrong interfered with my point. However many days that young girl in Florida stood in her classroom doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of overcrowded classrooms in America and we need to do something about that. I can’t promise that I will never get another detail wrong. But I will promise you that I will work my heart out to get the big things right for the American people.

  Q: Does that resolve the issue?

  BUSH: That’s going to be up to the people.

  Source: Presidential Debate at Wake Forest , Oct 11, 2000

  Leads by building consensus, not by following polls

  You’ve got to look at how one has handled responsibility in office, whether or not you’ve got the capacity to convince people to follow, whether or not one makes decisions based on sound principles, or whether or not you rely upon polls and focus groups on how to decide what the course of action is. I’ve been the governor of a big state. I’ve had the capacity to work with both Republicans and Democrats. I think that’s an important part of leadership. I’ve shown I know how to build consensus. Source: Presidential debate, Boston MA , Oct 3, 2000

  Uphold law of the land & the dignity of the office

  To lead this nation to a responsibility era, a president himself must be responsible. And so, when I put my hand on the Bible, I will swear to not only uphold the laws of our land, I will swear to uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God. For me, gaining this office is not the ambition of a lifetime, but it IS the opportunity of a lifetime. And I will make the most of it. Source: Speech to Republican National Convention , Aug 3, 2000

  Bush has “hands-off” style, says the test is good decisions

  Bush, 54, said in a recent interview that it is important for voters to judge “whether or not I could make the decisions given the degree of pressure that the president is going to have to face. Are you able to maintain a pace and make sound decisions?” In many respects, his calendars show, Bush is the antithesis of the man he seeks to replace in the Oval Office: He relies heavily on his staff to master issues, keeps close to normal working hours and usually tenders decisions on the spot. Source: Alan C. Miller, Judy Pasternak, LA Times , Aug 2, 2000

  Surrounded by smart people, but he decides himself

  Q: You sometimes seem deliberately anti-intellectual.

  A: I know it comes across that way. I don’t think it’s fair. This will be an administration of people well suited to their jobs. I’m secure enough that I want smart people around me. I’m comfortable with people who have high intellects.

  Q: So how do you assure folks you’re smart enough to be President?

  A: I’m confident of my intellect. I wouldn’t be running if I wasn’t. My job will not be to out-think everybody in my administration. My job will be to assemble an administration full of very capable and bright people.

  Q: So getting the smartest people to tell you what to do.

  A: No, no, no. Not tell me what to do. Make recommendations. Plus, I’m not going to have a group of people who say the same thing.

  Q: So what happens when they disagree?

  A: These people don’t decide for me. I’m going to have to decide. I will overrule my advisers. I’ve done that before. My job is to get good thinkers and get the best out of them.

  Source: Interview with Time Magazine, CNN.com/Time.com , Aug 1, 2000

  Governs by outlining ideas & letting Legislature do details

  Governor Bush’s theory of government is that “he has an almost Whiggish attitude regarding the Legislature, by which I mean that he puts his ideas forward and then lets the Legislature hash them out, almost a policy of legislative deference,” maintained a U. Texas professor. In his state-of-the-state address, Mr. Bush told the legislators how he wanted to divide up the state’s budget surplus. Some $2 billion, he said, should go for property tax relief, with $600 million split among business tax cuts. Source: NY Sunday Times, p. 18, col. 1, “Bush Legacy” , May 23, 1999

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  George W. Bush on Religion

  Prayer and religion sustain me

  An example of talking the God talk but not walking the walk among politicians occurred in the 2004 Bush-Kerry presidential debates. In the final debate, both candidates spoke at length about the role of religion in their lives.

  Bush was consistent in his belief, as he said, that "prayer and religion sustain me." But Kerry changed his tune depending on the policy in question. On the issue of abortion, Kerry insisted, "I can't legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith."

  Fair enough. But then the topic shifted to government Programs for the poor and the environment, and Kerry changed his tune. His faith, he said, was "why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight to protect this earth. That's why I fight for equality and justice." This kind of hypocrisy when it comes to religion is widespread on the left, inside and outside Washington.

  Source: America by Heart, by Sarah Palin, p.216-217 , Nov 23, 2010

  Religion in youth more a tradition than spiritual experience

  Religion had always been part of my life, but I really wasn't a believer. I never went to church at Yale. I did go when I visited my parents, but my primary mission was to avoid irritating Mother. Laura and I started going regularly after the girls were born, because we felt a responsibility to expose them to faith.

  I read the Bible occasionally and saw it as a kind of self-improvement course. But for the most part, religion was more of a tradition than a spiritual experience.

  In the summer of 1985, I was captivated by meeting Billy Graham. There's nothing wrong with using the Bible as a guide to self-improvement, he said. But self-improvement is not really the point of the Bible. The center of Christianity is not the self. It is Christ.

