Posted on 07/06/2006 8:33:28 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Bush: I'd rather be right than popular
President, wife sit down for wide-ranging birthday interview
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush isn't troubled by some of the weakest approval ratings of his presidency, he said Thursday in a wide-ranging birthday interview with CNN's "Larry King Live."
"When history looks back, I'd rather be judged as solving problems and being correct, rather than being popular," Bush said.
"The president that chases the opinion poll is the president that will have failed policy," Bush said in an exclusive joint interview along with his wife, Laura, at the White House.
Some members of Congress are nervous about the effect Bush's political problems might have on their own fortunes in this fall's midterm elections.
But Bush predicted that Republicans would keep their majorities in the House and Senate, "Because we're right on winning this war on terror, and we've got a good economic record," he said. "People are working under the leadership of the Bush administration and the Congress."
When it comes to the most controversial single decision of his presidency -- invading Iraq -- the president told King he would make the same choice again, even knowing that Saddam Hussein's regime did not have weapons of mass destruction.
"We removed a tyrant," Bush said. "He was an enemy of the United States who harbored terrorists and who had the capacity, at the very minimum, to make weapons of mass destruction. And he was a true threat."
The president also said he believes recent missile tests by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il could present an opening to rally international pressure on the Pyongyang regime.
"I think he wants us to either fear him or pay attention to him. And I view it as an opportunity ...
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Well, whatever my issues with President Bush, that is something I really like about him. He sticks with his principles and doesn't go with the polls.
Is this the speach you mean
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/republican/transcripts/rice.html
Gotta love the guy, but we must also know that this is the talk of a 2nd term president. No way he could have said that going into re-election.
It has been proven to be false. PERIOD. Quotes have been provided from as far back as six years ago of President Bush saying he doesn't make decisions based on polls. It's very odd that you keep insisting your statement above is true, in the face of direct evidence that it is not true.
That's the exact speech I mean. Thanks!
I thought she might have slipped back into McLennan County. I'd rather her go shack up with Hugo and neve set foot in Texas again as I don't know how we'll ever get rid of the stench....
And in 1986 the Republicans lost the Senate after that vote. That won't be the same situation again.
my only complaint about Mr. Bush is on the illegal immigration issue. SEND THEM HOME, NOW...
"When it comes to illegal immigration and ruining the country I'd rather not listen to or do the will of the people who elected me".
Of course he's never endorsed amnesty - it's hugely unpopular. Instead, he has spent the last six years floating "regularization," a "guest-worker program," and other euphemisms to fool gullible people just like you.
Why, after six years and 12 million illegal aliens, is Bush only "leaning" towards a security-first approach?
Show me a post of mine wherein I support his immigration policy.
Every president except for our Dubya, have lost congessional seats in the mid terms. Dubya has proven the exception and it's doubtful it's about immigration.
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