Brilliant self-contradictory quote from President Bush

"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system." -- George Bush, at 1:40 in this CNN video. (via Slate)

[#1 posted by urshrew , December 17, 2008 1:50 PM]

Well. That about sums it up.

[#2 posted by mgfarrelly , December 17, 2008 1:52 PM]

2+2=25,000,000,000?

[#3 posted by MacBastard , December 17, 2008 1:56 PM]

We're going to miss these gems come January 20th.

If you can pretend that the last eight years were not a presidency and instead were a federally funded piece of dadaist performance art, I've found that your blood pressure doesn't go up as much. Oh, it still goes up, but probably won't kill you as quickly.

Whee!

[#4 posted by MarkMarko , December 17, 2008 1:57 PM]

Anyone have a shoe?

[#5 posted by sum.zero , December 17, 2008 2:02 PM]

now if only he had said back in 2000/2004, "i'm abandoning the presidency in order to save our democracy."

[#6 posted by Kurt , December 17, 2008 2:03 PM]

“We had to destroy the village to save it”

[#7 posted by acb , December 17, 2008 2:08 PM]

So the Bush administration are doing to the free market what they did to liberty some seven years earlier?

[#8 posted by Takuan , December 17, 2008 2:09 PM]

Little Shoes speaks.

[#9 posted by Keeper of the Lantern , December 17, 2008 2:10 PM]

He abandoned the constitution to save our freedoms.

He abandoned peace to save lives.

He abandoned New Orleans to promote community-building.

He abandoned science to save reason.

Wait, there's more but it's already tedious.

Plame.

Guantanamo.

Abu Ghraib.

AT&T & NSA.

Patriot Act.

Rumsfeld.

A shoe was all he got?

[#10 posted by dross1260 , December 17, 2008 2:22 PM]

Funny, I abandon principles to save systems all the time.

[#11 posted by aTanguay , December 17, 2008 2:28 PM]

I've always loved the way that, when pressed for an answer to an incredibly important public policy question/decision, George W. Bush has a way of repeating his dodging reply that comes across as 'it's none of your fucking business'.

[#12 posted by elfdick , December 17, 2008 2:29 PM]

Does this strike anyone else as very Dark Knight?

[#13 posted by oldtaku , December 17, 2008 2:38 PM]

First thing I thought of was "It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it." But I see Kurt got there first. Damn you Kurt!

[#14 posted by Anonymous , December 17, 2008 2:52 PM]

Spoken truth of someone with communist roots.

Good thing he won't remain in power, or we'd be selecting a nationality for extinction,
"in the interest of security".

Just too bad the TSA confused "Tourist" with "Terrorist", less that mistake, there'd be less of the economy tanked.

Thank you for your time GWB, the supreme court president elect (we don't need no stinking voters), however, you should have listened to your father "don't go in there", we as a people would rather not have been left with a nation that sports a sucking economic chest wound do to declaration of an unconstitutional war on a war tactic that has been almost as effective as the war on drugs, maybe OPEC should fund your oil conquest, who knows, they just might fancy your Orwellian leader...err, dictatorship.

[#15 posted by Ito Kagehisa , December 17, 2008 2:54 PM]

Not so much Dark Knight, as Chuck Jones 1957 masterpiece Boyhood Daze.

"I hated to have to kill them all... but they had to be taught a lesson."

"I get blamed for everything I do!"

[#16 posted by Cowicide , December 17, 2008 3:16 PM]

The semantic disruption system marches on.

[#17 posted by emmagoldman , December 17, 2008 3:23 PM]

(Untying shoes)
"A follow up question for the leader of the 'free' world, Mr. President: is that your shoe size or your IQ?"

[#18 posted by Hollando , December 17, 2008 3:28 PM]

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

We have always been at war with Eastasia.

I'm gonna miss him....

[#19 posted by Gilgongo , December 17, 2008 3:33 PM]

I'm a rabid socialist (I live in Europe where we're all basically commies) - but even I know that you should abandon dogma when you need to. For all Bush's idiocy, I salute the fact that at least he sees that state ownership of the banks (oh, and most other industries in the US now) might be a good thing in a time of crisis. Perhaps the experience of Katrina taught him an oblique lesson: if you're the leader of the richest nation on earth, abandoning your people to face oblivion isn't the best PR.