  Billy had planted a seed. His thoughtful explanation had made the soil less firm and the brambles less thick. I could not have quit drinking without faith. I also don't think my faith would be as strong if I hadn't quit drinking.

  Source: Decision Points, by Pres. George W. Bush, p. 30-34 , Nov 9, 2010

  Faith shapes his principles, which shape his policies

  Q: What part does your faith play on your policy decisions?

  BUSH: My faith plays a big part in my life. Prayer and religion sustain me. When I make decisions, I stand on principle, and the principles are derived from who I am. I believe we ought to love our neighbor like we love ourself, as manifested in public policy through the faith-based initiative. I believe that God wants everybody to be free. And that’s been part of my foreign policy. In Afghanistan, I believe that the freedom there is a gift from the Almighty.

  KERRY: I went to a church school and I was taught that the two greatest commandments are: Love God, with all your mind, your body and your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.I think we have a lot more loving of our neighbor to do. We have an unequal school system. And the president and I have a difference of opinion about how we live out our sense of our faith. I talked about it earlier when I talked about faith without works being dead.

  Source: Third Bush-Kerry debate, in Tempe AZ , Oct 13, 2004

  Character determines your path; we are not the author

  “No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character,” Viscount John Morley wrote. So long as Americans ignore that truism, they will continue to be surprised-for better of worse-by the candidate they elect for president.

  “When I left here, I didn’t have much in the way of a life plan,” Bush told students when he returned to Yale in 2001. “I knew some people who thought they did. But it turned out that we were all in it for the ups and downs, most of them unexpected. Life takes its turns, makes it own demands, writes its own story. And along the way, we start to realize we are not the author.“

  No one could have anticipated the peril that America would face during the presidency of George W. Bush. Yet no one could have been better suited to confronting that peril. It required vision, courage, patience, optimism, integrity, focus, discipline, determination, decisiveness, and devotion to America.

  Source: A Matter of Character, by Ronald Kessler, p.289-90 , Aug 5, 2004

  Glad to sign a law “love thy neighbor”

  There was an unusual intensity about the moral fervor of the Bush White House. Because of the weakness of our political position, we were not in much of a position to do good. All the more important, then, that we be good.

  Goodness had been one of the main themes of Bush’s campaign speeches. He often observed that if the government could ever write a law that could make people love their neighbors, he would be glad to sign it. This was, when you think about it, an odd thing for a Republican president to say. If Congress had sent Ronald Reagan a law obliging people to love their neighbors, he would have vetoed it as an impertinent infringement of personal liberty, and unconstitutional besides.

  But Bush came from & spoke for a very different culture from that of the individualistic Ronald Reagan: the culture of modern Evangelicalism. To understand the Bush White House you must understand its predominant creed. It was a kindly faith, practical and unmystical.

  Source: The Right Man, by David Frum, p. 17 , Jun 1, 2003

  Faith helps me in service to people

  All presidents of the United States have come to the National Prayer Breakfast, regardless of their religious views.

  No matter what our background, in prayer, we share something universal -- a desire to speak and listen to our maker, and to know his plan for our lives.

  An American president serves people of every faith, and serves some with no faith at all. I have found my faith helps me in the service to people. Faith teaches humility.

  Source: Remarks at National Prayer Breakfast , Feb 1, 2001

  Jesus saved me from a life of sin

  Bush has repeatedly told the story of his personal salvation. (For those not familiar with evangelical Christianity, the critical--indeed the only--question is "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?") In the summer of 1985, W. Bush met with Rev. Billy Graham, who asked him if he was "right with God." W. Bush replied that he wasn't sure, and began to think about it.

  Dubya has taken his testimonial on the road and tells of his conversion experience--but only before selected audiences. Dubya's use of his religion for political purposes gives him a good leg up with evangelical voters. Bush had a dramatic tale--saved from a life of sin, drinking, womanizing (before marriage), and, by inference, drugs--all of which comes under the rubric "indiscretions of my youth." It's not clear what went on in that valley of despair from which the governor was saved, but we know he was saved. He retails the story in niche markets around Texas, telling it for evangelical audiences only.

  Source: Shrub, by Molly Ivins, p. 59-61 , Oct 1, 2000

  US chosen by God to be a model among nations

  In a speech to a B’nai B’rith convention, Bush spoke of his support for Israel and also praised the work conducted by faith-based social programs. “Our nation is chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world of justice and inclusion and diversity without division. Jews and Christians and Muslims speak as one in their commitment to a kind, just, tolerant society.” Source: Gustav Niebuhr, NY Times , Aug 29, 2000

