"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.
Amen.
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
No, vote Libertarian. Elect someone who will actually be good for the country.
Posted by Anti-Chris (Member # 4452) on :
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.
Posted by tt&t (Member # 5600) on :
quote:First off, it's "I wish I WERE'NT".
Oh? Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Ya know, as someone who doesn't plan to vote for Bush, I don't find him stupid at all.
There are many things about him and the decisions he's made I find both objectionable and disturbing.
But he's one shrewd guy when it comes to shoring up his support. I remember when we used to tell the same kind of smug jokes about Reagan.
Turns out he laughed louder than anyone. He loved people underestimating him.
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
I thought it was the best when he said he guaranteed that we won't have an all-volunteer army. Jon Stewart made fun of him.
Jen
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Ah, geez. I can't take two in one day.
Let's tape your conversations for a day and see if we can't pick out 10 gaffes, shall we?
Dagonee
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
Fyfe: At least he caught that one and repeated it correctly. I heard it as well.
Hell! We all gotta vote for Bush just to continue the stream of Bushisms for 4 more years!
[ October 21, 2004, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: CStroman ]
Posted by Defenestraitor (Member # 6907) on :
Steve, don't you mean "mis-- un--- misunderestim--- mis--- mis---"?
I agree with you, btw.
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
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? Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
Yay, let's all post chain emails!
(insert eye rolling here)
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.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
quote: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."
I thought he said "inventing" the internet? I could be wrong, it's been a while.
Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
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.
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
quote: I thought he said "inventing" the internet? I could be wrong, it's been a while.
Nope, that's the actual quote. Three sources I consider credible:
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). Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
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.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I don't like Bush, but I have plenty of reasons other than his mutilation of English to not vote for him.
I find them funny, and I do think that they are somewhat important, but they have been blown out of proportion lately.
Just like the flip-flop comment about Kerry..
Take a look at some of the typos I have made here at Hatrack....some of them are pretty bad too...lol...
Kwea
Posted by prolixshore (Member # 4496) on :
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.
It makes sense if you know the situation.
--ApostleRadio
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Bzzzt! Thanks for playing!
-Bok
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
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).
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
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.
[ October 21, 2004, 10:11 PM: Message edited by: Cashew ]
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
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.
[ October 21, 2004, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: MrSquicky ]
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
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?
[ October 21, 2004, 10:20 PM: Message edited by: MrSquicky ]
Posted by Saruman (Member # 2275) on :
[ October 21, 2004, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: Saruman ]
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
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 ]
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
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!
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
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?
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Oh, hey, I was gonna stop posting in these threads wasn't I? Oops. It's addictive...
Must...Have...More...Political...RHETORIC!!!!! AAAGHH!
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:He should take the time and effort to say things right!
That's what I heard about my handwriting most of my life. And it wasn't about time and effort.
I don't know what Bush's issue is with speaking. But I'm reasonably sure that if it was fixable his advisors would have made it happen by now.
Dagonee
Posted by Defenestraitor (Member # 6907) on :
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! Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Maybe he does. Perhaps he thinks it is endearing. Jed doesn't have the same accent as him though...
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
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".
Posted by Saruman (Member # 2275) on :
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."
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Yikes!! Ummm, shucks, well I, umm, shoot!! Yeah, but... Darn it!!
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
mmm Cashews.. *eats your username* *could not resist being fluffy*
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
(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...)
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
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.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
Right, let's get him boys!
Lousy Brit coming over here with his high-falutin ways.
Posted by narrativium (Member # 3230) on :
"Inflammable means flammable? What a country!"
-- Dr. Nick Riviera
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Kiwi, not Brit
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
And yes, I know all about flammable/inflammable, we use it on our hazard signs here too, but it migrated here from America.
Posted by Defenestraitor (Member # 6907) on :
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).
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
What the...now all my British jokes are just gibberish. Sorry, I didn't know. You lot I like.
[ October 22, 2004, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: MrSquicky ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Did you read the link? It's not an "American" thing; it's not even an English thing. It's a Latin thing!
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Yes I read the link, it's a CLARITY thing.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Not my point. My point is, you can't blame it on us! Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
o_O
Pat, that's not you, is it?
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
I had to do it Synesthesia
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)
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
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'.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
I can't vote for Bush... His policies are just... Terrible policies... Especially as far as Iraq is concerned...
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
Oooh, love the NZ accent.
