We Did Get Fooled Again

From Slate's hilarious page of Bushisms:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again."—Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

The Bushisms seem to be of four basic types:

1. Problems with basic grammar, especially subject-verb agreement. My favorite: "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"—Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

2. Freudian slips. "If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign."—Hilton Head, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000

3. Blithering idiocies. "For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."—Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 2002

4. The terrifying revelation of his inmost attitudes. "When I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly who they were," he said. "It was us vs. them, and it was clear who them was. Today, we are not so sure who the they are, but we know they're there."—Iowa Western Community College, Jan 21, 2000

I'm posting this in honor of our Congress's giving its gracious permission to Bush to invade Iraq if he feels like it. Naturally, being the cynical old liberal I am, I suspect that we're watching the tail wag the dog again. My position was perfectly summed up by this New Yorker cartoon from a few months ago.

Getting to know Dubya, though, has solved one enduring political mystery for me. With a son like him, no wonder Bush Senior thought Dan Quayle would make a perfect political heir apparent.