Does America Have Problems? Bush Said No - What Do You Think?

You may want to read my post. I know you hate Bush and it's fun for you to believe he said "American doesn't have any problems", but the OP lied and misquoted him to make you think that. If you're gonna hate Bush, at least do it for the right reasons and not because of lies perpetrated by other Bush haters.

The quote is essentially correct. Bush doesn't think we have problems. I listened to him say so. I know some find it hard to believe that he said this and will try to skew the context. We even have problems he caused himself -- take New Orleans after Catrina. It's still not fixed. The trailers with toxic fumes that people have been living in -- still not fixed. All the wild deregulation that resulted in the current financial mess we're in. It's time for a change, just about any change.

Bush caused Hurricane Katrina? Man, I miss the days when we had presidents who could refrain from causing natural disasters.

I don't know if the quote is accurate or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bush had said this. Remember he is a politician, and politicians never apologise, never explain and never admit they were wrong. To admit there is a problem means that you have to do something about it and you can't have that! When politicans don't want to deal with a problem, they say there isn't one. Their favourite line is 'there is no evidence that...' thus absolving them from having to address the problem. Hence the climate change denyers say 'there is no evidence that...the evidence is not conclusive, etc...' QED

Ghost towns are part of a natural course of evolution. There may be towns that were once thriving off the business of making horseshoes and wagon wheels. Suddenly, we had these new fangled automobiles that used some odd rubber tires instead. Subsequently, the industry that supported such towns died and people moved on to other towns with better industries.

I wonder what's happening to the towns where cathode ray tubes were being produced? It's nearly impossible to find a CRT TV anymore and odds are many factories are closing in towns that were once booming with CRT factories. Bush isn't to blame for that, it's just evolution and technology.

Wow I didn't know that companies were still making televisions here in the United States. I'm impressed because I thought that industry moved to Mexico a long, long time ago, that is very interesting.

We have a LOT of problems. We have more than we did eight years ago.

And sorry for saying, you were a KID when Bush wrenched his way into office. Do you even remember how prosperous this country was in the 1990s? The way we could've gone?

Well said!

I watched the interview myself during last night's Olympics

If you want to read the transcript of the interview you can find it here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov...

Well done! I'm truly impressed that you've provided a complete and authoritative source on what was said. This shocked me especially because you misquoted the president. Either you didn't have this information prior to your discussion or you deliberately misquoted the president to make him look bad in this discussion by claiming "At one point he said that the United States "doesn't have any problems". His actual quote was "First of all, I don't see America having problems." and that was specifically in reference to Human Rights issues based on the comments referring to China's human rights records including the situation in Tibet.

Not only were his words different than what you claimed, you completely mislead the people here by intentionally providing no context that would have shown the discussion was about human rights issues in China. I'm sure the Bush-haters will love you for it, but it's both misleading and dishonest.

Now that I have it I'll provide what was really said. It's long and you may not want to read it, but the truth involves more than a deliberate misquote that led you to read this discussion.

"Q You met with President Hu Jintao not just at the Opening Ceremony, but privately since then. Did you press him on the full array of American concerns -- human rights, press freedom, Tibet, China's support of rogue regimes like Sudan and Myanmar?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes -- and North Korea, and Iran.

Q It was all on the table?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, absolutely, every time -- every time. And you got to understand something, Bob, I don't need the Olympics to advance America's agenda. I've met with Hu Jintao a lot since I have been the President. And, yes, I had a full range -- listen, we agree with them on a lot of things. And we disagree with them on things. And that's the way the relationship is going to be. It needs to be, as I mentioned, constructive and cooperative.

Q This past week you restated America's fundamental differences with China.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q But given China's growing strength and America's own problems, realistically how much leverage and influence does the U.S. have here?

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I don't see America having problems. I see America as a nation that is a world leader, that has got great values. And leverage is -- I don't think you should look at the relationship as one of leverage. I think you ought to look at the relationship of one of constructive engagement where you can find common areas, like North Korea and Iran, but also be in a position where they respect you enough to listen to your views on religious freedom and political liberty."

Perhaps we shall have to agree to disagree on the content of the comment. The question referenced China's "growing strength" and "America's" own problems. Bush then said he doesn't see America as having any problems. I think most of the population will disagree with his assessment of the situation.

I apologize for my imperfect quote in my original post. I do however, stand by my interpretation of the comments made by Bush. He makes it sound as though America is all goodness and light with no problems. In reality, America is not a perfect country and we have many problems of our own that need to be solved rather than focusing our time and energy on fixing what we consider everyone else's problems.

When the OP is intentionally misquoting Bush to evoke a response, it's best to take the entire thread with a grain of salt.

Well, when you've seen the actual video, it's not much of a misquote.

Taskr, I don't see it as the OP deliberately misquoting Bush to make him look bad. I know I'm one of those liberal Bush-bashers, but to say "I don't see America as having problems" in ANY context is a stretch. My main point is I don't agree with the "shoot the messenger" attitude that seems to be getting more and more prevalent here. There is always more than one way to take any quote. Do you happen to recall Bush saying several years ago that he didn't know of any mistakes he'd made while in office? People argued that that had been taken out of context also.
Annie