Ambrose's Antidote: BOUNDARY

BOUNDARY, n. In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other.

daily dose of w

It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature.

GWB
23 Feb 2000
From comments made in Los Angeles and reported by Slate magazine.

Once again, he's right!

Ambrose's Antidote: BOTTLE-NOSED

BOTTLE-NOSED, adj. Having a nose created in the image of its maker.

daily dose of w

If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow.

GWB
7 Jan 2000
Spoken in Rochester, New York during presidential campaign.

Ambrose's Antidote: BOTANY

BOTANY, n. The science of vegetables -- those that are not good to eat, as well as those that are. It deals largely with their flowers, which are commonly badly designed, inartistic in color, and ill-smelling.

daily dose of w

Q Mr. President, there has been a bit of an international outcry over reports of secret U.S. prisons in Europe for terrorism suspects. Will you let the Red Cross have access to them? And do you agree with Vice President Cheney that the CIA should be exempt from legislation to ban torture?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people. The executive branch has the obligation to protect the American people; the legislative branch has the obligation to protect the American people. And we are aggressively doing that. We are finding terrorists and bringing them to justice. We are gathering information about where the terrorists may be hiding. We are trying to disrupt their plots and plans. Anything we do to that effort, to that end, in this effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture.

George W Bush
7 November 2005
President Bush Meets with President Torrijos of Panama
Casa Amarilla
Panama City, Panama

Ambrose's Antidote: BORE

BORE, n. A person who talks when you wish him to listen.

daily dose of w

"... deteriate (deteriorate) ... hayenous (heinous) ... vented (vetted) ..."

GWB
14 May 2001
Mispronunciations committed during one informal press conference at the White House.

What? No Nukular?

Ambrose's Antidote: BONDSMAN

BONDSMAN, n. A fool who, having property of his own, undertakes to become responsible for that entrusted to another to a third.

Philippe of Orleans wishing to appoint one of his favorites, a dissolute nobleman, to a high office, asked him what security he would be able to give. "I need no bondsmen," he replied, "for I can give you my word of honor." "And pray what may be the value of that?" inquired the amused Regent. "Monsieur, it is worth its weight in gold."

daily dose of w

But as a result of evil, there's some amazing things that are taking place in America.

GWB
Daytona Beach, Florida.

Ambrose's Antidote: BODY-SNATCHER

BODY-SNATCHER, n. A robber of grave-worms. One who supplies the young physicians with that with which the old physicians have supplied the undertaker. The hyena.

  "One night," a doctor said, "last fall,
  I and my comrades, four in all,
      When visiting a graveyard stood
  Within the shadow of a wall.

  "While waiting for the moon to sink
  We saw a wild hyena slink
      About a new-made grave, and then
  Begin to excavate its brink!

  "Shocked by the horrid act, we made
  A sally from our ambuscade,
      And, falling on the unholy beast,
  Dispatched him with a pick and spade."

Bettel K. Jhones

daily dose of w

If affirmative action means what I just described, what I'm for, then I'm for it.

GWB
17 Oct 2000
St. Louis, Missouri presidential debate.

Ambrose's Antidote: BLANK-VERSE

BLANK-VERSE, n. Unrhymed iambic pentameters -- the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by those who cannot acceptably write any kind.

daily dose of w

First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country.

GWB
24 Apr 2001
Referring to the Kyoto Accord. From an interview published in the Washington Post.

Ambrose's Antidote: BLACKGUARD

BLACKGUARD, n. A man whose qualities, prepared for display like a box of berries in a market -- the fine ones on top -- have been opened on the wrong side. An inverted gentleman.

daily dose of w

The point is, this is a way to help inoculate me about what has come and is coming.

GWB
2 Sep 2000
Referring to his campaign's anti-Gore advertising. From an interview with the New York Times.

Ambrose's Antidote: BIRTH

BIRTH, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.

daily dose of w

I will have a foreign-handed foreign policy.

GWB
27 Sep 2000
Comment made in Redwood, California during presidential campaign.

Ambrose's Antidote: BILLINGSGATE

BILLINGSGATE, n. The invective of an opponent.

daily dose of w

I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations.

GWB
11 Oct 2000
Presidential Debate -- Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

I think this was before he knew that Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld (and Paul Wolfowitz and Elliot Abrams and Scooter Libby and Zalmay Khalilzad and.. ) had other ideas about nation building...

Ambrose's Antidote: BIGOT

BIGOT, n. One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.

daily dose of w

I always -- always -- sometimes say, government can hand out money -- and I'm going to talk about some of the money we're trying to hand out -- but government can't put hope in a person's heart, or a sense of purpose in a person's life.

GWB
3 Mar 2004
Los Angeles, California.

Ambrose's Antidote: BIGAMY

BIGAMY, n. A mistake in taste for which the wisdom of the future will adjudge a punishment called trigamy.

daily dose of w

I was having a little problem with my quote database this AM, and in the fixing discovered that W doesn't take his own advice! Compare 2000:

We don't believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans.

George W. Bush
6 Sep 2000
From a speech delivered in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

to 2006:

I hear the voices and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But, I'm the decider, and I decide what is best and what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense.

