Another Bush Boner

What President Bush said in his interview with Matt Lauer this morning:

Lauer: “You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war on terror in the next four years?”

President Bush: “I have never said we can win it in four years.”

Lauer: “So I’m just saying can we win it? Do you see that?”

President Bush: “I don't think you can win it. [my emphasis] But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world – let's put it that way. I have a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand is to find them before they hurt us, and that's necessary. I’m telling you it's necessary. The country must never yield, must never show weakness [and] must continue to lead. To find al-Qaeda affiliates who are hiding around the world and … harm us and bring ‘em to justice - we're doing a good job of it. I mean we are dismantling the al-Qaedas we knew it. The long-term strategy is to spread freedom and liberty, and that's really kind of an interesting debate. You know there's some who say well, ‘You know certain people can't self govern and accept, you know, a former democracy.’ I just strongly disagree with that. I believe that democracy can take hold in parts of the world that are now non-democratic and I think it's necessary in order to defeat the ideologies of hate. History has shown that it can work, that spreading liberty does work. After all, Japan is our close ally and my dad fought against the Japanese. Prime Minister Koizumi, is one of the closest collaborators I have in working to make the world a more peaceful place.”

What the left will plaster all over the airwaves for the next two months:

Lauer: “You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war on terror in the next four years?”

President Bush: “I have never said we can win it in four years.”

Lauer: “So I’m just saying can we win it? Do you see that?”

President Bush: “I don't think you can win it.”

What GDub meant was that we can never completely eradicate terrorism per se. That would be akin to swatting every last mosquito. But we can so disrupt terrorist networks and their sources of financing and support – including access to WMD – that bin Laden’s twisted dream of "kill[ing] four million Americans — 2 million of them children — and…exil[ing] twice as many and wound[ing] and crippl[ing] hundreds of thousands" will never, ever be realized.

But it doesn’t matter what he meant. He gave the other side a godsend sound bite they can make hay with like Michael Moore with a trunk of McDonalds coupons.

It’s pretty sad when your best hope is that your candidate’s gaffe was a malapropism. If that sentence was suggested for use beforehand, the ass of whoever did so should be fired immediately.