[#20 posted by Nelson.C , December 17, 2008 3:38 PM]

Ito @15: I'm reminded, in turn, of a short exchange in Neil Gaiman's Sandman that goes something like:

Hazel: Why did you do that?

Thessaly: To teach her a lesson.

H: But you killed her!

T: That was the lesson: no second chances.

[#21 posted by atadenglish , December 17, 2008 3:42 PM]

Simply because the free-market system works best (at least for Bush) doesn't mean it can't fail. That's not a contradiction, it's reasonable imo.

Another thing. Can we just all forget about Bush? How about you never mention him again. Dodging that shoe was his final bow.

[#22 posted by Dan , December 17, 2008 4:03 PM]

I don't think we'll ever forget about Bush. We're going to be paying for this administration's failures and mistakes for a long, long time to come.

[#23 posted by Nevadan , December 17, 2008 4:10 PM]

That's the frankest comment I've ever heard from Bush. From the tone and expression, he seems to understand the irony of what he just said.
He might as well have added, "Because the end always justifies the means."

[#24 posted by Simon Cameron , December 17, 2008 4:12 PM]

I'm relieved to see that there are at least a few commenters who realize that this statement isn't necessarily a contradiction. They've done a good job at making the economic arguments, so I'll just address this from #9.

"He abandoned peace to save lives."
Kosovo is a wonderful example of how you can go to war to save lives.

[#25 posted by soupisgoodfood , December 17, 2008 4:40 PM]

Sorry, but I don't see how this is a contradiction at all.

[#26 posted by zuzu , December 17, 2008 4:44 PM]

Simply because the free-market system works best (at least for Bush) doesn't mean it can't fail. That's not a contradiction, it's reasonable imo.

No, the "failure" (i.e. credit contraction) is part of what makes the free market capitalism work. It's a feature, not a bug.

What's caused the epic fail has been a long history of government intervention (i.e. monetary policy) to "correct" those small "failures". Those added up into one big failure, but more "corrections" only make it even worse later on. (For any ST:TNG nerds, it's exactly like the "more shields" episode.)

Bush and the Neo-Cons have never been for free markets or small government; they've always been corporatist / fascists. "Subsidize big-business and screw everyone else."

[#27 posted by edjusted , December 17, 2008 4:46 PM]

@14: Wait...tourist?! Tourist?! All this time we've been going after the wrong people?! I thought the CIA blamed 9/11 on TOURISTS...and now you're telling me we should be going after TERRORISTS!?

[#28 posted by zuzu , December 17, 2008 4:52 PM]

@27 Edjusted

Kip Hawley, is that you?

[#29 posted by EH , December 17, 2008 5:14 PM]

Uh, who cares what Bush has to say? Certainly not him.

[#30 posted by Anonymous , December 17, 2008 5:31 PM]

@27 Yes, you can see for yourself, just as the entire administration has fortified the fundamentals of the US Constitution so eloquently, the same level of competence has clearly been shown in regards to its efficiency.

...: "sir, we have a clear shot at 'OBL', seeking final confirmation, may we execute?

GWB: NO, YOU WILL NOT TERMINATE THAT OIL WELL...

[#31 posted by kenturamon , December 17, 2008 5:32 PM]

You dirty bastards, you've tricked us all along. Bush is actually not evil, just an idiot doing a job that's too hard for him.

[#32 posted by elk , December 17, 2008 5:39 PM]

Sounded more like irony than contradiction to me.

That bit doesn't nearly peg the BS meter like the line about "obligation to my successor" does. As if.

[#33 posted by buddy66 , December 17, 2008 5:44 PM]

"Little Shoes"? Ha. I saw what you did.

[#34 posted by Kurt , December 17, 2008 5:54 PM]

OldTaku: Sorry, though if it's any consolation I think your version might be closer to the original than mine. (That enough to undamn me?)

[#35 posted by DWittSF , December 17, 2008 7:10 PM]

Bush's intellectual godfather Dan Quayle summed it up best:

"What a waste it is to lose one’s mind- or not to have a mind.
How true that is."

[#36 posted by a_user , December 17, 2008 8:14 PM]

he forgot to wear his tshirt -

"I went to Airaq and all I got were these lousy shoes"

[#37 posted by demidan , December 17, 2008 8:37 PM]

Is he Pr. Bush or Zaphod Beeblebrox?