Flammable is first recorded in the early 18th century, at least according to OED. Unfortunately the Shorter just lists dates not citations.
Michael Quinion at the World Wide Words Index seems to believe that flammable was actually the earlier form, and the language reverted to its use, but he makes no citation. He may potentially mean that in modern times we reverted to the form flammable which dates to the 19th century and fell into disuse, but I'm not sure. I've already got 2-3 unanswered items I've sent to him, so I doubt he'll answer this, but maybe I'll submit it.
At any rate, it's not a neologism, but an older form in increased usage.
Note that one of the key founding principles of the OED is to be descriptive not proscriptive, recording usage rather than shaping it. So it can be difficult to determine any history of preferred usage via the OED alone, and the really good reference books are like $200US each. I have them in my Amazon wish list in case I ever win the Wish List Shopping Spree, but...
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
Cool, apparently both forms occurred in Latin, very interesting.
I love this stuff.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I definitely don't think Bush is stupid. However, as he likes to hold up his willful ignorance of the nuances of issues in favor of executive summaries by his aides as a strength, I'm not inclined to consider him well informed.
Posted by The Silverblue Sun (Member # 1630) on :
quote: Why are you judging his intellect based on his public speaches?
Compare Clinton to Bush.
Clinton is an EXCELLENT public speaker, he is also a rhode scholar and a Genius.
Bush is a bad public speaker, and his theories and ideas don't help the world much.
He ain't a genius, or a visionary, he is not stupid.
George W. Bush is George W. Bush.
Wrong or right, he is what he is...
time will tell what he is.
<<<THOR>>>
He is not, nor is he near, Jesus Christ.
Posted by Jonathan Howard (Member # 6934) on :
Terribly sorry for the hatred I represented in the post.
As for the definite article, I as half asleep at 3AM my time.
I would have made a logical issue but that would take up some several pages to write properly.
Jonathan Howard (Aussie Vs New-Zeeeeelander.)
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
Oh no, I sense a sheep joke coming on
Posted by The Federal Government (Member # 6807) on :
He leaves the toilet seat up, and he forgets to flush. I have to sent Secret Service men in after him all the time. It's annoying.
Plus, he pees on the walls and laughs about it. And he can't even spell.
TFG
Posted by ssywak (Member # 807) on :
Well, he may not be stupid, but he sure is ignorant.
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
Interesting that the usage note on the dictionary.com site mentions the word enflame. It appears that no such word exists, at least in English. It was probably a typo.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I thought it was inflame myself but wasn't gonna argue with the dictionary. Milgram and all that you know.
I've probably used the two words myself with a nuance that no one else ever cared about or got.
Flammable (A.J. lexicon) means, yeah it'll burn if you toss a match on it maybe if there's enough of it you'll have some excitement.
Inflammable (A.J. lexicon) means that the instant anyone *thinks* of tossing a cigarette butt on it the entire thing will take off in a roaring inferno! Four alarm fire at least.
AJ
[ October 22, 2004, 03:06 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
quote: Fammable
I like that word. It truly should be a word.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
dagnabit I edited that as soon as I saw it!
AJ
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
I know...but I still like it. Fammable looks extremely cool and sounds like a "good/positive" sounding word.
Like a "You are so fammable" as an admiration type thing.
I'm not meaning to poke fun, just that when I saw it, it really looked like a word.
EDIT: and we al now abot how wil I kan spel sew dont wery abot it. (I'm a butcher when it comes to english, so I have no room to talk.)
[ October 22, 2004, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: CStroman ]
Posted by Traveler (Member # 3615) on :
Have you searched all of the internets?
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
Nope, only the one Gore invented.
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
The one I invented is much better.
Posted by Intelligence3 (Member # 6944) on :
Merriam-Webster lists enflame as a variant of inflame. I'll check OED tonight. Too heavy to carry with me. Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
That Merriam Webster...she thinks she's so smart because she knows alot of words..... Posted by Saruman (Member # 2275) on :
quote:o_O
Pat, that's not you, is it?
Nope. Pat willed this name to someone else quite a while ago.
quote: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.
Exactly. Different dialect ≠stupid. People who claim that Bush is stupid because of how he talks need to take a few classes in linguistics.
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
People don't say he's stupid because of his accent. They say he's stupid because he's amazingly uninformed (considering he's the President) and because he says a lot of realy stupid things. Obviously he doesn't intend to, but it makes him sound like an idiot sometimes.
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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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