I’d rather be judged as solving problems and being correct, rather than being popular

Bush and the LauraBot were interviewed on his birthday by Larry King, and gosh would you believe that not much of substance got said in an entire hour. Larry must have been hard pressed to restrain himself from singing Happy Birthday, and probably then only because CNN would have had to pay the song’s copyright holders.

But there was time for:

George’s in-depth psychoanalysis of the goals of Kim Jong Il (or as Bush called him, “the person in North Korea”): “You know, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I think he wants us to either fear him or pay attention to him.”

George’s profound understanding of the ramifications of history: “And the reason why I was now able to work with Koizumi to keep the peace and to go to Graceland to honor Elvis, was because Japan adopted a different style of government.”

George’s deep sense of his place in history: “When history looks back, I’d rather be judged as solving problems and being correct, rather than being popular.” Yeah, good luck with that.

George’s erudite and compassionate... oh fuck it, roll the tape: “I mean, when you find -- if in fact the charges are true that somebody was raped and murdered, then there ought be concern by the Iraqis. What they’ve got to be comforted in knowing is that we will deal with this in a way that is going to be transparent, above board and open.”