Eric Bakovic has just added a particularly cute example to the inventory of Bushisms. But before aligning the syntax and politics of President Bush's remarks on poverty, AIDS and the environment, we need to ask another question: what did he actually say? As Linda Seebach explained, commenting on posts discussing the liberties that reporters take with quotations from interviews,
...most reporters don't have transcripts; we have notebooks.
Eric Bakovic started from a story by Alan Cowell in the New York Times, July 8, 2005, according to which
In Gleneagles, Mr. Bush drew the comparison between the aims of the summit and the bombers.
"On the one hand, you have people working to alleviate poverty and rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS and ways to have a clean environment and, on the other hand, you have people working to kill people," he said.
"The contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill, those who've got such evil in their hearts that they will take the lives of innocent folks." Mr. Bush said. [emphasis added]
Eric's point had to do with the apparent incongruity of the three phrases in the italicized conjunction. But if we poke around on Google News, we can find many other different versions of the president's remarks, offering several different solutions to the conjunction problem. According to a story by Caroline Daniel in the Financial Times, 14:10 GMT July 7, Bush
said he had been in contact with "our folks to get in touch with local and state officials about the facts of what took place in London and the need to be extra vigilant as our folks start heading to work. The contrast between what we see on the television screens and what is taking place here is incredibly vivid to me...we are working on solving the pandemic of Aids and ways to have a clean environment and you have people killing innocent people. The difference between intentions and hearts between those who care about human liberty and those who kill could not be clearer." [emphasis added]
According to a story by Don Melvin carried by the Cox News Service, July 8, 2005:
Shortly after noon, Bush stood grim-faced amid a phalanx of national leaders who silently expressed solidarity with Britain as Blair read a joint statement on behalf of them all, vowing that the terrorists would never win.
Afterward, Bush spoke to reporters again – this time in a much more somber vein.
"The contrast between what we've seen on the TV screens here, what's taken place in London and what's taking place here, is incredibly vivid to me," he said. "On the one hand, we have people here who are working to alleviate poverty, to help rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS, working on ways to have a clean environment. And on the other hand, you've got people killing innocent people. And the contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill — those who have got such evil in their heart that they will take the lives of innocent folks." [emphasis added]
According to the version carried by Ireland On-Line, datelined 7/7/2005- 14:07:25
He said: “The contrast between what we see on the TV screens and what’s taking place here is incredibly vivid to me.
“On the one hand, you’ve got people here who are working to alleviate poverty, help rid the world of the pandemic of Aids, and are working on ways to have a clean environment, and on the other hand you’ve got people killing.
“The contrast couldn’t be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberties and those who kill, who have such evil in their hearts, they will take the lives of innocent folks.” [emphasis added]
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation offers this "TV program transcript", based on a broadcast 8/7/2005:
GEORGE W.BUSH, US PRESIDENT: I have an opportunity to express our heart-felt condolences to the people of London. People who lost lives, I appreciate PM Blair's steadfast determination, his strength. He's on his way now to London from the G8 to speak directly to the people of London to carry a message of solidarity with him.
This morning I've been in contact with our homeland security folks and I instructed them to be in touch with local and state officials about the facts of what took place here and in London and to be extra vigilant as our folks start heading to work. The contrast between what we've seen on the TV screens here, what's taken place in London and what's taken place here is incredibly vivid to me.
On the one hand you've got people here who are working to alleviate poverty, to help rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS, working on ways to have a clean environment and on the other hand you've got people killing innocent people. The contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty and those who kill, those who've got such evil in their heart that they will take the lives of innocent folks.
The war on terror goes on. I was most impressed by the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve and that is we will not yield to these people. We will not yield to the terrorists. We will find them, we will bring them to justice and at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate. Thank you very much.
[emphasis added]
There is yet another version on the White House web site:
PRESIDENT BUSH: I spent some time recently with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and had an opportunity to express our heartfelt condolences to the people of London, people who lost lives. I appreciate Prime Minister Blair's steadfast determination and his strength. He's on his way now to London here from the G8 to speak directly to the people of London. He'll carry a message of solidarity with him.
This morning I have been in contact with our Homeland Security folks. I instructed them to be in touch with local and state officials about the facts of what took place here and in London, and to be extra vigilant, as our folks start heading to work.
The contrast between what we've seen on the TV screens here, what's taken place in London and what's taking place here is incredibly vivid to me. On the one hand, we have people here who are working to alleviate poverty, to help rid the world of the pandemic of AIDS, working on ways to have a clean environment. And on the other hand, you've got people killing innocent people. And the contrast couldn't be clearer between the intentions and the hearts of those of us who care deeply about human rights and human liberty, and those who kill -- those who have got such evil in their heart that they will take the lives of innocent folks.
The war on terror goes on. I was most impressed by the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve. And that is we will not yield to these people, will not yield to the terrorists. We will find them, we will bring them to justice, and at the same time, we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate.
Thank you very much.
After these six versions, no two of them the same, I've lost patience with the process, but I haven't run out of alternative versions available from journalists on the web. I imagine that further research could turn up several dozen other variants.
Based on previous experience, my guess is that the ABC transcript is the most accurate of those I've cited, though it also might be tidied up a bit. If I can find the audio clip on the web somewhere, I'll make a correct transcript for comparison. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested in a small wager on the outcome, I'll be happy to put a few dollars behind the view that the NYT got it wrong. And not because Alan Cowell is any worse than the rest of the press corps -- when it comes to quotes, none of them tell the truth.
Posted by Mark Liberman at July 9, 2005 09:09 AM