Think Progress

Bush says he regrets saying “bring ‘em on”

as a taunt to Iraqi insurgents in July 2003. Since that time more than 2200 U.S. troops have died.



58 Responses to “Bush says he regrets saying “bring ‘em on””

  1. Colorado Jyms says:

    Yeah…and 68% of Americans regret that he was voted in as President!


  2. Zookeeper says:

    Yeah, we all have regrets, too numerous to list, but apparently this is all Incurious George could come up with.


  3. beavercleaver says:

    yeah, he meant to say that the twins…Jena, and not Jena…would be ready for bootcamp tomorrow.


  4. AvengingAngel says:

    No matter what George Bush said in his press conference today, he’s still stuck on step 8 – making amends – of his 12 step program.

    For the background, see:
    “Bush’s 12-Step Program.”


  5. trueblue says:

    He just regrets that the American Public REMEMBER that he said that!

    That’s all!


  6. avenging_angel says:

    Sorry, George. Your pitiful performance at the press conference was obviously scripted by Karl.

    I always knew you were a phony, but sheesh! This was especially bad.


  7. LeisureGuy says:

    It was an exceptionally stupid remark, and he probably has at last been able to recognize that. Wonder who helped him see that.


  8. Zookeeper says:

    Ok, Georgie, we arranged it with one of the reporters to ask you if you have any regrets, let’s think of something fairly trivial, but something that people will certainly remember you saying.

    “Bring ‘em on?”

    Ok, that’s a good one. Now, put on your sad, but not too sad face. Good, good… Now, tell ‘em how you regret saying that, but then say something about how it was misinterpreted. Excellent….

    *sigh*


  9. trueblue says:

    (As at Andover, Yale and the Texas Air National Guard, Bush appears to have gotten a pass on Step 4, “made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”)

    I’m sorry , AvengingAngel, But he has NOT taken ANY inventory of himself!
    That’s where I assume you admit (to yourself) all of of your strengths and weaknesses.
    You admit to yourself the person you are.

    Bush has not done these things – if he had he would have first realized he was too stupid to be President.

    He would also have to conclude he was not moral enough to leasd the country. (Hell, his wife ran down an ex boyfriend, he is an alcoholic and drug abuser!)
    That’s what being fearless is! Admitting your weaknesses, your downfalls, what you CAN NOT do!
    He CANNOT run his own life, let alone this country.
    He is a sad failure of a man.
    Waste of sperm.


  10. Matt Van Horn says:

    So he also admitted he really didn’t mean it when he said he wanted Osama, dead or alive?
    Well, it’s not like it hasn’t been obvious from his performance.


  11. DieNowForPeace says:

    Nothing pisses me off more than hearing about sacrifice and courage from this elitist fraud.

    What the hell does a service-dodging yellow-belly know about sacrifice and courage?

    LYING BASTARD COWARD.

    Bring on the thought police.


  12. Jackie Rawlings says:

    Tell that to the families of our dead soldiers and tell their children that his comment played a large part in their fathers and sons getting killed. Bush could care less about what he says or what he does. Just keep giving him his drinks and drugs that’s all he wants.


  13. Dan says:

    Style not Substance

    Words not Actions

    Bush remains the HISTORICAL COLOSSAL FAILURE for he lacks credibility, honesty, accountability, and respect.

    What flavor is the kool-aid today imbeciles ?


  14. Briseadh na Faire says:

    Remember, this has to be considered in light of the greatest moment of His presidency: catching a fish!


  15. Hardy Haberman says:

    Yeah well I bet he regrets the whole thing before it’s over, but not because he threw thousands of American’s into harm’s way, but because it will get him impeached or worse.

    Bush thinks only of himself and his corporate sponsors.


  16. Jay Randal says:

    Yes Bush wants everyone to believe he is sorry about saying that, but actually soldiers are just cannon fodder to him and nothing more! No skin off his nose that his words have killed and maimed thousands of people! Nobody in Bush’s family got sent off to die for OIL!


  17. Mash says:

    The news conference was the signal that America has been defeated in Iraq. It truly is a humiliating day for America.


  18. jurassicpork says:

    Bush and Blair both “admit to making ‘missteps’” in Iraq, according to the AP reporter. But nowhere does either guy personally take responsibility.

