Decoding Bush

Following Robert Redford’s approach to understanding presidential parlance.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Nearly every statement that comes from this administration includes the phrase “The American people.” Every time I hear that phrase I just substitute “industrial interests.”
— Robert Redford in The New York Times Magazine, December 8, 2002.


The presidency does not belong to any one person…. It belongs to the American people.”
— George W. Bush, on inauguration day, January 21, 2001


My budget will fund our priorities, from education to defense to protecting Social Security and Medicare. It will pay down our national debt. And when we have done all that, we will still have some money left over. I strongly believe we should return that money, the leftover money, to you, the American people, in the form of tax relief.
— Bush promoting his trillion-dollar tax cut, February 18, 2001


This is a historic day… We have done right by the American people today.
— Bush, celebrating the passage of his tax cut, May 27, 2001


I oppose blanket amnesty. The American people need to know that. I do believe, though, that when we find willing employer and willing employee, we ought to match the two.
— Bush on illegal immigrants, July 27, 2001


It’s a combination of good conservation and an increase in supplies…. I think most of the American people understand that.
— Bush, on sound energy policy May 11, 2001


I ask Congress to work hard and put a stimulus plan into law to help the American people.
— Bush, on economic recovery, November 09, 2001


The final great priority of my budget is economic security for the American people.
— Bush’s State of the Union, January 30, 2002


As president of the United States, charged with safeguarding the welfare of the American people…I will not commit our nation to an unsound international treaty.
— Bush, dismissing the Kyoto protocol, February 15, 2002


Ronald Reagan believed in the strong character of the American people, even when some on both the left and right were quite skeptical of that character.
— Bush, praising the Gipper, May 17, 2002


The Senate now has one week left to make progress for the American people, and I urge them to seize the opportunity.
— Bush, urging the passage of fast-track trade authority, July 29, 2002


It goes to show that when we put our partisanship aside, when people stop all the yelling and hollering and finger-pointing and say, “How can we help the American people?” we can get a lot done in this town.
— Bush, thanking Congress for his new powers, August 3, 2002


It is landmark in its scope and it ends a session which has seen two years worth of legislative work which has been very productive for the American people.
— Bush, on the passage of the Homeland Security Act and the close of the 107th Congress, November 20, 2002

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate