Press Corp to Bush: “Will You Listen to the Voters or Listen to the Vice President?”

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Dick Gregory’s question was among the highlights of the press conference Bush just held, in which he said he’d accepted, at long last, Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation (Bill Kristol was right!) and went on to acknowledge that the “cumulative effect of the elections is a thumpin’.”

Other notable moments:

On Rumsfeld: “You can’t replace somebody until you know you have somebody to replace him.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo. Not the first time I’ve been in a campaign where people have expressed themselves.”

Bush asks Dick Gregory: “You think I’m nuts? You think my sensibility has left me as a result of the campaign?”

Bush slams some aide for making the call to Speaker Elect Nancy Pelosi too early.

Called current border policy: “catch and release”

Asked about extending basic voting privileges to the residents of Washington D.C. (i.e. Home Rule) as he would the people of Iraq, Bush dodged the question, claiming he was working “to get the Indian deal done, and the Vietnam done.”

Bush on Rove and their “reading contest” (?!?!): “I was obviously working harder on the campaign than he was.”

Finally: “Until yesterday, I thought we were going to win. Shows what I know.”

Somebody make a t-shirt.

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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