I started gathering Bush's verbal slip-ups while covering his first presidential campaign. From the first one we published in Slate in October 1999--"The important question is, how many hands have I shaked?"--adding to the collection has been my main pleasure, perhaps my only pleasure, in watching the man.
Since then, I've collected--with help from Slate readers--more than 500 Bushisms. What follows is a list of my 25 favorites. There were many to choose from, but in my opinion, the greatest Bushism of all was delivered on Aug. 5, 2004, when the president declared: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
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