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The Second Hundred Days
by Paul Slansky
Issue of 2001-08-20 and 27
Posted 2001-08-13

1. True or false: When George W. Bush was asked what Independence Day meant to him, he replied, "Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the President during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I—it's—I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values. . . . But the true greatness of America are the people."

 

2. Who defended the Bush Administration's advocacy of nuclear power by saying, "If you set aside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the safety record of nuclear is really very good"?

(a) E.P.A. Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.

(b) Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

(c) Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

(d) Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

 

3. Who is Mia Lawrence?

(a) The Vermont social-studies teacher who was honored as National Teacher of the Year at a White House ceremony, which Senator James Jeffords was pointedly not invited to.

(b) One of the Yale faculty members who protested the university's decision to present George W. Bush with an honorary doctor-of-laws degree.

(c) The Austin bar manager who told the police that Jenna Bush was trying to buy a margarita with a fake I.D.

(d) One of three mooning protesters in Sweden upon whose exposed bottoms was spelled out "We Hate Bush."

 

4. Which headline did not appear in an American newspaper?

(a) "BUSH IS CHOOSING INDUSTRY INSIDERS TO FILL SEVERAL ENVIRONMENTAL POSTS"

(b) "WHITE HOUSE WANTS TO BURY PACT BANNING TESTS OF NUCLEAR ARMS"

(c) "BUSH TO DELAY PLAN FOR CLEAN WATERWAYS"

(d) "U.S. WARNS IT MAY SKIP CONFERENCE ON RACISM"

(e) "U.S. REJECTSBIOLOGICAL ARMS BAN PROTOCOL"

(f) "TREASURY IS PLANNING TO BORROW TO COVER COST OF TAX REBATES"

(g) "178 NATIONS REACH A CLIMATE ACCORD; U.S. ONLY LOOKS ON"

(h) "PUSHING HIS MISSILE PLAN IN SPAIN, BUSH CALLS ARMS TREATY A 'RELIC' "

(i) "ASHCROFT SET TO LIMIT U.S. HOLDING OF GUN DATA"

(j) "BUSH'S APPROVAL RATING SLIPS TO 50%, a 5-YEAR PRESIDENTIAL LOW"

(k) "BUSH ACKNOWLEDGES HE HAS TO WORK HARDER, KNOW MORE"

 

5. What nickname did George W. Bush come up with for the Dalai Lama?

(a) Exile Man.

(b) Dolly Parton.

(c) Tony Lama.

(d) No nickname leaked out.

 

6. What did George W. Bush say when a Philadelphia writer shook his hand at a Fourth of July block party and said, "Mr. President, I hope you only serve four years. I'm very disappointed in your work so far"?

(a) "I sincerely hope to change your mind about that."

(b) "Let me disappoint you a little more. I'm going to steal the next election, too."

(c) "What a set of cojones on you!"

(d) "Who cares what you think?"

 

Match the observation about George W. Bush with the observer.

7. "He's a terrible ignoramus."

8. "He has selected nominees from the Taliban wing of American politics."

9. "He doesn't know how much he doesn't know and is in no rush to find out."

10. "I have been disappointed in almost everything he has done."

11. "It seemed to me that his mental reasoning is very deep, very profound."

12. "He is determined to squander the unique opportunity the Presidency provides—the opportunity to call us to a cause greater than a three-hundred-dollar rebate."

 

(a) N.A.A.C.P. chairman Julian Bond.

(b) Times columnist Frank Rich.

(c) Los Angeles Times columnist Arianna Huffington.

(d) Actor Robert Redford.

(e) Former President Jimmy Carter.

(f) Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

13. Which of the following observations was not made by George W. Bush?

(a) "It's negative to think about blowing each other up. That's not a positive thought. That's a Cold War thought. That's a thought when people were enemies with each other."

(b) "An equal society begins with an equally excellent schools."

(c) "Fathers have a unique and irreplaceable role in the lives of children."

(d) "Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease."

(e) "The amazing thing about this job, though, is the job seems to follow you around."

(f) "Karl Rove has all the ethical finesse—not to mention the belly and jowls—of Ed Meese."

 

14. True or false: When a child in London asked him what the White House was like, George W. Bush responded with an impromptu ten-minute description of some of the historical rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

(1) True, (2) b, (3) c, (4) k, (5) d, (6) d, (7) d, (8) a, (9) b, (10) e, (11) f, (12) c, (13) f, (14) False; he replied, "It is white."