"I think the Congress should be blamed."
(Minutes later, to Warner Saunders of WMAQ-TV, Chicago.)

"If a frog had wings, he wouldn't hit his tail on the ground. 'If.' Too hypothetical."

"And let me say in conclusion, thanks for the kids. I learned an awful lot about bathtub toys - about how to work the telephone. One guy knows - several of them know their own phone numbers - preparation to go to the dentist. A lot of things I'd forgotten. So it's been a good day."

"I went over to the Strawberry Festival this morning, and ate a piece of shortcake over there - able to enjoy it right away, and once I completed it, it didn't have to be approved by Congress - I just went ahead and ate it - and that leads me into what I want to talk to you about today..."

"I've coined new words, like, misunderstanding and Hispanically."

"I suspect that had my dad not been president, he'd be asking the same questions: How'd your meeting go with so-and-so? … How did you feel when you stood up in front of the people for the State of the Union Address—state of the budget address, whatever you call it."

"I think there is some methodology in my travels."

"Of all states that understands local control of schools, Iowa is such a state."

"Those of us who spent time in the agricultural sector and in the heartland, we understand how unfair the death penalty is." (Bush was asked about the death penalty, but got confused with the subject of death duty.)

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."

"We're concerned about AIDS inside our White House—make no mistake about it."

"I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for my predecessors as well."

"Then I went for a run with the other dog and just walked. And I started thinking about a lot of things. I was able to—I can't remember what it was. Oh, the inaugural speech, started thinking through that."

"Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment."

"The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants."

"I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure."

"If he's—the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a—is a noble institution I would—I would strongly reject that assumption that John Ashcroft is a open-minded, inclusive person."

"I believe the results of focusing our attention and energy on teaching children to read and having an education system that's responsive to the child and to the parents, as opposed to mired in a system that refuses to change, will make America what we want it to be—a literate country and a hopefuller country."

"I would have to ask the questioner. I haven't had a chance to ask the questioners the question they've been questioning."

"Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods."

"Let me put it to you this way, I am not a revengeful person."

"I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them."

"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law."

"The great thing about America is everybody should vote."

"They misunderestimated me."

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

"It's your money. You paid for it."

"That's a chapter, the last chapter of the 20th, 20th, the 21st century that most of us would rather forget. The last chapter of the 20th century. This is the first chapter of the 21st century. "

"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important. It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."

"I want to have a ballistic defence system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace."

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

"Our priorities is our faith."

"I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children."

"[Gore's tax plan is] going to require numerous IRA agents."

"I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions. I can't answer your question."

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

"I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy."

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

"It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas."

"I don't think we need to be subliminable about the differences between our views on prescription drugs."

"We don't believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans."

"Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness."

"You might want to comment on that, Honorable." (To New Jersey's secretary of state, the Hon. DeForest Soaries Jr.)