[#38 posted by wrybread , December 17, 2008 11:35 PM]

Was that a hint of regret and guilt I detected after the interviewer points out that he doesn't want the entire auto industry to fail during his tenure? Is it possible that now that pretty much everything that can go wrong during a presidency has gone wrong, that he's just a touch introspective and regretful?

[#39 posted by FoetusNail , December 18, 2008 2:42 AM]

Elk, that's the comment that stood out for me too, it can be taken so many different ways. Does this mean this was all intentional or he is delusional. Look at how many times he had to restate his characterization of the current "economic difficulties". He keeps wanting to ignore the fact that the WHOLE FUKIN WORLD is in the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it is all his fault.

His administration over extended our military without longterm plans, knowing they were going to go into a trillion dollar debt to pay for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. This decision was made before he took office and in spite of the fact we had barely recovered economically from the attacks in 2001. But maybe they were either clueless or just didn't give a damn.

Then they systematically removed or gutted regulatory oversight of the financial markets, leading to the largest transfer of wealth in history and a debt has reached 10 trillion dollars. We have yet to see the full implications of their behind closed doors energy policy, that has generated the largest profits in history, while millions are losing their jobs.

No, his successor is either getting what he wanted them to get, a possible victory in an economic war that took the wind out of China's sails (sales), a military prepositioned to defend M.E. oil, unprecedented presidential power, the largest transfer of wealth in history, and an unemployment rate that could hit 8%, or this guy is the biggest fuk up in over 230 years.

[#40 posted by 13strong , December 18, 2008 5:41 AM]

Three things.

1) Good Christ, every time I hear the man speak, I am once again astounded at how incredibly inarticulate and simple he is (or seems). It's absolutely astounding.

2) I don't see the contradiction in what he's saying. It fails to recognise that the economic system he's been (mis)managing for the past 8 years is inherently flawed, corrupt and unjust, but I wasn't expecting him to admit that.

3) It DOES remind me of Chris Morris' comedy gangster rapper character FUR-Q, who gave us this pearl:

"You've got to kill people, to have respect for people. You've got to kill SOME people, anyway. You can't kill everybody, because you wouldn't have anybody left to respect if you did..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_aU3TeDMnE

[#41 posted by RyanMcFitz , December 18, 2008 8:31 AM]

It strikes me that he doesn't sound more simpel or ridiculous now than he did four or eight years ago.

And this is after years of practice!

I'm not in a finger-pointing mood, but as a Canadian, I can't help but wonder in amazement at how on earth you guys elected that man...

[#42 posted by zuzu , December 18, 2008 8:37 AM]

@RyanMcFitz

Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. ...voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

-- Hermann Göring

[#43 posted by RP , December 18, 2008 9:52 AM]

I'm still waiting for:

"I've abandoned the rule of law to save the rule of law."

It's coming.

[#44 posted by Keeper of the Lantern , December 18, 2008 10:55 AM]

#24: Well, I think you are trying to compare something like WWII (ie, where the US stepped in to help fight the Nazis) with my comment, which was focused on Iraq (we "stepped in" to a country that hadn't attacked us, didn't plan to, and where there was no real evidence they were ever going to). That was the kind of irony I was going for.

In the case of the "free market" it is particularly ironic, given the Repugnicant mantra of letting the markets punish the losers.

As for Bush himself, does he not embody everything the Repugs ever wanted? He's Jesus to Reagan's John the Baptist.

[#45 posted by ConsiderThis , December 18, 2008 11:54 AM]

Ummm, ...yeah ...Hard to defend (or make sense of) that statement. President Bush really has gone the way of "big-government" and spend, spend, spend.

[#46 posted by dwes , December 18, 2008 2:21 PM]

Above, you'll find a list of people who don't know what self-contradictory means. Or don't know the difference between a principal and a system. Or both. What he's saying is that by giving government aid, he's violating the rules of a free-market economy, but he's doing that to prevent the economy from collapsing. It's not hard to figure that out, you just need to use a few more brain cells than it takes to mindlessly shout "Change!" every 2 seconds.

[#47 posted by Anonymous , December 19, 2008 9:52 AM]

Eh, as much as Bush is an idiot, he is effectively telling the truth for once here.
The free [to those who can afford it] market is a misnomer anyway, lets follow our Greek brothers and sisters and let them know this.

[#48 posted by RyanMcFitz , December 21, 2008 2:04 PM]

@Zuzu -- perfectly appropriate and timely quote. Thank you!