Think Progress

Bush Gives Out Wrong Phone Number For Homeowner Help Hotline

Yesterday, President Bush visited Novadebt, a credit counseling service in New Jersey, to promote his Hope Now Alliance, which is intended to help homeowners facing foreclosure. But while there, Bush gave out the wrong toll-free number (despite a large sign with the correct number hanging behind him).

Danny Cerchiaro, a homeowner attending Bush’s speech, “whispered” the correct number “in Bush’s ear” after the speech. Bush then quickly returned to the lectern and recited the correct number:

There are hundreds of thousands of homeowners like Theresa and Danny who can benefit from calling HOPE NOW. And so one of my purposes is to make it clear there is a place where you can get counseling. And I want my fellow citizens, if you’re worried about your home, to call this number: 188-995-HOPE [sic]. Let me repeat that again: 188-995-HOPE. [...]

Thank you all very much.

Danny just told me I’ve got to get the number right — 1-888-995-HOPE.

fnc032808161019.jpg

This isn’t the first time Bush has given out the wrong Hope Now number. In December 2007, Bush told the American public that the number was 1-800-995-HOPE, instead of 1-888-995-HOPE, leading people to call a Christian education academy near Dallas.

Digg It!



63 Responses to “Bush Gives Out Wrong Phone Number For Homeowner Help Hotline”

  1. tom says:

    And this bozo poses as “the leader of the free world”!
    Tell me once again — how many more days do we have to tolerate this incompetent before we can send him packing to his fake ranch in Crawford?
    What a total and absolute embarrassment he is.


  2. mary says:

    Bumper sticker seen on car:

    Somewhere in Texas a Village is Missing its Idiot


  3. Bobwurst says:

    And when it’s true, what will you say, whinermd?


  4. Bobwurst says:

    mary Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
    Bumper sticker seen on car:
    Somewhere in Texas a Village is Missing its Idiot

    the same can be said of wintermd…


  5. Marie says:

    He just keeps proving that we were all right form the start — small comfort that that is.


  6. WaltTheMan says:

    He’s always getting things wrong, i.e.; Iraq’s WMDs and links to Al Qaeda, etc. This is merely the first time he retracted one of his ‘errors’.


  7. Tired of being lied to says:

    And a guy who can’t read a 10-digit telephone number is supposed to have the answers to a sucking economy?

    No wonder the economy is circling the bowl – any number over 9-digits apparently stumps the decider!


  8. Bobwurst says:

    Well, it’s not like he has had to dial a phone number in the last 20 years or anything. He has secretaries, and laura to do that for him. He’s probably confused because there aint a rotary dial on the phone on his desk.


  9. bogtrotters says:

    Please, Lord: All it would take is one lighting bolt…


  10. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre says:

    Close but no cigar, Mister Bush. Another “defining moment” for the Traitor-in-Chief…


  11. And Yet... says:

    “If I gave a shit about any of you I might try to get that number right, but since I never did…WHO CARES? As Dick told me I should say to y’all, “SO???”

    ‘Specially now that I’m on the way out the WH door.”

    -GWB


  12. iamwil says:

  13. bogtrotters says:

    1-900-995-HOPE is a phone sex number featuring Barbara Bush. Just a warning.


  14. impeachcheneythenbush says:

    Good grief! There are many more important stories out there this morning rather than this piece of “fluff.” Is it too much to ask for substance?

    A small sample:

    “A plan that would give the Federal Reserve broad authority to oversee financial market stability could expose Wall Street to new scrutiny, but it avoids a call for tighter regulation”

    “Iraqi forces, which have no air support of their own, have so far failed to subdue Shiite militias in Basra and have asked the Americans and British for help.”

    “A gap between Western and Chinese leaders on perceptions of the Dalai Lama is breeding pessimism that China will take a new approach to Tibet.”

    “The price of rice, a staple in the diets of nearly half the world’s population, has almost doubled on international markets.”

    CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Hours before his court-martial was set to begin, all charges were dismissed Friday against one of two remaining enlisted marines involved in a combat action that killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005, the Marine Corps announced.

    http://www.nytimes.com/

    “The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, yesterday became the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing.

