"Give me a chance to be your president and America will be safer and stronger and better," he said.
The only problem is that he forgot he WAS the president at the time he said it.
"I cut the taxes on everybody. I didn't cut them. The Congress cut them. I asked them to cut them," he said.
Personally I hope he US won't have that with Kerry; but CUT it out, Bush!
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we," he said.
I couldn't agree more.
"The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway," he said.
He IS really rich.
And, the cream of the crop:
"I wish I wasn't the war president. Who in the heck wants to be a war president? I don't," he said.
Does the President of France Speak French? Does the Chancellor of Germany speak German? Does the Emperor of China speak Mandrin? Does the President of Russia speak Russian? Does the King of Jordan speak Arabic? Does the President of the USA speak English?
If all but the last one were answered "yes", you're on track. First off, it's "I wish I WERE'NT". I'm not criticising normal, informal, CASUAL speech; but he's the President for God's sake!
"Who in the heck"? You want informal, President? Drop the preposition; you want formal? Keep the definite article. Don't keep both, fool.
He said that forgetting he pressed into Iraq (and submitted to the Afghanistan reluctantly after threatening them all).
So, someone do the world a favour. All US citizens, vote for Kerry. Not because he's good, because he's not Bush.
posted
You'll have to excuse the brief reply... my eyeballs seem to have rolled out of my sockets, and I think I broke my spine when I hit the ground laughing.
Posts: 530 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
If I had microphones shoved in front of my face all day long, I'd probably be recorded saying some pretty silly stuff. I have sympathy for anyone under a microscope of that magnification, no matter what I think of them. Even Dan Quayle (who actually seems to have developed a sense of humor about his gaffes--PBS had an excellent special about vice-presidential debates and Quayle was actually quite genial).
It's a matter of audience scale. When Al Gore said, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." He probably had previously said that in a small room, with sympathetic listeners who didn't look too critically at what he said. Once you have a HUGE audience, some of them hostile, others apathetic, there are going to be people to say, "Wait a minute, what does that MEAN exactly? Are you taking credit for the Internet?"
If he had said something more like, "I led congressional efforts to make the Internet open and accessible to everyone, not just to the Military, not just to Academia," then we'd have something. But under that big microscope, it sounded like he was taking too much credit.
Another example is all the celebrities who publicly stated that they were moving to a different country if Bush was elected, then got harrassed when they didn't move. That's pretty innocuous drawing room rhetoric, but in front of a large audience, someone's going to take issue.
Or is this too serious response to a little political humor? Posts: 720 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Come on man, I'm voting for Bush, but there are plenty of things to criticize him for that are more important than the way he speaks. Let's keep attempting to raise the level of debate, not lower it to laughing at unimportant mistakes. God knows there are plenty of important ones to spend our time on.
posted
i heard this one supposed quote from him from doonesbury(sp?), it went something like this "I stand here shaking the hand of a man who had his hand cut off by saddam."
Now, what the hell is wrong with that statement? LAST TIME I CHECKED, MOST PEOPLE HAVE TWO HANDS.
Posts: 2489 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Not to seem obssessive, I just like to be thorough. I have a client at the moment who asked me to verify one single fact in a two-paragraph segment of text. I sent him 2 pages of documentation (after a brief summary, of course). Posts: 720 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
You're right! I had just heard the spin version so often that it stuck.
I agree though. Bush flubs up words while speaking, but honestly they're not words I personally use on a day to day basis in some cases (and it appears he doesn't either).
It's like saying "Quiche" how it's spelled instead of how it actually sounds.
I've heard that one before.
Posts: 1533 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I think the hand shaking thing refers to one of the guys who had their hands cut off by Saddam as a political prisoner, then came to america after we invaded and some doctors in houston gave them prosthetic hands.
posted
Quoting Jonathan Howard: "... and submitted to the Afghanistan reluctantly..." Drop the definite article in front of Afghanistan, FOOL! (quoting him again). That mistake, of course, invalidates your whole opinion (by your logic, anyway).
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
You know, I get impatient when people butcher the English language too. It annoyed me no end when you Americans decided you couldn't handle a perfectly good word like "inflammable" ('able to inflame') and mangled it down to "flammable". I cringe at your mispronunciation of "segue" ("seg-way", yuk!), caused by your inability to handle silent letters. The word is pronounced 'seeg', the'ue' being silent as in "fugue" or "antique". There are plenty of other examples, but that doesn't mean I abuse you as a pack of illiterate linguistic vandals.
posted
Hey hey Jonothan, Welcome to Hatrack. Your thread title is a little jarring. I think we can agree that starting off by calling someone stupid isn't the path to productive political discussion.
Next time, you might want to try something more like: Hey, some more Bushisms, or Our President's ongoing linguistic foibles, or maybe MrSquicky sleeps with goats. I have proof.
Any of those might get people to be more prepared to take you seriously from the get go.
