But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me.

I can hear a guy breathing quite heavily. 'Mr President! Mr President! There's an unidentified aircraft heading toward the White House.' So we get out of bed. I'm actually in my running shorts with a T-shirt, old shoes.

I can assure you, when I was a senior in high school, I never sat in an audience saying, gosh, if I work hard I'll be President of the United States.

You're the kind of guy I like to have in a foxhole with me.

REPORTER: Mr. President, have you been tested for anthrax?
DUBYA: I don't have anthrax.
REPORTER: So you've been tested, sir?
DUBYA: I don't have it.

In order to go to college or realize your dreams, you have to make right choices in life. As you grow up, you've got to learn to say yes to the good things and no to the bad things, like saying no to drugs. That's going to be important in order to realize your dreams. No to alcohol, excessive alcohol. You've got to learn to make the right choices when you get older.

One of the interesting things to do is drink coffee and watch Barney chase armadillos. The armadillos are out, and they love to root in our flower bed. It's good that Barney routs them out of their rooting.

I realize that on July 4, you had the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. I recognize I don't look quite as pretty — but I am from Texas.

I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe - I believe what I believe is right.

It was amazing I won. I was running against peace and prosperity and incumbency.

I loved history, and pursued a diversified course of study. I like to think of it as the academic road less traveled. For example, I took a class that studied Japanese Haiku. Haiku, for the uninitiated, is a 15th century form of poetry, each poem having 17 syllables. Haiku is fully understood only by the Zen masters. As I recall, one of my academic advisers was worried about my selection of such a specialized course. He said I should focus on English. I still hear that quite often. But my critics don't realize I don't make verbal gaffes. I'm speaking in the perfect forms and rhythms of ancient Haiku.

I am a living example of someone who took on an issue and benefited from it.

John, we're going to get a good bill. I mean, one of the things I've learned is not to try to negotiate with you or me on national TV.

I've coined new words, like, "misunderstanding" and "Hispanically".

I think there is some methodology in my travels.

Turn that thing off! Turn it off!

Let me put it to you this way, I am not a revengeful person.

They misunderestimated me.

I want each and every American to know for certain that I'm responsible for the decisions I make, and each of you are as well.

I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans.

As I understand it, the current [FBI] form asks the question, "Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?" and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is "No."

JENNINGS: Back in October 1998, you told David Broder of The Washington Post you felt like a cork in a raging river.
DUBYA: Yes. I think that was part of all the speculation and the swirl around whether I would run or not. There was kind of a momentum beyond — beyond being the governor I guess is the best way to describe it. And I don't feel like a cork in a raging river now. I feel like — something bigger than a cork.

I come from a different generation from my Dad.

Yesterday I met with the Russian foreign minister and when he left the meeting, he kindly said this is a man who — I'm going to paraphrase him and you need to check the facts — but — sophisticated thinker.

Listen, I'm just as shocked as you are that I'm sitting here talking about the presidency — it's never been a part of my — my life's ambition hasn't always been to be the president.

I'm not going to play like I've been a person who's spent hours involved with foreign policy. I am who I am.

Listen, I'm just as shocked as you are that I'm sitting here talking about the presidency.

I've got a reason for running. I talk about a larger goal, which is to call upon the best of America. It's part of the renewal. It's reform and renewal. Part of the renewal is a set of high standards and to remind people that the greatness of America really does depend on neighbors helping neighbors and children finding mentors. I worry. I'm very worried about, you know, the kid who just wonders whether America is meant for him. I really worry about that. And uh, so, I'm running for a reason. I'm answering this question here and the answer is, you cannot lead America to a positive tomorrow with revenge on one's mind. Revenge is so incredibly negative. And so to answer your question, I'm going to win because people sense my heart, know my sense of optimism and know where I want to lead the country. And I tease people by saying, 'A leader, you can't say, follow me the world is going to be worse.' I'm an optimistic person. I'm an inherently content person. I've got a great sense of where I want to lead and I'm comfortable with why I'm running. And, you know, the call on that speech was, beware. This is going to be a tough campaign.

I don't want to win? If that were the case why the heck am I on the bus 16 hours a day, shaking thousands of hands, giving hundreds of speeches, getting pillared in the press and cartoons and still staying on message to win?

I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists.

I'm a patient man, which is hard for me to believe.

I don't make any apologies for what I do on the campaign trail.

I'm very gracious and humbled.

I've changed my style somewhat, as you know. I'm less—I pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show. And I'm more interacting with people.

A reformer with results is a conservative who has had compassionate results in the state of Texas.

My friends allege that I showed up in a Nixon mask one year and that another time I dressed as Mahatma Gandhi in a toga that looked like a diaper by the end of the night.

Do as I say and not as I did.

I'd probably say foolish things.

I killed a killdee. ...I thought it was a dove.

One's dead and one's alive.

I want the folks to see me sitting in the same kind of seat they sit in, eating the same popcorn, peeing in the same urinal.

You know I could run for governor but I'm basically a media creation. I've never done anything. I've worked for my dad. I worked in the oil business. But that's not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office.

CONNIE CHUNG [NBC]: Just a moment ago Tom Brokaw, in an interview with Dan Quayle — uhh, Dan Quayle revealed that he may have made a few phone calls that would help him get into the National Guard instead of serving in Vietnam —
DUBYA: Yeah.
CHUNG: Are you aware of this, and do you think —
DUBYA: No.
CHUNG: — that could be a problem?
DUBYA: I am not, no, and I also think service in the National Guard is a good thing to do. I mean, he could — I, I'm from that era, as you know. As a matter of fact, he happens to be one year younger than I am. He couldda gone to Canada. He decided to serve. I think Dan Quayle oughtta be proud of his National Guard experience, like thousands of others around the country are —
CHUNG: And —
DUBYA: I was in the National Guard.
CHUNG: You were in the —
DUBYA: I flew —
CHUNG: — National Guard?
DUBYA: I flew fighters in the Texas Air National Guard, of which I am very proud.
CHUNG: Now, the problem, though, would be is if indeed he made several phone calls, or some people made phone calls on his behalf to get him into the National Guard. Did that ever, I mean, did that happen to you? Were you —
DUBYA: No, I don't think so. But, uhh, in those days, people were goin' into the service, all different branches, and people — if you wanted to go into the National Guard, I guess sometimes people made calls. I don't see anything wrong with the kind — matter of fact, I'm glad he served this country. And serving in the National Guard is serving in the mili — they probably shouldda called up the National Guard up in those days. Maybe we'd have done better in Vietnam.

FINK: When you're talking about politics, what do you and [your father] talk about?
DUBYA: Pussy.