    As pressure built for concerted western protests to China over the crackdown in Tibet, EU leaders prepared to discuss the crisis for the first time today, amid a rift over whether to boycott the Olympics.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/29/germany.olympicgames2008


  15. sacopenapa says:

    If it wasn’t sad that people actually died, in the US, Afegahnistan and in Iraq because of his lies, it would be quite funny to have an idiot pretending to be a president!
    Worse: An idiot pretending to be a democratic elected president!
    But the reallity is even worse: It is an idiot, but he is also a war criminal pretending to be a democratic elected president who can’t even name the leaders of other nations…


  16. sacopenapa says:

    About Tibet… I find it very beatiful that people are worring about other peoples freedom, etc. But there is a much worse case of repression and occupation caused by the USA/UK. It is called DIEGO GARCIA

    Watch ’stealing a nation’ on YOUTUBE. It is a doc. by John Pilger. DIEGO GARCIA, where the people were transported out of their land so the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, the ‘democracy and freedom promoters of the world’, could build a permanent military base!
    STALING A NATION, a film by John Pilger.


  17. alphainfinityomega says:

    What a dope !!
    At yesterday’s press conference Busch confused brigade with battalion.
    Someone corrected him; I think it was through some device in his ear. I wonder if anyone else noticed that.

    _AIO_


  18. sacopenapa says:

    STEALING A NATION! DIEGO GARCIA!


  19. Nevar says:

    Let me repeat that again: 188-995-HOPE. […]

    Thank you all very much.

    Danny just told me I’ve got to get the number right — 1-888-995-HOPE.

    He’s not running on all eight.


  20. sacopenapa says:

    They look good, the Tibetan monks… don’t they? But how about the people of DIEGO GARCIA? Even Nancy Pelosi joined the bandwagon of ‘free Tibet’… but no mention about the US and UK removing the people of DIEGO GARCIA from their land, so they could build a permanent military base.


  21. katy says:

    the doofus doofed again…

    i don’t know about you peoples, but THIS news has me unsettled:

    US to propose sweeping new powers for Fed: report

    WASHINGTON (AFP) — President George W. Bush’s administration will propose sweeping new oversight powers for the Federal Reserve in a bid to avoid calamities like the current subprime crisis, The New York Times reported Saturday.
    Citing a summary of the plan provided by the administration, the newspaper said the Fed will gain the power to investigate any activities of financial institutions that threaten US economic stability, gather information and combat risks to the financial system as a whole.
    The plan will be proposed on Monday, the paper said.
    The Securities and Exchange Commission would lose some of its authority and is likely to be combined with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that regulates trade in gas, oil and other goods, the report said.
    [...]
    http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8N2D1lK8UcNo1Uf3a5qPhadLtSQ


  22. Roket says:

    For those of us who know how to use the Google, we are aware that Area Code 188 does not exist in these United States. However, since #43 is always thinking and talking about food, he was obviously sending out a subliminal message for some take out:

    http://www.local188.com/


  23. stewarjt says:

    Some people say, “I don’t think he’s (Dinkledorf’s) stupid.”

    I say, “I do.”


  24. misshusseinmolly says:

    OK, OK — I know how everybody likes to bash Bush, but this isn’t even really worthy of making onto the Bushism list. He missed an 8 (OK, twice), and it was quickly corrected, so that people getting the number from Bush’s voice rather than the sign behind him eventually got the correct information.

    Bush’s mistake is one I could easily make on a bad day.

    I know people are having a lot of fun with this, but I’m willing to separate Bush’s human errors from his outright lies and poor judgments.


  25. Potfry says:

    Wow.

    I was wondering what the next Think Progress investigative piece might be after the McCain plagiarism post, and you have not disappointed!

    Think Progress exclusive: Bush leaves an 8 out of a phone number!!

    With scintillating work like this, that tattered reputation should be re-built in no time.


  26. Nevar says:

    I believe his underlying error is that he can’t discern truth from fiction, and therefore has no basis for judgment.


  27. Nevar says:

    With scintillating work like this, that tattered reputation should be re-built in no time.

    It’s only Saturday…


  28. JosephW says:

    Um, saco? Comparing the plight of some 2000 people who lived on an atoll with a land area of 12 sq miles with the plight of the Tibetan people (or even the Native American peoples in the whole of the Western Hemisphere, but with special notice of the millions who were forced at gunpoint by the US government in the 19th century to relocate to distant lands with which they had no historic connection) is a bit overdoing it.
    Hell, Diego Garcia doesn’t even compare to the situation of East Timor from 1975 to the early 1990s.
    Heck, while you’re at it, why don’t you start a “Free Hawaii” movement to restore the old monarchy which was overthrown by the US government in the 1890s? After all, the monarchy stood in the way of US interests–economic AND military.
    There are, quite literally, millions of people throughout history whose lives have been destroyed and suggesting the claims of a mere fraction (the population of the Diegans and their descendants numbers less than 5000) holds the same value as the lives of a hundred times that number (at a MINIMUM–estimates of Tibetans who’ve DIED since the 1950s due to resistance to the PRC range from 400,000 to 1.5 MILLION) is truly absurd.