We've got all ranges of political persuasions here, but one thing we really do try to agree on is that we should approach with certain amount of respect for those who might disagree with us. Frankly, this post didn't quite live up to that, but stick around. You'll likely get the hang of things and be better off for it.
posted
Cashew, Just for that, I'm going to go dump some tea in the harbor. Take that, limey! Not so smart now are ya? With your knickers and your cricket and your wickets and err your other words with 'ck' in the middle, like uhhh...tickets?
quote: So, someone do the world a favour. All US citizens, vote for Kerry. Not because he's good, because he's not Bush.
Thank you for proving the role of the media in the election of a president. Also thank you for proving yourself just as "stupid" as you claim the president is. Have you met him before? Have you ever had a quiet conversation with the man? Why are you judging his intellect based on his public speaches? That's just plain ignorant. Would you do that with someone who isn't president? And one more thing, how many people actually expact a man from Texas, of all places, to be a good public speaker???
[ October 21, 2004, 10:28 PM: Message edited by: Boris ]
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
My problem with Bush is, lot's of people stumble on their words. No one is perfect... But with him... With him he urks me. Maybe it's because he is president and I hold him to a higher standard than any average person. He should take the time and effort to say things right!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Have you thought, yet, that his speach erks you because you have strong feelings against him? I tend to be critical of the people like that if I dislike them. Usually it's when I really really hate someone that I do that, though. So what I'm getting at is, if you hate Bush, just admit it, quit trying to rationalize your feelings, vote for Kerry, and let the past be the past. How hard is that?
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Boris, that's a very good point. In the weeks after 9/11, I (like probably many other dems here) admired GWB and hung on his every word. And if one of those words came out a little garbled, or was preceded by too many "ums", I whole-heartedly forgave the man. Heck, I even remember saying to my dad at the time, "Man, listen to him, you can totally tell the guy is fried. He probably hasn't gotten a wink of sleep since 9/11." Of course, 3 years later my opinion of his policies is going to send me voting for Kerry. But, I can't really fault him for misspeaking, can I? Wouldn't that make me a hypocrite? I may disagree with his policies, and it's my right to vote him out, but I probably shouldn't fault him for the way he talks. Anyway, after watching that Frontline special about Kerry and Bush (aired a couple of weeks ago), I seriously think the guy wants people to misunderestimate him! Posts: 236 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Maybe he does. Perhaps he thinks it is endearing. Jed doesn't have the same accent as him though...
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote: You know, I get impatient when people butcher the English language too. It annoyed me no end when you Americans decided you couldn't handle a perfectly good word like "inflammable" ('able to inflame') and mangled it down to "flammable". I cringe at your mispronunciation of "segue" ("seg-way", yuk!), caused by your inability to handle silent letters. The word is pronounced 'seeg', the'ue' being silent as in "fugue" or "antique". There are plenty of other examples, but that doesn't mean I abuse you as a pack of illiterate linguistic vandals.
I'm afraid the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on my shelf lists only one pronunciation for segue, and it's "seg-way".
Posts: 720 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Indeed, it seems that the error is usually in the other direction—people think the ue is silent, so in order to spell "seg-way," they write "segue way."
Posts: 651 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
(Nearly over initial emabarrassment of making himself look like an idiot, he ventures another post...) The point I was trying to make is that there are more reliable things to base a judgement on than the way someone talks, or pronounces or mispronounces words. (Cringes, waiting for inevitable, and deserved, jeers...)
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
This is true... But it's not the pronounciation that bothers me... It's... and I will get attacked, but I feel that Bush is rather lax and lazy in a way. I do not know, but that is how I feel.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
And yes, I know all about flammable/inflammable, we use it on our hazard signs here too, but it migrated here from America.
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
I saw compressed O2 containers marked as "inflammable" the other day. It baffles me why this archaic word is still being used in industry. NFPA 30 (Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code) is pretty much the worldwide standard and it makes no mention of "inflammable" liquids. Only "flammable" (and combustible).
Posts: 236 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Did you read the link? It's not an "American" thing; it's not even an English thing. It's a Latin thing!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote: I feel that Bush is rather lax and lazy in a way
How many Americans aren't? To be honest, I considered voting for Kerry shortly after the democratic primary. What changed my mind was the fact that this election has gotten incredibly nasty incredibly fast. From what I've seen, the majority of nastiness and personal criticism seems to come from Kerry's side of the fence, and since that turns me off completely, I'm voting for Bush. That's my view of the situation, the other main reason I'm voting for Bush is that I don't think it's a good idea to change presidents before a major military deployment starts showing definate signs of ending. To me, it just seems like a bad idea to do that. DO'H!!! (Kicks self for posting political crap again)
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
I'll concede that, but my point was that 'inflammable' was a perfectly good word that described the condition, but had to be replaced by another word because some of the vocabulary-challenged persuasion got confused, and so a good word is now considered 'archaic' at best, the opposite of what it actually means at worst. Kind of like 'let'.
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I can't vote for Bush... His policies are just... Terrible policies... Especially as far as Iraq is concerned...
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Did you read the link? It's not an "American" thing; it's not even an English thing. It's a Latin thing!
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