And I quote

Dear famous political figures,

We try to be a forgiving public, occasionally. But sometimes, your words stick and you can't unstick them. There are varied reasons for the various things you say... and that really doesn't matter. Once you say something stupid and it sticks, it's hard to take seriously anything you later say or previously said, no matter how eloquent, relevant or inspired. Sorry.

Yours,
Doug McF.

"I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

"They misunderestimated me."

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing."

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

"(insert almost anything Al Sharpton says)"

"I remember landing under sniper fire."

"The only way to reduce the number of nuclear weapons is to use them."

"Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

"(Insert any rambling Sarah Palin quote)"

Some are stupid, some are unbelievable, some are sad, all are true. There's some wiggle room on a few of these... but what you mean is not all that relevant, what you say is. We private citizens enjoy the luxury of no one recording our every word and the benefit that our every word doesn't carry much weight. Good thing, because I say some stupid things (and write some stupid things). Maybe you do too? It makes me wonder if the only original thoughts public figures have are the stupid ones we ridicule. Is the bulk of their good material fed by teleprompter and penned by a team of thirty-two year old wonks? Why can't we get the wonks in office? We want wonks! It's possible to misspeak, but I think (more often than not) the slip-ups and oopses are the genuine, the unfiltered, the core... whether it makes sense, whether it's a lie, whether it's crude, whether you like it or not.

From a James McMurtry song... "I didn't mean to say it. But I meant what I said." I don't think Bush meant to say "They misunderestimated me." But I'm sure, if it is cosmically-fundamentally-grammatically-syntaxidly-approximately-existentially possible... he meant what he said.