    Elsewhere it says that Bush “regrets his cowboy rhetoric” after 9/11, such as “Bring ‘em on” and wanting Osama “dead or alive.” Yet Bush went on to say that his remarks were “misinterpreted.”

    You know, I’m in the middle of writing a review for Simon & Schuster’s Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush and this is a prime example of what Eric Boehlert’s trying to point out.

    These asshole “journalists” are constantly trying to make these other assholes sound more contrite than they really are yet at no time does either Bush or Blair, now or ever, take responsibility for any lies, deliberate skeeving of good intelligence or stupid, inflammatory rhetoric.

    When is this slothful MSM going to wake up and realize that the so-called “free world” is being run by out-of-touch, psychotic lunatics


  19. katy says:

    that was really hard to get through…glad i didn’t watch it…
    this line struck me:
    “The Iranians walked away from the table. They’re the ones who made the decision, and the choice is theirs.”
    i’ve been hearing and reading about overtures that iran has made for years to work with this administration, always rebuffed… here is another story at commondreams.org that says:
    “Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and to cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel’s 1967 borders…”
    just another example… bushco doesn’t want diplomacy…
    it doesn’t fit the neocon plan…
    “axis of evil” was a provocation… iran’s reaction was logical…
    this madness has to stop…


  20. kevon says:

    wow! after 3 years of war and over 2400 dead and god know’s how many wounded u.s. servicemen and woman, he finally realized all the tough talk was only adding gas to the fire, wow! what a smart forward thinking human.


  21. AvengingAngel says:

    Perhaps Bush might regret this:

    Not long after his mother Barbara Bush put it so eloquently on ABC’s Good Morning America, “why should we hear about body bags…why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that,” President Bush taunted Iraqi insurgents to “bring it on.” Two weeks later, Mary Kewatt told Minnesota Public Radio, “well, they brought it on, and now my nephew is dead.”


  22. For Truth says:

    Nice one Anvilhead, turning it up a knotch are ya.


  23. Arne Langsetmo says:

    Read most of it. Vomit inducing, really. I did take some of the idiocy near the top and give it my analysis, but there’s really far too much idiocy all around there to due it full justice. But hope you appreciate my small “offering” on thise lines.

    Cheers,


  24. Frank Agnello says:

    All these savage corporatists envision is another new century of economic exploitation. All their words are a waste of oxygen.

    BLAIR: It means a good outcome to the world trade round, which is vital for the whole of the civilized world; vital for developing countries, but also vital for countries such as ourselves. For progress in the Middle East. And for ensuring that the global values that people are actually struggling for today in Iraq are global values we take everywhere and fight for everywhere that we can in our world today.


  25. bushsucks says:

    TOO LATE DUMBA@@


  26. Bruce Gorton says:

    Bush really should regret it.

    I’m away for a week at any rate, so cheers all, here’s hoping that once I get back things are better.


  27. The Xsociate says:

    I wonder if this this among those “regrets” that Bush has.


  28. Jay Randal says:

    Bush regrets nothing about Iraq and plans to attack Iran before November! PM Tony Blair is not visiting just to kiss Bush, but to coordinate their scheme for Iran!


  29. E-coli says:

    # 28 Bruce G.

    We will all miss you about as much as we’ll miss the skidmarks in our underwear.


  30. Bluestocking says:

    Whaaaaaat? Can it be true? Can I actually believe what I’m reading? No, surely not — I must be imagining it. Can it be that the President is actually acknowledging a (*gasp*)…MISTAKE????

    Why did nobody bother to tell me that Hell’s frozen over…?


  31. Don't Be Fooled says:

    The Shrub thinks if he just “admits” (code word for fool people who are suckers and believe him) that he can get his poll numbers back up. He knows that nobody gives a shit what he says anymore, it could be because if he had a brain in that useless head of his and didn’t repeat the same freaking thing every single time he speaks, people wouldn’t tune out his worthless ass. Nobody has given more “speeches” in history than this guy hoping, praying (since he was sent by God, but God has tuned him out too, he’s busy) that someone will listen to him…..nobody is buying your crap anymore Smirk, and it’s about time! Even the reporters who critiqued these mistakes said it was all rehearsed, even looking at the ceiling….all staged. He even looked at the reporters in the front row and laughed after he said it. This fraud is not a genuine person, he knows he can fool people still but not as easily as he used to. If he really wanted to admit mistakes, he would admit the REAL mistakes: No WMD’s, didn’t even know there were 3 types of Iraqi factions, the insurgency, winning the peace, having enough troops, etc. etc. He’s too scared to every do it…Just another day in Shrub’s useless life…another press conference and hope people listen to me………Nobody care’s anymore Georgie…….HAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!!!


