On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’ll never forget the day. A fellow pointed at me and said, "Do not let me down." Workers in hard-hats, and police and firefighters were shouting, "Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes." – May 7, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’ll never forget that day. There were policemen and firefighters shouting, "Whatever it takes, Mr. President, whatever it takes." A guy in a hard-hat pointed at me and said, "Do not let me down." – May 8, 2004

September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’ll never forget that day. Workers in hard-hats were chanting, "Whatever it takes." I remember working — trying to console people, and either a firefighter or a policeman said, "Do not let me down." – July 13, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. I’m never going to forget that moment. There were workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember looking in the eyes of either a policeman or firefighter, and he said, "Do not let me down." – July 14, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Workers in hard-hats chanted, "Whatever it takes." A fireman or a policeman, I don’t know which one, grabbed me and said, "Do not let me down." – July 14, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. There were workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." A fellow grabbed me by the arm — I can’t remember if he was a policeman or fireman — and he said, "Do not let me down." – July 21, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day that I will never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember a guy grabbing my arm, a firefighter or policeman, I don’t know which one, he had tears in his eyes and he looked at me and said, "Do not let me down." – July 30, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I will never forget. I remember those guys in hard hats yelling at me: Whatever it takes. I remember the firefighter grabbing me by the arm and looking me in the eye, bloodshot eyes and sweat pouring, and he said: Do not let me down – July 31, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me: Whatever it takes. I remember walking along and a fellow grabbed me, policeman or fireman, I don’t know which one, but he had tears in his eyes and said: Do not let me down – July 31, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I will never forget. There were workers in hard hats yelling at me: Whatever it takes. A guy grabbed me by the arm, he had tears in his eyes, he was exhausted from searching through the rubble to find his friend. He said: Do not let me down. – August 4, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. I remember workers in hard-hats yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I’ll never forget the guy that grabbed me by the arm — I don’t remember if he was a firefighter or a policeman. I do know he had been in the rubble searching for a loved one. His eyes were bloodshot. He said, "Do not let me down." – August 4, 2004

September the 14, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I will never forget. I remember the guys in the hard- hats screaming at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember working the rope line and looking in the eyes of a man who had just come out of the rubble searching for a buddy. He said, "Do not let me down." – August 10, 2004

On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Workers in hard-hats were yelling at me, "Whatever it takes." I remember shaking people’s hands and a guy looked me in the eye, his bloodshot eyes, he’d just come out of the rubble, saying, "Do not let me down." – August 18, 2004

All the foregoing — plus lots more of the same — can be found on the White House website (Do a site search for "Do not let me down" in quotations).

[Chris Farley] Hey. You remember when — you remember the part about, uh, the guy who like pointed at Bush or grabbed Bush’s arm or had bloodshot eyes or tears ’cause he had just, like, come out of the rubble looking for his buddy or loved one or whatever, you know? The dude who Bush wasn’t sure if he was a policemen or a firemen (except for July 31, 2004), but he was all like "Do not let me down" and stuff? Y-y-you . . . . remember? Remember that? Yeah, that was awesome. That story rocked. I hope Bush uses that in his convention speech. [/Chris Farley]

But here is my bestest FAVORITEST one — from last Friday — which I saved for last:

I was traveling with Rudy Giuliani yesterday in New Mexico, and I — (applause.) It reminded of the day we spent together, September the 14th, 2001, the day I stood in the ruins of the Twin Towers, the day that, obviously, I’ll never forget. There were workers in hard-hats yelling, "Whatever it takes." I was walking down, thanking people, and a fellow looked me and said, "Do not let me down." This is one of these memories that have been indelibly etched in my mind. – August 27, 2004

Yeah, George. Traveling with Rudy "reminded" you of the story which you happen to tell at every single fucking campaign stop.

And then his ad lib at the end: "This is one of these memories that have been indelibly etched in my mind." Yeah, I would think so!