  29. buzzbomb says:

    “Der, me da presinent.”

    What a f#cking tool! He can’t even read a phone number. Proud of your dumber than a bag of hammers president 28%ers?


  30. CitiDC says:

    Iraq, Iran…

    1 billion, 1 trillion…

    All the man wants to do is ride his mountain bike and out race everyone.

    Why do they keep making him give out phone #’s?


  31. buzzbomb says:

    JosephW- don’t you think it’s interesting that we overthrew the monarchy of Hawaii in the 1890’s but it didn’t become a state until 1959. Could it be we didn’t want to extend voting rights to the indigenous population that would have voted the white minority out of power. Just another example of American hypocrisy.


  32. Doc Rock says:

    All those youthful drugs and alcohol speeding up the onset of dementias?


  33. Ms_Joanne says:

    To the trolls out there, this isn’t just the usual Bush stupidity, it’s simply another way to obsfucate providing help to anyone.

    Trolls are as traitorous as botch himself. To all of you, go cheney yourself.


  34. freedom lover says:

    With scintillating work like this, that tattered reputation should be re-built in no time.”

    Yes, that reputation is so tattered that you had to come here to defend your moron-in-chief. TP’s reputation is in no danger as long as Idiot George is in front of a microphone.


  35. Jess Wonderin says:

    Actually he met to say:

    1-800-FUC-KYOU . . . .


  36. Nevar says:

    He’s quickly reverting to his original occupation, trying to sell stuff nobody wants.
    Look at him, tell me he isn’t a cross between a TV evangelist and a discount furniture salesman.


  37. bfoshee says:

    if you don’t like his minor mistake then move to another country where you will be tomented!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


  38. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    mary Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
    Bumper sticker seen on car:
    Somewhere in Texas a Village is Missing its Idiot

    I used to have that bumper sticker on my car. I promised myself that I would leave it on my car until Bush was gone.

    But after the third time I got pulled over by the Corvallis cops (twice I wasn’t even speeding, the third time I was going 6 miles over the limit) I took it off my car. Before moving to Corvallis, I hadn’t had a ticket in 22 years. Haven’t had a problem with the Corvallis police since.

    I love Corvallis, but I have to say I was warned about their corrupt police department and the warnings came true.


  39. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    bfoshee Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
    if you don’t like his minor mistake then move to another country where you will be tomented!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    We don’t have to move to another country to be tormented. We’ve been tormented by the Bush Crime Family for the last 7 years.

    Why don’t you move to a country where the citizens have no rights. You would feel right at home there, I’m sure.


  40. linda says:

    christ, there’s something very wrong about a president giving out that number. a cabinet member, a congressman — but the president?

    and people say clinton diminished the stature of the presidency. this idiot can’t even get true believers to staff the empty positions because they just don’t see the value of white house employment as beneficial to their c.v.s!


  41. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Hours before his court-martial was set to begin, all charges were dismissed Friday against one of two remaining enlisted marines involved in a combat action that killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005, the Marine Corps announced.

    So, basically that means they all got away with murder. Nice..

    I am so ashamed of what this country has become under the Bush Crime Family. Hopefully it’s not too late to get back on the road of what is just and what is right.


  42. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Okay, George, you can drop the “stupid act” now. Everyone’s convinced that you’re incompetent, so you can get away with all sorts of shenanigans that would otherwise draw suspicion.

    …what?…. you say, it hasn’t been an act?…

    oy vey.


  43. had enough says:

    Does Bush ever give out the correct phone number?
    Is this a joke, mean spirited or just stupidity?


  44. boreas says:

    bfoshee Says: if you don’t like his minor mistake then move to another country where you will be tomented!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Actually, there are viable alternatives to the good ol’ Us of A where one doesn’t risk of being “tomented”. As always, however, the right wing trolls miss the point and equate dissent with treason and with hatred of our country.

    Nothing could be more wrong. Those who speak up against the ills of our society and the transgressions of our government are doing so out of the highest sense of patriotism and love. We want to see America growing ever closer to the ideals which inspired its founding.

    Now contrast that with the “Ditto Head” culture which sits idly by while our country sinks into an arrogant and fatal descent into Orwellian decay. If you have your way you will lose the country you profess to love and never know how or why.