  32. Ho Chi Minh says:

    Dickhead, Marines are killing innocent civilians in Iraq, just like at My Lai.


  33. GrinNBairIt says:

    Actually, bush failed to express “regret” for anything – just said he understands how some of his rhetoric may have been “misunderstood” in some corners of the world. This arrogant power-grabbing moron isn’t intelligent enough to admit or acknowledge an actual mistake.


  34. jurassicpork says:

    Actually, he never regretted it. He said his statements were “misinterpreted” around the world. He took responsibility for nothing.

    Btw, Paul Krugman talks about Al Gore’s new movie An Inconvenient Truth in A Test of Our Character. Enjoy.


  35. Tobey Tall says:

    the only thing i regret about Bush Is – I was not able to spit in the bastards face and waterboard him to death -


  36. ann says:

    It was as staged as his accepting responsibility after Katrina. He didn’t fool anyone except his core of true believers. Bush doesn’t believe he makes mistakes.


  37. Subway Serenade says:

    Gonzales v. Fitzgerald

    Gonzales is a lightweight. Fitz would wax the bench with him in short order. This one could be the straw that forces the hand of the Unitary Executive. He thinks that in time of a made up war he has unlimitable authority to do as he pleases.

    Bush has no problem taking the country down with him. He feels it’s his God given destiny.

    BushCo exhibits the classic symptoms of an abusive spouse, except there is no one above him to stop him and his victim has nowhere to hide or take shelter.

    Just as Sy Hirsch said that we already have troops on the ground in Iran, we are already under martial law. It’s just that no one has challenged it enough to make it obvious.

    There will be no election this year to speak of. Is a Velvet Revolution possible in a nukular kleptocracy?

    Goper’s Lament (Hard To Be A Republican


  38. paul says:

    US elections coming on. Gotta sound good for the folks who are running. Gotta keep control of Congress. “I gotchya, Karl.”


  39. thinkaboutit says:

    Definition of Misstep:
    1 : a mistake in judgment or action : BLUNDER


  40. DonS says:

    In a ime of real journalism, Bush would be shredded for finding his manner of statement a big “mistake” while ignoring the numerous real decisons that have resulted in catastrophe.


  41. Alan says:

    The Left Coaster thinks it was a staged apology:

    http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/007780.php


  42. DonS says:

    “Staged”. Can there be any doubt? Its ludicrous, to me, that the media still takes Bush in the least bit seriously when, to any thinking person, he’s a shell.


  43. Rosencrantz says:

    I regret that Bush, his Admin, his cult-like followers, and the media still want to confuse the troops who fight and follow orders and whose job it is to risk thier lives with the beauricrats who issue those order, manipulate intelligence and abuse the trust the troops put in them.

    Everytime Bush says that questioning the mission is turning our backs on the troops I wish a former vet would spit in his face. Turning your back on the troops is notm realizing they are people doing a job that is necessary to protect America. When you put their lives at risk, by a group of power hungry nationalists who have never served a day in their lives, to do a mission that has no end and no real purpose…that is an insult to anyone who is serving or has ever served in the past. The military is not to be used to boost egos or for insane power grabs.


  44. Rosencrantz says:

    Forgot something.

    I just wanted to add that I believe the only reason Bush regrets saying something like “dead or alive” is because it shows what a failure is. He couldn’t get Bin Laden either way and admitted he doesn’t care about Bin Laden. He doesn’t regret the tough talk, or however he put it. He regrets being caught in a lie. He never cared about Bin Laden and now we know that and can throw his words back in his face.

    What he regrets is not being more tactful, or should I say vague. That way it is more difficult for the media to bust him on his hypocrisy. There is a clear record of what he said and it is clear what he meant. Now compare that to all the confusion over Iraq and Al-Qaeda links, WMDs vs WMD programs and other Orwellian tactics the admin uses.