  Jesus is part of my life; but won’t exclude non-Christians

  Q: There are 15 million atheists in this country, 5 million Jews, 5 million Muslims.. Should they feel excluded because of your allegiance to Jesus?A: No. I was asked what [philosopher most] influenced my life and I gave an honest, unvarnished answer. It doesn’t make me better than you or better than anybody else, but it’s a foundation for how I live my life. Some may accept the answer and some may not. But, I really don’t care. It’s me. It’s what I’m all about. It’s how I live my life. Source: Republican Debate in Durham, NH , Jan 6, 2000

  “A Charge to Keep,” hymn & painting, inspire Bush

  I started the [gubernatorial inauguration] day with a church service. One of the hymns I selected is titled “A Charge to Keep I Have.” Written by Charles Wesley, the words say:

  A charge to keep I have,
  A God to glorify,
  A never dying soul to save,
  And fit it for the sky.
  To serve the present age,
  My calling to fulfill;
  O may it all my powers engage
  To do my Master’s will!

  [Hanging in my office is] a beautiful oil painting by W.H.D. Koerner entitled A Charge to Keep. The painting, inspired by the hymn, [pictures] a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep & rough trail. This is us. [The painting and] hymn have been an inspiration for me & for members of my staff. “A Charge to Keep” calls us to our highest and best. It speaks of purpose and direction. In many hymnals, it is associated with a Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 4:2: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” Source: “A Charge to Keep”, p. 45 , Dec 9, 1999

  Charitable Choice has churches mentoring weflare clients

  “Charitable Choice” applies when states enter contracts with faith-based organizations to deliver services to persons receiving federal welfare benefits. Under Bush, Texas leads the nation in aggressively implementing Charitable Choice. Last year, the Dept. of Human Services and Lutheran Social Services of the South, one the nation’s larger faith-based social service organizations, announced a partnership to recruit volunteers from area Lutheran churches to serve as mentors to former welfare clients. Source: GeorgeWBush.com/News/ “Faith in Action” , Jun 12, 1999

  Allow religious groups to address social ills.

  I think that it is far kinder to help people become independent than it is to trap them in a failed system. We must end dependency on government.. Any system that undermines the basic values of hard work, self-respect and personal responsibility is wrong. Source: www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/faq_index.html 12/31/98 , Dec 31, 1998

  Diminish role of govt as communities & churches take over

  Bush supports increasing employment and job training programs for welfare recipients, “depending on the program.” When asked about eliminating government-funded welfare programs, Bush responded,“Ultimately, the role of government in providing welfare should diminish as local communities and faith-based organizations take a larger role in delivering hope and help to those in need.” Source: 1998 National Political Awareness Test , Jul 2, 1998

  Base “responsibility era” on Judeo-Christian values

  Our society holds dear Judeo-Christian values that have stood the test of time: love your neighbor, give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wages. Tell the truth and be honest. Don’t cheat or steal. Respect others, respect their property and respect their opinions. And always remember: you are responsible for the decisions you make. And that is the hope for my generation’s legacy: that we usher in the responsibility era. We can change today’s culture from “if it feels good, do it”. Source: Powell Lecture Series, Texas A&M Univ. , Apr 6, 1998

  Religious affiliation: Methodist.

  Bush : religious affiliation:

  The Adherents.com website is an independent project and is not supported by or affiliated with any organization (academic, religious, or otherwise).

  What’s an adherent?

  The most common definition used in broad compilations of statistical data is somebody who claims to belong to or worship in a religion. This is the self-identification method of determining who is an adherent of what religion, and it is the method used in most national surveys and polls.

  Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.

  Source: Adherents.com web site 00-ADH7 on Nov 7, 2000

  Member of National Governors Association.

  Bush is a member of the National Governors Association:

  The National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation’s governors and one of Washington’s most respected public policy organizations. NGA provides governors with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing policy reports on innovative state programs and hosting networking seminars for state government executive branch officials. The NGA Center for Best Practices focuses on state innovations and best practices on issues that range from education and health to technology, welfare reform, and the environment. NGA also provides management and technical assistance to both new and incumbent governors.

  Since their initial meeting in 1908 to discuss interstate water problems, governors have worked through the National Governors Association to deal with issues of public policy and governance relating to the states. The association’s ongoing mission is to support the work of the governors by providing a bipartisan forum to help shape and implement national policy and to solve state problems.

  Fortune Magazine recently named NGA as one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying organizations due, in large part, to NGA’s ability to lead the debate on issues that impact states. From welfare reform to education, from the historic tobacco settlement to wireless communications tax policies, NGA has influenced major public policy issues while maintaining the strength of our Federalist system of government.

  There are three standing committees—on Economic Development and Commerce, Human Resources, and Natural Resources—that provide a venue for governors to examine and develop policy positions on key state and national issues.

  [Note: NGA positions represent a majority view of the nation’s governors, but do not necessarily reflect a governor’s individual viewpoint. Governors vote on NGA policy positions but the votes are not made public.]

  Source: National Governors Association web site www.NGA.org 00-NGA0 on Jan 1, 2000

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