Butchering the English Language Should Be the Least of Your Concerns
George Bush gets picked on a lot for the way he speaks English. Late night talk shows, political cartoons in newspapers, and other slivers of the corporate media poke fun at the president for mispronouncing words that my 9-year old cousin doesn’t have much trouble with – such as NU-cle-ar, and other 3 to 4 syllable sounds.
I however, no longer care. You heard me.
That the most powerful man in the world not speaking his native language with gracefulness and grown-up sophistication used to really bother me, however I’ve discovered something more troubling that Bush’s speech reveals about him, which I think some people who are far too focused on sentence structure tend to miss: Our President – my god I can barely type this – doesn’t know what the HELL he’s talking about.
When he answers questions on the fly, on the outside he's exhibiting poor English, yes, but listen to what he's saying. He doesn't know the subject matter. He's not really able to give thought to his answers because he simply DOESN'T KNOW. He merely keeps the sentences short, and full of political slogans. He tries to joke around akwardly with reporters, attempting to deflect from the embarrassment of sounding so fucking stupid.
Mr. President, why do terrorists attack us?
They hate us for our freedom!
Mr. President, how are we going to solve the al Qaeda issue?
Gonna smoke em out of their caves!
Mr. President, how can we address racial inequality in America?
Affirmative access!
Mr President, why are we in Iraq if there are no weapons or connections to major terrorist organizations and the Iraqis want us out and there's no power or water and the coaltion was never really there to begin with and attacks are increasing and you keep lying to us about it?
9/11!
Now, EVERY president has his rah-rah speeches to get the team to pull together and win the big game. That's not what I'm criticizing this guy for.
I'm trying to explain the fact that bumper sticker slogans, fueled by a black and white, one dimentional, VERY naieve, "Us vs. Them" view of a complex world is exactly how this simpleton operates. He doesn't speak well because he DOESN'T KNOW THE ANSWER, he's NOT EDUCATED ON THE ISSUE, and his ideas end up sounding like an 8th grade history paper written an hour before class.
He doesn't just have issues speaking. He has issues thinking. He has issues understanding. He has issues articulating thoughts, because the thoughts aren't there.
Now, prepare a speech for the guy to practice, read to his parents, and deliver to the country that he didn’t write or even approve, then he can get by.
When Bush is flying solo in a press conference however, which is as rare as snowfall in Miami (today he held one all by himself like a big boy for the first time since May), he barely knows how to speak. He stumbles, fumbles, and doesn’t answer questions with any real inflection or signs of wisdom. Whenever he gets in trouble he simply brings up 9/11, terror, and the war in Iraq, and it bails him out.
While that is annoying, it isn’t nearly as frightening as when Bush is asked to comment and give thoughtful, intelligent interpretation to a particular policy or current events question – especially when he can’t use Southern, primeval appealing catch phrases like “bring ‘em on."
Nothing illustrates this more than when Bush was asked about tribal sovereignty last year, and it’s relationship with the Federal government:
That was our president’s genuine answer. He wasn’t trying to be funny, charming, or rasslin’ around with the press corps. He was being dead serious. He wasn't just speaking poorly in a grammatical sense there - he had no idea what the answer should be or what people wanted to hear because he didn't have a clue as to what the issue was.
Listen to the audio here, and you can watch the video here.
Take note (especially in the video) that you can actually hear the press laughing at his answer. Restoring honor to America? Hardly.
I however, no longer care. You heard me.
That the most powerful man in the world not speaking his native language with gracefulness and grown-up sophistication used to really bother me, however I’ve discovered something more troubling that Bush’s speech reveals about him, which I think some people who are far too focused on sentence structure tend to miss: Our President – my god I can barely type this – doesn’t know what the HELL he’s talking about.
When he answers questions on the fly, on the outside he's exhibiting poor English, yes, but listen to what he's saying. He doesn't know the subject matter. He's not really able to give thought to his answers because he simply DOESN'T KNOW. He merely keeps the sentences short, and full of political slogans. He tries to joke around akwardly with reporters, attempting to deflect from the embarrassment of sounding so fucking stupid.
Mr. President, why do terrorists attack us?
They hate us for our freedom!
Mr. President, how are we going to solve the al Qaeda issue?
Gonna smoke em out of their caves!
Mr. President, how can we address racial inequality in America?
Affirmative access!
Mr President, why are we in Iraq if there are no weapons or connections to major terrorist organizations and the Iraqis want us out and there's no power or water and the coaltion was never really there to begin with and attacks are increasing and you keep lying to us about it?
9/11!
Now, EVERY president has his rah-rah speeches to get the team to pull together and win the big game. That's not what I'm criticizing this guy for.
I'm trying to explain the fact that bumper sticker slogans, fueled by a black and white, one dimentional, VERY naieve, "Us vs. Them" view of a complex world is exactly how this simpleton operates. He doesn't speak well because he DOESN'T KNOW THE ANSWER, he's NOT EDUCATED ON THE ISSUE, and his ideas end up sounding like an 8th grade history paper written an hour before class.
He doesn't just have issues speaking. He has issues thinking. He has issues understanding. He has issues articulating thoughts, because the thoughts aren't there.
Now, prepare a speech for the guy to practice, read to his parents, and deliver to the country that he didn’t write or even approve, then he can get by.
When Bush is flying solo in a press conference however, which is as rare as snowfall in Miami (today he held one all by himself like a big boy for the first time since May), he barely knows how to speak. He stumbles, fumbles, and doesn’t answer questions with any real inflection or signs of wisdom. Whenever he gets in trouble he simply brings up 9/11, terror, and the war in Iraq, and it bails him out.While that is annoying, it isn’t nearly as frightening as when Bush is asked to comment and give thoughtful, intelligent interpretation to a particular policy or current events question – especially when he can’t use Southern, primeval appealing catch phrases like “bring ‘em on."
Nothing illustrates this more than when Bush was asked about tribal sovereignty last year, and it’s relationship with the Federal government:
Question:
Mr. President, you’ve been a governor, and a president, so you have unique experience looking at it from two directions. What do you think tribal sovereignty means in the 21st century, and how do we resolve conflicts between tribes and the federal and state governments?
Bush’s Actual Answer:
"Yeah, tribal sovereignty means just that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a – you’re a — you've been given sovereignty, and you're - viewed as a s-sovereign entity.(laughter) And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between s-sovereign entities." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004
That was our president’s genuine answer. He wasn’t trying to be funny, charming, or rasslin’ around with the press corps. He was being dead serious. He wasn't just speaking poorly in a grammatical sense there - he had no idea what the answer should be or what people wanted to hear because he didn't have a clue as to what the issue was.
Listen to the audio here, and you can watch the video here.
Take note (especially in the video) that you can actually hear the press laughing at his answer. Restoring honor to America? Hardly.
posted by Jeremy at 9:18 PM
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