Dan Bartlett Quotations

The plight of the Palestinians has always been on the president's mind and a part of his statements. But sometimes when we state our case not all of it gets out. So we reorder the priorities to make sure our entire policy and positions get out there.

We're not going to question a convert on the day of his conversion, but we're glad Al Gore now agrees with Governor Bush's proposal to hold schools accountable for results.

When it comes down to it, Hillary Clinton will very much excite the Republican faithful to get out and work hard. I don't know if a similar case can be made if Obama is the candidate.

We're making sure that they have all the information necessary while we also protect the separation of government. That's something that everybody recognizes and I think everybody at the end of the day can be satisfied.

Were going to let the career prosecutors do their job and I'll bet they get to the bottom of it.

What the public wants is back-to-basics governance and decision-making. This is not a situation in which it changes overnight or that there's a 'Hail Mary' pass that changes the dynamic. . . . There's not a magic bullet.

We want fresh thinking, to charge the batteries, and passionate participation. There is a lot of value added in Tony coming on board and helping us internally with his own views and ideas. It fits into the mold.

We want fresh thinking, to charge the batteries, and passionate participation.

There are multiple checks and balances to make sure what we're doing is targeting ... international phone calls of terrorists, not the conversations between two families coordinating a family vacation. We have very strict laws, very strict oversight. This is a targeted program, and I think most of the American people would be very angry if they thought we weren't doing just this.

We hope Al Gore uses this opportunity to explain why during his term, teen drug use in America nearly doubled, the number of drug treatment beds in federal prisons were cut by over one-third, the office of National Drug Control Policy was cut by 83 percent and federal gun prosecutions have decreased by 46 percent.

The process was done by the book. If you start deciding these issues in a guilt-by-association method, you will have a situation which has deep and harmful ramifications to the economic interests of this country.

Obviously there's an extreme deference to his own opinion. But I don't think you will find a situation where he is operating independent of administration policy or positions on anything.

Based upon where the state was in 1993, when the suit was filed, and where we are today, we've made dramatic progress and will improve upon that progress in the areas of outreach and enrollment efforts.

I had a unique circumstance in which my career was associated with George W. Bush, who went straight to the top. I went to work for him in October of 1993. So my whole identity in national politics is associated with this president, and you know, I kind of want to leave it that way. It's not tugging at me to go do the '08 cycle.

He doesn't have a personal relationship with him.

He'll talk at length about leadership in our country -- what it means, why it's important to our security, and why it is critically important to maintain our economic leadership in the world.

He's going to make sure that we work at every level of government across the country to ensure that we learned the lessons from this experience so we can do everything we can to help make sure it doesn't happen again.

He's given momentum to an important part of the president's agenda. We see steady momentum building in his favor.

President Bush will show that the math speaks for itself. The bottom line is that the Social Security system, in 13 years, will be taking in less money than it's paying out. We'll go into the red.

President Bush gets his briefings from commanders on the ground. He has reason for his optimism because of the enormous amount of progress we have made.

President Bush and Mrs. Bush are saddened by the news. It's a tremendous loss for our nation.

President Bush and Mrs. Bush are deeply saddened by the news. It's a tremendous loss for our nation.

The accusations of racism and things like that is something that touched a chord with him. It wasn't one of the finest moments for our government.

We do have the legal authority to do what we are doing. We have the necessity to do what we are doing.

We have some very complex issues to grapple with.

We're very pleased with the last couple of weeks.

The president encountered and witnessed traffic for the first time in three years on the way to the airport.

We are disappointed with the judge's ruling and believe it does not represent a fair or accurate portrayal of Texas' efforts to provide health care to children on Medicaid.

We want to know what happened and how.

The decision isn't one looking back at past performance or judgment. It was one looking forward. Josh is re-energizing and rebuilding his staff for the next thousand days.

When the president puts out a legislative and executive agenda, we'll make sure we reflect the fact that it's difficult for Congress to get anything done in an election year.