    War is Peace
    Freedom is Slavery
    Ignorance is Strength


  45. Freedom Rebel says:

    “If you are going to modify the loan and keep the borrower in the house, the bias is to do that for a shorter rather than longer period of time,” acknowledged Washington Mutual Inc. Vice Chairman William Longbrake. “There’s a reluctance to do long-term modifications.”
    Hope Now isn’t helping many people in the long-term, they are going to be desimated with extras fees on there way to foreclosure in the future. So this is another BAND AID!!!


  46. JBaddo says:

    My fellow Americans,

    You voted for a fool not once BUT twice.! How stupid are you for doing this? Do the wise thing and move to Europe….like I did.

    Up next in America….Hillary, Mc Cain, Obama…..OMG. The empire is doomed!!


  47. SP Biloxi says:

    Blame it on the liquor and the dutchie, folks.


  48. katy says:

    just thought of something…
    i’ve heard that these credit counseling services are basically owned by or
    part of the credit card companies…

    anyone know?


  49. katy says:

    these headlines/stories are funny… ha. ha.

    BY THE NUMBERS President Drops a Digit but Gets Help From a Homeowner
    Washington Post – 18 hours ago
    By Peter Baker FREEHOLD, NJ, March 28 — Here’s a tip: If you need a phone number, call information, not the president. President Bush visited a credit counseling service here Friday to promote his administration’s efforts to help homeowners crunched …
    Bush Touts Voluntary Program To Rewrite Problem Mortgages Wall Street Journal
    Thankfully, the White House mortgage is paid off Los Angeles Times


  50. familyman says:

    So Bush can’t read a teleprompter. So what’s new? Is this really worth your time to report? With all the really serious problems with this administration, getting on his case for a stumble like this which was corrected on the spot, makes ThinkProgress look petty.


  51. ralph the wonder llama says:

    familyman Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

    …getting on his case for a stumble like this which was corrected on the spot, makes ThinkProgress look petty.

    No, it makes it look like a Saturday.

    And besides, I’m kind of looking forward to having a president who doesn’t make stupid mistakes, large and small, all the fu(king time.


  52. SP Biloxi says:

    Would you buy an used car from that idiot?


  53. tomazulob says:

    I understand why he was confused with such a big number–the digits are in black. He’s more familiar with the red digits.


  54. Vincennes says:

    Hey Bush is consistent if nothing else.


  55. YouCantHandleDaTruth says:

    There is a God whomever you believe it to be, Georgia Bush is stupid…God HAS to be looking over this country and protecting it.


  56. sacopenapa says:

    JosephW, I was pointing out DIEGO GARCIA, which quoting the population’s number does not justify their removal, to shed light into USA hypocritical stand in the World. There you have Pelosi meeting with the Daila lamma not to free Tibet, but because the US is concerned with the growing economy of China. Chinese economy is growing, while the US’s is going down the drain… And yes, I do worry about Diego Garcia, what the US/UK did is criminal and because they are a small island, does not justify the crime.


  57. sacopenapa says:

    …shall we talk about the Palestinian genocide by Israel which had finger prints of american governments all over it?


  58. sacopenapa says:

    Perhaps you would like to talk about Latin America? Where the United Sates is responsible for TORTURE and KILLINGS perpetrated by their military puppet governments installed there by the US?


  59. sacopenapa says:

    More people died in Latin America because the US than in Tibet because of China… and just be be clear here, I’m not justifying Tibet’s ocupation either. I was pointing out the Hypocrisy of the USA.


  60. sacopenapa says:

    …and by the way, the USA is occupying Iraq and Afegahnistan the same way China is occupying Tibet. The only difference is China is competent.


  61. Mia Kulper says:

    I remember the days when Republican presidents could at least deliver their lines.


  62. batteries says:

    “Iraqi forces, which have no air support of their own, have so far failed to subdue Shiite militias in Basra and have asked the Americans and British for help.”

    “A gap between Western and Chinese leaders on perceptions of the Dalai Lama is breeding pessimism that China will take a new approach to Tibet.”

    “The price of rice, a staple in the diets of nearly half the world’s population, has almost doubled on international markets.”

    CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — Hours before his court-martial was set to begin, all charges were dismissed Friday against one of two remaining enlisted marines dell inspiron 5160 battery,dell batdw00l battery involved in a combat action that killed 24 Iraqis in Haditha in 2005, the Marine Corps announced.


  63. youtube says:

    “Iraqi forces, which have no air support of their own, have so far failed to subduesohbet
    Bedava mp3 indir
    cet
    Shiite militias in Basra and have asked the Americans and British for help.”



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