  45. Erroll says:

    Simply uttering this incredibly insensitive and idiotic statement- “Bring ‘em on”- should be grounds for impeachment. It should be obvious that Bush was daring the enemy to attack the American military, the resistance fighters did just that, and as a result, almost 2500 Americans have been kiled and thousands more returning to this country with third degree burns all over their bodies, fractured skulls, paralysis, and leaving a limb or two back in Iraq. If any of the guests of Chris Matthews had an ounce of brains, they would point this out on his show, but they will not, in fear that they will not be invited back to ask the alleged hardball questions on Matthews’ show. If Bush’s and Cheney’s daughters and/or Rumsfeld’s and Rove’s sons were somehow fighting in Iraq, it is quite doubtful if Bush would have had the temerity to issue that potentially impeachable statement.


  46. Erroll says:

    Correction to post #47- “2500 Americans have been killed…”


  47. Marie says:

    Is anyone covering Bush’s obvious Lie when he claimed that the Iranians had made a choice, as he continued his bellicose and belligerent language? Iran has made more than one gesture to the US, but Bush spoke only of the lengthy “statement” letter; he never spoke of the second letter which contained Iranian wishes for diplomacy and talks.
    Regardless of his phony, pre-scripted regret for previous “unsophisticated” language, most of what he said was rehash and regurgitation of the attitude and posture he adopted toward Iraq before he invaded.
    Bush does not want diplomatic solutions — he wants to be the decider of what will be the date that we start the already planned bombing of Iran.


  48. Jeffrey Stewart says:

    The two of them are Tweedle Dumb Dumb and Tweedle Dee.


  49. DieNowForPeace says:

    I love how Dumb-ya just can’t seen to understand why them Iraqi’s won’t settle down and accept our ‘gift’ of Democracy. MAYBE THEY DON’T WANT ONE.

    I seem to remember a little country that fought for it’s freedom about 230 years ago that didn’t require any foreign country shoving Democracy down it’s throat. Hmm, maybe true Democracies start from WITHIN a country?

    I honestly wish George would move to Iraq, if it’s such a great place. I bet ANVILTURD would go too!


  50. avenging_angel says:

    #50

    I call ‘em Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.


  51. Tobey Tall says:

    Bush said “bring em on” and so the insurgents keep coming – Congratulations to the insurgents just keep going and finish the rest of the marines and 95% of the world will be happy and well done insurgents keep taking bushes advice


  52. SKdeA says:

    Also, he said he regretted Abu Garaib. Which seems a weird thing to admit, considering how hard they are fighting the UN judgement on Guantanamo. Opens him up to a lot of inconvenient questioning.


  53. Mary says:

    What was worse were the talking heads going on and on on MSNBC where I tuned in for Olberman after doing a lot of yard work,blathering about his “private” visits to military family members and his crocadile tears.This is standard bush,thinking of himself first and how he has been responsible for so much death and destruction never.Blair’s response was intelligible but it seems some one there translated it into English,boils down to “Boy,were we stupid”.They didn’t say anything about how they never should have been there to begin with.


  54. NutWrench says:

    I regret that we have a president who uses the slang of a fifteen-year-old to describe his foreign policy.


  55. Zookeeper says:

    I regret my many regrets.


  56. Cyra Brown says:

    And how, exactly does one ‘misinterpret’ “Bring it on.”, and “Wanted, Dead or Alive”? Please enlighten me. Cause it sure seems clear to me! Was that the best lie you could come up with? Loser. And no regret, whatsoever, for anything you have done. I will enjoy the misery that I know you will feel , when your term is up. You will have a very hard time, once you realize that you are no longer ‘The Man’, and all of those people who suck up to you now, will waste no time on you, when you can no longer be of use to them. And I wouldn’t count on getting any offers for speaking engagements, who would pay to see that? The only accomplishments you can claim are death and destruction, not very inspiring, except to the ‘Evildoers’ of the world. Somehow, you always seem to know how to make things worse, while telling us it’s all good, no need to be concerned, you have a ‘plan’. But you don’t get that you are too stupid to do the job you have. It will never work. It can’t.


  57. Ho Chi Minh says:

    #45, I’m a vet(Vietnam), and I would abe more than glad to spit in W.’s face, and call him a war criminal and murderer in as a public manner as possible.


  58. Sharon Cox says:

    Good Posts all, let us not forget the incite to riot words that helped further devide our country by bull shit bush.” your either with us or aginst us” the drunken druggies claim to fame while dropping troops on the ground and getting us into another pre emptive war…….Blessings



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