June 03, 2007

Omit needless needless


George H.W. Bush, quoted in the NYT (story by Stephen Engelberg, 5/5/89):

NORTH GUILTY ON 3 OF 12 COUNTS;
VOWS TO FIGHT TILL 'VINDICATED';
BUSH DENIES A CONTRA AID DEAL
  'No Quid Pro Quo,' President Insists

... The President, clearly hoping to put the Iran-contra issue to rest, derided what he termed "needless, mindless, needless speculation about my word of honor."

Tom Ace, who saved this gem all these years, puts it under the rubric "omit needless needless".


I'll have more to say in a little while on omitting needless stuff, but I thought this one (with Bush protesting rather a lot) stands nicely on its own.

[Note: the first version of this posting attributed the quote to Ronald Reagan, but it seems to have been his successor George H.W. Bush.]

zwicky at-sign csli period stanford period edu

Posted by Arnold Zwicky at June 3, 2007 02:26 PM