Another doozy quote from W

[Emillereid]

Dimwit Dubya Tells Africa That Slaves 'Left Here to Go To America'

In a later speech in Senegal, Bush tried to repeat the words on "slavery" and "freedom," but without a script he mangled them completely. "The slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America. America is what it is today because of what went on in the past. Yet when I looked out over the sea, it reminded me that we've always got to keep history in mind. And one of the things that we've always got to know about America is that we love freedom, that we love people to be free, that freedom is God's gift to each and every individual. That's what we believe in our country." Say what??? "History" is clear - until the Emancipation Proclamation, America loved slavery more than freedom. And African slaves didn't "leave" to "go to America" - they were shackled in chains and hauled to America on slave ships. Dan Quayle must have had W in mind when he said: "what a waste it is to lose one's mind."

www.democrats.com

[PunkinPi]

1. Do you have a link for this? eom

[Hobarticus]

2. This sounds too ridiculous to be true...

...but it wouldn't surprise me.

[Emboldened Chimp]

3. No, he said it

I've seen the video, and it's been discussed on the board already. I know, it's hard to believe, but you must come to grips with reality: the man truly is this stupid.

[MindPilot]

4. IIRC, Mike Malloy played the audio on his show yesterday. /nt

nt

[DagmarK]

5. The link, believe it or not, is right on the Whitehouse.gov website!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/print/20030708-3.html

Remarks by the President to Embassy Personnel
July 8, 2003
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO EMBASSY PERSONNEL
Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport
Dakar, Senegal

THE PRESIDENT: I thank you all very much for coming out to say hello. Laura and I are honored to be here with you all. I'm also, as you could see, traveling with quite distinguished company -- our great Secretary of State Colin Powell is with us, as well. (Applause.) I want to thank Ambassador Roth and his wife, Carol, for their service to our country.

I'm here to thank our fellow citizens who are serving a great land. Thank you for your dedication and your love of country. I want to thank the foreign nationals who are helping our fellow citizens make sure the embassy runs so well. (Applause.)

This is an historic trip -- oh, there's the Ambassador. (Applause.) But we are so honored to start our trip to this continent here in Senegal. I had the opportunity to go out to Goree Island and talk about what slavery meant to America. It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change America. America is what it is today because of what went on in the past. Yet when I looked out over the sea, it reminded me that we've always got to keep history in mind. And one of the things that we've always got to know about America is that we love freedom, that we love people to be free, that freedom is God's gift to each and every individual. That's what we believe in our country.
I'm here to spread that message of freedom and peace. Where we see suffering, America will act. Where we find the hungry, we will act. We're here not only on a mission of mercy, we're also here on a mission of alliance. And I want to thank you all for helping make that come true.

May God bless you all. And may God continue to bless Senegal and America. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
END

**MY letter to my reps:

I cannot believe what I just read on the official White House website. Our “president” seems to be under the impression that in the beginning of our nation’s history that Africans left Africa of their own volition in search of FREEDOM in America. Is this ignorance in the 1000th degree? Or is it a wild attempt to revise history? Or what? This man…..and I will not call him “president” ever again – should be removed from office based on absolute incompetence. Is it that he is so removed from the reality of “real life” due to his own priviliged upbringing that he doesn’t have a CLUE about anything at all? Or is it a conscious decision to further soil the sins of our country as to the sins we committed as to slavery? He has degrees from Yale and Harvard? Seriously? Wooo, glad I didn’t go to those crappy schools! God, he is such an embarrassment …….. I expect a retraction of these statements. But I wonder, is this G. Tenet’s fault? Or will we just have to blame Abraham Lincoln for making such an incredibly major snafu by calling for war against the South in the name of ending slavery? It never dawned on me that we could have avoided the Civil War if it weren’t for some very bad information claiming that slavery was a problem. Who would have thought that the ‘migrant’ slaves were so darned happy in their new-found freedom and quest for the good life in the USA. Amazing! And soooooo scary at the same time. He’s the leader of the free world. Oh my f’ing GOD…….we are all doomed!
Reference to speech in Senegal:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/print/20030708-3.html

“I had the opportunity to go out to Goree Island and talk about what slavery meant to America. It's very interesting when you think about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom,…. helped change America.”

Note to GW: Helped change America? Guess what GW? We aren’t PROUD of our participation in slavery. They didn’t come here on their own. I recall shackles and brutal ocean voyages. We used to be concerned with the ills in our society that directly result from slavery. Is this man in the White House really suggesting otherwise? Good God, have mercy on our once great nation.

[MindPilot]

7. it's on dubyaspeak.com

http://www.dubyaspeak.com/freshdubya.shtml

[sable302]

6. sorry folks

he really did say it. It's been posted here several times already.

[phoebe]

8. The Bush family. through the generations, owned 10-13 slaves,

so calling him "insensitive" doesn't quite cover it.. (sarcasm)

[MrPrax]

9. Add That to the Buckets of Bloody Gold Teeth

from Auschwitz and 'insensitive' is an understatement.

Is it true, when Bush was on the Campaign Trail, he visited the Simon Weisenthal Center in LA and signed the guestbook, 'God Bless This Planet'

Beyond Belief