The fact of the matter is when our nation faces these type of emergencies, it unfortunately requires us to deficit spend. It's nothing that anybody in Washington, or anywhere for that matter, likes to do but it's necessary.

The worst thing that we could do is raises taxes. It would only hurt the economy.

Al Gore may think Medicare is at a crossroads, but his plan puts it on a highway to bankruptcy.

Without the media, the American people won't have the type of information they need to hold their leaders to account. The relationship between government and media has always been strained, and I think most of the time that's a healthy strain.

The president's priority is to find a diplomatic solution to a problem the entire world recognizes.

The president's big message today is that our economy is growing strong, which puts us in a position to address other issues that workers are concerned about: rising health care costs and energy issues.

We've had a good week. We feel like the president heads out of the country on a strong note.

What President Bush will outline is not only an agenda for America, but, obviously, an agenda for his own party to provide an optimistic forward-looking set of proposals.

You hit panic mode if you don't like the first draft at all.

Big companies have all the big tax advantages and breaks to provide health care. But if you are mom and pop, they don't enjoy those same types of advantages, and they should.

As the birthplace of Gen. George Armstrong Custer, we are curious if this will be Al Gore's last stand as well.

I've never heard the two even discussed together.

It would be our choice not to have to talk about this at all, but the fact of the matter is that it was leaked to the New York Times.

Oftentimes, people look at these challenges and only see those challenges. The president sees opportunities, and the history of our country shows that America always does best when we are shaping the events of the world, not being shaped by them.

A policy of retreat and withdrawal will only make America more vulnerable.

Al Gore is running more than $60 million in attack ads, making his campaign the most negative in history. When it comes to experience, America can't afford Al Gore's experience of raising taxes, increasing the size of government, opposing bipartisan Medicare and Social Security reform, and not making education a priority.

This change will free (Rove) up to focus on strategic planning during a crucial time in the presidency.

There will be a sustained hands-on presence from the president on down, across the board of his administration for the foreseeable future.

There were shortcomings. There were breakdowns in communication, things that we shouldn't be tolerating in our country in a post-9/11 world, and President Bush takes responsibility and accountability for that.

They haven't done that because they're not relevant.

The Mormon issue is a real problem in the South; it's a real problem in other parts of the country. But people are not going to say it. People are not going to step out and say, 'I have a problem with Romney because he's Mormon.' What they're going to say is he's a flip-flopper... It's a fact; it's reality.

It's a tough part of the world; it's hard to access; it's hard to penetrate. And when we do, it's important that we be able to strike on the offense, and that's something we'll continue to attempt to do.

It is the elephant in the room when it comes to the energy issue.

It's a program to make sure that we connect the dots. It's not some sort of roving domestic spying program. It's a carefully tailored program to survey the enemy.

It shows the range of his personality, the humor. In a couple different ways, we've expanded his exposure.

It's probably this way with a lot of professionals: At first the BlackBerry is a savior, because it makes you mobile, but then it becomes a curse, because you're at a restaurant and looking down at it under the table.

It is the president's decision to make and he will decide when it is appropriate to let the American people know he has made it.

It's a matter of national security. Not only do we have to contemplate other natural events that could be of a similar scale of Katrina, but we also have to think of other manmade events.

It's difficult for Congress to get anything done in an election year.

Small ball is not in this president's DNA.

The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana.

If there is information that people bring forward that is relevant to the investigation, the first people that are going to ask for that information is going to be the prosecutor. And they haven't done that because they are not relevant.

His goal is to organize things so as best to serve the president in the remaining 1, 000 days of his term.

I didn't even know who Karl Rove was when I went over there for the interview.

Governor Bush did not have any knowledge or participation in deciding to finance that movie.

Gore's attack on the Texas education system is a thinly veiled attempt to discredit the education reform and accountability measures that have taken place in states around the nation. While Gov. Bush is offering bold reforms for our public schools through accountability, high standards, and reading, Al Gore is making the case for the status quo.

You come to find out they have the same experiences and challenges you do: a family, balancing a campaign and kids. I wouldn't want to say it was a surprise, but it was good to see.