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Fictitious Bush Quote
vanity | 5/27/03 | lasereye

Posted on 05/27/2003 10:56:57 AM PDT by lasereye

These two quotes are being posted together all over the internet:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our Number one priority and we will not rest until we find him!"

-- George W. Bush, September 13, 2001

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and I really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."

-- George W. Bush, March 13, 2002

I did a search of the NY Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe archives and can't find the second one. It obviously reeks of a fabrication. Anybody know the origin? This is the first I've seen it, and obviously we would have heard of it by now if he'd said it in March 2002.


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bush43; liberallies
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I wonder if this is connected to the lie that Michael Moore intends to put in his new "documentary" that Bush doesn't want to find Bin Laden because of the (supposed) Bush - Bin Laden families' financial links?
1 posted on 05/27/2003 10:56:57 AM PDT by lasereye
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To: lasereye
Have you tried a LexusNexus search?
2 posted on 05/27/2003 11:00:17 AM PDT by netmilsmom (God Bless our President, those with him & our troops)
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To: lasereye
Actually it sounds like the dowd rejected putting words in the mouth of the shrub.
3 posted on 05/27/2003 11:03:52 AM PDT by dts32041 ("Liberty is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity" George W Bush 28 Jan 2003)
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To: lasereye
I doubt very much Bush would say "...and I really don't care."
4 posted on 05/27/2003 11:05:29 AM PDT by My2Cents ("Well...there you go again.")
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To: lasereye
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/03/13/bush.transcript/


QUESTION: Mr. President, in your speeches now, you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that?

Also, can you can tell the American people if you have any more information -- if you know if he is dead or alive. Deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really want to make...

BUSH: Well, deep in my heart, I know the man's on the run if he's alive at all. And I -- you know, who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not? We hadn't heard from him in a long time.

And the idea of focusing on one person is really -- indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission. Terror's bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who has now been marginalized. His network is -- his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match.

He is -- you know, as I mention in my speeches -- I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death. And he, himself, tries to hide, if, in fact, he's hiding at all.

So I don't know where he is. Nor -- you know, I just don't spend that much time on him really, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well supplied, that the strategy is clear, that the coalition is strong, that when we find enemy bunched up, like we did in Shah-e-Kot mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shah-e-Kot. And I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shah-e-kot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly; we're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped, we have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.
5 posted on 05/27/2003 11:09:39 AM PDT by GoLightly
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To: lasereye
I found it!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.

And we've got more work to do. See, that's the thing the American people have got to understand, that we've only been at this six months. This is going to be a long struggle. I keep saying that; I don't know whether you all believe me or not. But time will show you that it's going to take a long time to achieve this objective. And I can assure you, I am not going to blink. And I'm not going to get tired. Because I know what is at stake. And history has called us to action, and I am going to seize this moment for the good of the world, for peace in the world and for freedom.

Mike Allen. I'm working my way back, slowly but surely. Michael.

6 posted on 05/27/2003 11:10:32 AM PDT by dufekin (Peace HAS COME AT LONG LAST to the tortured people of Iraq!)
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To: lasereye
from whitehouse.gov, Bush press conference 3-13-2003

Q Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --

THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.

Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.

So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became -- we shoved him out more and more on the margins. He has no place to train his al Qaeda killers anymore. And if we -- excuse me for a minute -- and if we find a training camp, we'll take care of it. Either we will or our friends will. That's one of the things -- part of the new phase that's becoming apparent to the American people is that we're working closely with other governments to deny sanctuary, or training, or a place to hide, or a place to raise money.

And we've got more work to do. See, that's the thing the American people have got to understand, that we've only been at this six months. This is going to be a long struggle. I keep saying that; I don't know whether you all believe me or not. But time will show you that it's going to take a long time to achieve this objective. And I can assure you, I am not going to blink. And I'm not going to get tired. Because I know what is at stake. And history has called us to action, and I am going to seize this moment for the good of the world, for peace in the world and for freedom.
7 posted on 05/27/2003 11:12:26 AM PDT by gary2003
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To: GoLightly
Obviously the quote is fabricated then. But I gotta be honest, Bush did give a definite impression right after 9/11 that Bin Laden would be hunted down and caught ASAP. Since that has yet to happen, he is now downplaying Osama's importance. And if we can't find Saddam either, well, that's just going to look even worse.
8 posted on 05/27/2003 11:12:41 AM PDT by over3Owithabrain
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To: dufekin
I read and did a word search. The quote is not in there.
9 posted on 05/27/2003 11:13:10 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!)
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To: gary2003
quote is not in there either via reading and word search.

Quit posting these when there is no such quote in there.
10 posted on 05/27/2003 11:14:33 AM PDT by rwfromkansas (Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!)
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To: over3Owithabrain
Bush should pull out two glass slides, one marked Osama the other Saddam and throw them into the press gallery. Here they are boys! Have at 'em!
11 posted on 05/27/2003 11:15:04 AM PDT by Registered (Being a liberal Democrat is so...so... passe)
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To: dufekin
I don't see "I really don't care" in there, nor "It's not our priority".
12 posted on 05/27/2003 11:15:10 AM PDT by lasereye
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To: over3Owithabrain
I got to add too, after reading the second actual quote posted, how the hell is Bin Laden "marginalized"? He killed thousands of Americans, but it's ok if we don't find him, so long as we got the Taliban? I for one will not rest until that bastard is found and either already dead or then killed.
13 posted on 05/27/2003 11:15:55 AM PDT by over3Owithabrain
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To: dufekin
"It's not that important" isn't in there either.
14 posted on 05/27/2003 11:18:08 AM PDT by lasereye
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To: over3Owithabrain
he is now downplaying Osama's importance.

How do reach that conclusion?

15 posted on 05/27/2003 11:19:11 AM PDT by lasereye
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To: lasereye
Ask Jayson Blair or Maureen Dowd.
16 posted on 05/27/2003 11:21:25 AM PDT by mass55th
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: over3Owithabrain
H'e marginalized because he's got to hide, a number of his top men have been captured or killed, and a good number of his operatives have been captured or killed. Any move that he makes is incredibly risky for him because there's a price on his head and he never knows what our intelligence will pick up or who to trust.
18 posted on 05/27/2003 11:22:03 AM PDT by alnick ("Never have so many been so wrong about so much." - Rummy)
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To: over3Owithabrain
Clearly, as the war on terror has developed, apprehending Osama has been less of a priority. Why? Because 1) he's slippery and we may never catch him, and 2) he might be dead, buried in rubble of some cave in Tora Bora. Bush isn's saying he "doesn't care" whether we catch Bin Laden, only that it may not matter if we are successful in taking out his organization, which we are doing.
19 posted on 05/27/2003 11:22:28 AM PDT by My2Cents ("Well...there you go again.")
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To: over3Owithabrain
Sounds like you believe in impressions....Why not just the facts President Bush has produced for the American people.
20 posted on 05/27/2003 11:26:21 AM PDT by Wolverine
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