it sure is jess!!!
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""Throughout the year, Bush tried to frame the issue in terms of philosophy, saying his ideal nominees would base their judgments strictly on the words of the Constitution. Pressed to name a justice who fits that mold, Bush pointed to Scalia and Thomas." Associated Press, December 11, 2000"
http://quest.cjonline.com/stories/121100/sup_1211007337.shtml
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On "Meet the Press" in 1999, the future President Bush said that the justices he most admired were Scalia and Thomas. Bush referred to Scalia during one of the nationally-televised debates as his favorite Supreme Court judge, and the kind he would nominate during his presidential tenure.
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A308_0_2_0_C/sendpage/index.php
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Cliff Kincaid:
But many stories from the campaign period are quite clear about what Bush said. As noted by the Associated Press, "Throughout the year, Bush tried to frame the issue in terms of philosophy, saying his ideal nominees would base their judgments strictly on the words of the Constitution. Pressed to name a justice who fits that mold, Bush pointed to Scalia and Thomas."
Bush said about Scalia: "The reason I like him so much is I got to know him here in Austin when he came down" for a visit. Bush said of him, "He's witty, he's interesting, he's firm." Asked whether he thought Thomas was "the most qualified man" Bush's father could have appointed to the high court, the former Texas governor replied, "I do." Bush said that when it came to appointments to the court, "I'll put competent judges on the bench, people who will strictly interpret the Constitution and will not use the bench to write social policy."
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President Bush promised in 2000 and again in 2004 that he would only nominate strict-constructionist, original-intent judges and justices in the Scalia-Thomas mold," Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said in reference to two of the court's most conservative justices.
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As I said, memory is a funny thing...and often suggestive. I see nothing in what you posted that quotes the President as saying what many believe he said.