Quotes from Bush

The summer I was a White House intern we met for the ritual of having our picture taken with the president.  Before the picture was taken, Bush and Cheney spent about an hour answering questions and discussing topics of our choice.  Out of that conversation came a wide array of quotes, which we as interns wrote down and saved.  The White House discovered we had saved them, and likewise demanded they not be shared outside our group of interns.  I stumbled on these quotes as I was sorting through my office today, and since the Bush administration has now passed, I thought it appropriate to share them with others.  As a side note, I'm posting this merely as an item of interest, not as an endorsement of Bush nor an attempt to disparage him.

Bush: I've been talking to Frist...Reid...Specter...and that other senator....
Cheney: That would be my good friend Pat Leahy.
Bush: ....the Vice President will not be at that meeting

[girl faints from standing too long]
[Bush runs over to help her up]
Bush: That's happened to me before...I was eating a pretzel...made international news.

Intern: Who is the most interesting person you've met while president?
Bush: Most interesting guy I've met...that would be Koizumi.  When I met him, he stuck out his hand and said, "You, Cooper."  I reminded him of Gary Cooper from his favorite movie High Noon.

Bush: Stopping drinking was a life altering experience.  Of course, starting drinking was a life altering experience as well.

Bush: I was active in my fraternity.  I don't remember a lot of social projects from those days.

On the 2008 election:
Bush: Cheney deciding not to run has made things easier for me.  If he were running, he would have to start saying things like, 'well I don't really agree on stem cells...
Cheney: And we wouldn't be able to get pictures together.
Bush: That's right.  At some point there has to be distance.  My old man did it just right and stuck with President Reagan until the very end, until he got the nomination.  Al Gore distanced himself from Clinton way too early and it cost him big time.  It was really politically stupid.

Bush: The Vice President ran my running-mate search committee.  Piece of advice: when someone asks you to run a search committee...do it...unless you don't want to be Vice President.

Bush: I encourage all of you to engage in public service - the Vice President and I have chosen one way - I highly recommend it...

Bush:  I met Cheney in 1989 at Camp David when he was Secretary of Defense for my old man.  I was playing wally ball and it was right after he captured Noriega.

On the most dramatic moment while president:
Bush: I was speaking in Bucharest in the same square Ceausescu delivered his last speech.  During Ceausescu's speech, and old woman yelled "Liar!" from the audience, which led the crowd to riot.  They eventually murdered the tyrant and his wife.  I spoke immediately following a rainstorm, and a rainbow appeared, ending right behind the balcony.  I thought to myself, "freedom's pretty cool, and this is what it's all about."

Bush: I don't watch the news, only read the headlines.  I watch SportsCenter at night.