Bush's Meet The Press Interview

If you weren't able to watch President Bush's interview with Tim Russet on Meet The Press, you can read the transcript. It's lengthy though, so I condensed it for those of you short on time.

RUSSERT: Mr. President, welcome back to Meet the Press.
BUSH: Thank you. [very fast] 9-11.
RUSSERT: I'm sorry?
BUSH: Nothing.
RUSSERT: In light of not finding the weapons of mass destruction, do you believe the war in Iraq is a war of choice or a war of necessity?
BUSH: That's a very good question. The American people deserve to hear an answer to it. 9-11.
RUSSERT: 9-11?
BUSH: What about it?
RUSSERT: You just said 9-11.
BUSH: No I didn't.
RUSSERT: I'm sorry. I misheard.
[long pause]
RUSSERT: Do you have an answer to the question?
BUSH: Yes. It was a war of necessity. I made the decision to go to war based on the intelligence we had at the same. The same intelligence Congress had when they approved the war. Saddam was a madman. A murderer. A devil with three horns, one for extra devilry. For years he inflicted terrrrr on his people. He was also had stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons, and wanted to have nuclear weapons. Some parts of our intelligence may not not turn out to be not true. But what we knew from before the war is still true today: Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction programs and/or related activities.
RUSSERT: Let me turn to the economy. I have one of my charts. [shows graphic] The Bush-Cheney first three years: The unemployment rate has gone up 33 percent. There has been a loss of 2.2 million jobs. We've gone from a $281 billion surplus to a $521 billion deficit. The debt has gone from $5.7 trillion to -- or it's up 23 percent. Based on that record, why should the American people rehire you as CEO?
BUSH: Tim, there is a reason for each of those statistics. 9-11, 9-11, 9-11, and--what was the last one?
RUSSERT: $5.7 trillion debt.
BUSH: Definitely 9-11.
RUSSERT: How can you attribute the state of the economy and the budget deficit all to 9-11?
BUSH: It's pretty easy. Take a look at one of my charts. [shows graphic]. If you follow the red, pointy arrow, you can see that we had to fight the war in Iraq because of 9-11. The war in Iraq and 9-11 put a strain on our economy and raised the deficit. So I had to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes. That raised the deficit, putting a further strain on the economy. That's why we need to fight another country: to avoid another 9-11.
RUSSERT: President Bush, your moon language confuses me.
BUSH: It is confusing. That's why we're going to the moon in 2012.
RUSSERT: But why--
BUSH: Knock-knock.
RUSSERT: Um, who's there?
BUSH: 9-11.
RUSSERT: I know where this is going.
President Bush wrinkles his nose and frowns.
RUSSERT: Okay. 9-11 who?
BUSH: If you don't know the answer, then you're with the terrorists. Gotcha!
RUSSERT: And with that, we're out of time. Thank you for going us Mr. President. We'll be back next week.
BUSH: I gotcha good, didn't I?