George W Bush
18 Apr 2006

Ambrose's Antidote: BERENICE'S HAIR

BERENICE'S HAIR, n. A constellation (_Coma Berenices_) named in honor of one who sacrificed her hair to save her husband.

  Her locks an ancient lady gave
  Her loving husband's life to save;
  And men -- they honored so the dame --
  Upon some stars bestowed her name.

  But to our modern married fair,
  Who'd give their lords to save their hair,
  No stellar recognition's given.
  There are not stars enough in heaven.

G.J.

daily dose of w

As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself not here at the hospital, but in combat with a cedar. I eventually won. The cedar gave me a little scratch.

GWB

1 Jan 2006
After visiting with wounded veterans from the Amputee Care Center of Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas.

How's it possible...

... that upon cleaning off my desk this AM I find 4 legal pads with exactly one sheet of paper left?

Ambrose's Antidote: BENEFACTOR

BENEFACTOR, n. One who makes heavy purchases of ingratitude, without, however, materially affecting the price, which is still within the means of all.

daily dose of w

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.

GWB
18 June 2002
Remarks by the President on homeownership at the Department of Housing and Urban Development Washington, D.C.

Ambrose's Antidote: BENEDICTINES

BENEDICTINES, n. An order of monks otherwise known as black friars.

  She thought it a crow, but it turn out to be
      A monk of St. Benedict croaking a text.
  "Here's one of an order of cooks," said she --
      "Black friars in this world, fried black in the next."

"The Devil on Earth" (London, 1712)

daily dose of w

Marching for war doesn't instill a lot of confidence in the future.

GWB
19 Feb 2004
Washington, D.C.

Ambrose's Antidote: BELLADONNA

BELLADONNA, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.

daily dose of w

Vice President mentioned Nigeria is a fledgling democracy. We have to work with Nigeria. That's an important continent.

GWB
11 Oct 2000
Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Ambrose's Antidote: BEHAVIOR

BEHAVIOR, n. Conduct, as determined, not by principle, but by breeding. The word seems to be somewhat loosely used in Dr. Jamrach Holobom's translation of the following lines from the _Dies Irae_:

      Recordare, Jesu pie,
      Quod sum causa tuae viae.
      Ne me perdas illa die.

  Pray remember, sacred Savior,
  Whose the thoughtless hand that gave your
  Death-blow.  Pardon such behavior.

daily dose of w

W Nedra, have you got a question?

Q Yes, sir. Can you respond to Iran's initial reaction to the incentives package today?

W Why don't you tell me what it was?

Q Well, the top negotiator said --

W You know I've been in Artesia?

GWB
6 Jun 06
Larado, Texas

Ambrose's Antidote: BEG

BEG, v. To ask for something with an earnestness proportioned to the belief that it will not be given.

  Who is that, father?
                        A mendicant, child,
  Haggard, morose, and unaffable -- wild!
  See how he glares through the bars of his cell!
  With Citizen Mendicant all is not well.

  Why did they put him there, father?

                                       Because
  Obeying his belly he struck at the laws.

  His belly?

              Oh, well, he was starving, my boy --
  A state in which, doubtless, there's little of joy.
  No bite had he eaten for days, and his cry
  Was "Bread!" ever "Bread!"

                              What's the matter with pie?

  With little to wear, he had nothing to sell;
  To beg was unlawful -- improper as well.

  Why didn't he work?

                       He would even have done that,
  But men said:  "Get out!" and the State remarked:  "Scat!"
  I mention these incidents merely to show
  That the vengeance he took was uncommonly low.
  Revenge, at the best, is the act of a Siou,
  But for trifles --

                      Pray what did bad Mendicant do?

  Stole two loaves of bread to replenish his lack
  And tuck out the belly that clung to his back.

  Is that _all_ father dear?

                              There's little to tell:
  They sent him to jail, and they'll send him to -- well,
  The company's better than here we can boast,
  And there's --

                  Bread for the needy, dear father?

                                                     Um -- toast.

Atka Mip

daily dose of w

I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.

GWB
29 Jan 2001
Washington, D.C.

Ambrose's Antidote: BEFRIEND

BEFRIEND, v.t. To make an ingrate.

daily dose of w

I don't care what the polls say. I don't. I'm doing what I think what's wrong.

GWB
15 March 2000
The presidential candidate referring to his proposed economic plan -- as reported in the New York Times.

Ambrose's Antidote: BEAUTY

BEAUTY, n. The power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband.

daily dose of w

I'm also honored to be here with the Speaker of the House -- just happens to be from the state of Illinois. I'd like to describe the speaker as a trustworthy man. He's the kind of fellow who says when he gives you his word he means it. Sometimes that doesn't happen all the time in the political process.

GWB
6 Mar 2001
Speaking in Chicago, Illinois.

Ambrose's Antidote: BEARD

BEARD, n. The hair that is commonly cut off by those who justly execrate the absurd Chinese custom of shaving the head.

daily dose of w

We're ending deadlock and drift and making our system on behalf of the American people.

GWB
3 Aug 2001
Addressing reporters at the White House.