Gaffe? Gaffe? What Gaffe?

"Freedom is going to have a powerful influence to make sure your kids can grow up in a peaceful world."

I'm having trouble figuring out why anybody thinks George W. Bush goofed yesterday (brackets and quoted ellipses in original):

.... Lauer: “You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war on terror in the next four years?”

President Bush: “I have never said we can win it in four years.”

Lauer: “So I’m just saying can we win it? Do you see that?”

President Bush: “I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world — let's put it that way. I have a two pronged strategy. On the one hand is to find them before they hurt us, and that's necessary. I’m telling you it's necessary. The country must never yield, must never show weakness [and] must continue to lead. To find al-Qaida affiliates who are hiding around the world and … harm us and bring ‘em to justice — we're doing a good job of it. I mean we are dismantling the al-Qaida as we knew it. The long-term strategy is to spread freedom and liberty, and that's really kind of an interesting debate. You know there's some who say well, ‘You know certain people can't self govern and accept, you know, a former democracy.’ I just strongly disagree with that. I believe that democracy can take hold in parts of the world that are now non-democratic and I think it's necessary in order to defeat the ideologies of hate. History has shown that it can work, that spreading liberty does work. After all, Japan is our close ally and my dad fought against the Japanese. Prime Minister Koizumi, is one of the closest collaborators I have in working to make the world a more peaceful place.”

Lauer: “Your daughters are how old now?”

President Bush: “Twenty-two.”

Lauer: “Twenty-two years old. They’re approaching the age, President Bush, [when] they're going to have their own children. And when their kids are teenagers are they going to those kids – your grandchildren – be reading about al-Qaida in the newspaper every day?”

President Bush: “I know if steadfast, strong and resolute — and I say those words very seriously — it's less likely that your kids are going to live under the threat of al-Qaida for a long period of time. I can't tell you. I don't have any … definite end. But I tell you this, when we succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's the beginning of the end for these extremists. Because freedom is going to have a powerful influence to make sure your kids can grow up in a peaceful world. If we believe, for example, that you can't win, and the alternative is to retreat … I think that would be a disaster for your children. I'll tell you why. If al-Qaida and their ideologues were able to secure a nuclear arsenal, then your children would grow up under the threat of nuclear blackmail. I think you would look back and say, ‘Why did George Bush not hold the line?’ We cannot show weakness in this world today, because the enemy will exploit that weakness. It will embolden them and make the world a more dangerous place.” ....

I think about it this way: Will the war against Communism ever end? Probably not. There may always be countries here and there ruled by Communist despots (whom the Democratic leadership in this country will love and support). There will probably always be flaming-hypocrite Marxoids on college teaching staffs and Hollywood movie sets. But there will never again be a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics sponsoring subversive infiltration and agitprop and military aid to further Communistic expansion around the world. Defeating the USSR was a gigantic & necessary first step in ridding the world of Communism — a goal which might never be reached, but which can be approached closer & closer.

Similarly, there will always be terrorists in the world, even specifically Islamofascist terrorists plotting to strike at our country. Ridding the world of states that sponsor and aid and encourage and protect them is a gigantic & necessary first step in ridding the world of aggressive, imperialistic Islamofascism — a goal which might never be reached, but which can be approached closer & closer.

Instead of debating whether we can win, or quibbling about what winning might mean, perhaps it is more important to remember that we could lose.

(Thanks, Michelle.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 09/01/04 07:17:11 AM
Categorized as George W. Bush & Political.