The best Bush quote came from when he was at that summit talking to Tony Blair and the microphones picked up their conversation. I didn't make this up :
The camera is focused elsewhere and it is not clear whom Bush is talking to, but possibly Chinese President Hu Jintao, a guest at the summit. Bush: "Gotta go home. Got something to do tonight. Go to the airport, get on the airplane and go home. How about you? Where are you going? Home?
Bush: "This is your neighborhood. It doesn't take you long to get home. How long does it take you to get home?"
Reply is inaudible.
Bush: "Eight hours? Me too. Russia's a big country and you're a big country."
At this point, the president seems to bring someone else into the conversation.
Bush: "It takes him eight hours to fly home."
He turns his attention to a server.
Bush: "No, Diet Coke, Diet Coke."
He turns back to whomever he was talking with.
Bush: "It takes him eight hours to fly home. Eight hours. Russia's big and so is China."
So there you have it. At a conference where world leaders are negotiating difficult geopolitical issues that require an intimate knowledge of each country's positions, strengths and weaknesses on each issue Bush is almost childlike in his knowledge and not shy about letting people know how clueless he is either. The leader of the free world, a man nearly sixty years of age who has to make life and death decisions every day and a bit of basic geography that any eight year old is aware of is a new and wonderful piece of knowledge for him.
Russia is big and so is China.
