Bush Slip ups

[HS Thomas]

Blair, Bush and [French President] Jacques Chirac were discussing economics and, in particular, the decline of the French economy. 'The problem with the French,' Bush confided to Blair, 'is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur.'"
Eh-hem. "Entrepreneur" is a FRENCH word.
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Bush in Japan: "The problem is the devaluation of the Yen."
Just as the stock market started to crash , an aide explained that he had meant "The deflation of the Yen".
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Al Gore challenges Bush " A Zebra doesn't change it's spots!"
instead of a leopard doesn't change it's spots. He could have gotten away with " A Zebra doesn't change it's stripes".
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When talking to some british students in Oriental Asia (think it was China), he joked with them "you shouldn't stay here too long, or you'll turn slitty-eyed"
Vote: 10 (They don't get any worse!!!)9 (Somebody should have been fired for this!)87 (Pretty big mistake)65 (Whoops!)43 (Most people wouldn't notice)21 (What a nit-picker!)0 (This is fake!)

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This comment was made by Prince Philip to a group of British students who were studying at Beijing University, Beijing, China during an official visit in March 1986. It was during this same trip that Philip described Beijing as "Ghastly", a comment that received wide press coverage. Needless to say, the Queen was not amused!
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Richard Nixon at Charles de Gaulle's funeral:
"This is a great day for France".
And there's more at Slip-up.com!
regards

[Jim Yingst]

Bush confided to Blair, 'is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur.'"
I wonder about the intent of this. I can imagine someone making this comment knowingly, with intentional irony. Not sure if I can imagine GWB doing so though...
Al Gore challenges Bush " A Zebra doesn't change it's spots!"
Well it's true, isn't it?
Richard Nixon at Charles de Gaulle's funeral:
"This is a great day for France".
Might have been right there too...
It seems only the first two from your list are Bush slip-ups. Are you trying to blame GWB for everything?
[ October 03, 2003: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

[HS Thomas]

Are you trying to blame GWB for everything?

No friki way.
Yes .
There used to be an English comedy show - Spitting Image with puppet carricatures
Bush would be absolutely great on this.
If I remember correctly, I think Bill Clinton had a puppet.
I don't know what happened to the show.
Trying to blog the minds of the nation on Cable TV is getting more difficlt, so I suppose they did away with it.

The Spitting Image parodies reached a status not unlike that of Mad magazine in the early 1960s, when many of those whom the show caricatured took it as a sign that they had "made it." While Thatcher has only commented, "I don't ever watch that program," members of the House of Commons had tapes of each show delivered to them the following Monday, and former Tory Defense Minister Michael Heseltine tried to purchase his puppet
......
The influence of American politics on the British scene was apparent in frequent lampoons of Ronald Reagan. American news outlets excerpted a video with Ron and Nancy as Leaders of the Pack, singing "Do Do Ron Ron." The befuddled Reagan also appeared in a serial thriller, "The President's Brain is Missing," and was featured prominently in the Spitting Image-produced video for Genesis' song, "Land of Illusion." In September 1986, NBC aired a two-part original Spitting Image special in which the secret arbiters of fame, including Bill Cosby and Ed McMahon, hatch a clandestine plot to have an over-muscled Sylvester Stallone elected president.
Now doesn't that ring some bells!

Ronald Reagan's Spitting Image
regards
[ October 03, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[HS Thomas]

More Bush slip ups :
On NPR this morning (11/1/00), I heard a quote where George W Bush says something like, "This issue really resignates with the American people." As in RESONATES. I love this guy. I had to write it down when I was driving to work. Anybody know where to find audio of this guy's best misspeaks?
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I can't believe no one's said anything about this! I don't know what speech it was, but I was watching Bush's address to teachers in the nation on NBC with some friends, and this error was GLARING. He said, and I quote, "First I'd like to spank all the teachers..." there was a short pause with a definite facial expression change on his part as he realized his mistake and my friends and I all glanced at each other, laughing. Then he continued his speech.
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AND THE BEST FOR LAST
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Here are a couple more quotes from dubya the greatest orator of our time.
"Actually, I -- this may sound a little West Texan to you,
but I like it. When I'm talking about -- when I'm talking about myself,
and when he's talking about myself, all of us are talking about me."
Hardball, MSNBC, May 31, 2000
"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."
Reuters, May 5, 2000
"I think we agree, the past is over."
On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News,
May 10, 2000
"Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is
sometimes until we get an objective analysis."
Meet the Press, April 15, 2000
"I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It's pretty
close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close
to California."
Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2000
"We want our teachers to be trained so they can meet the
obligations, their obligations as teachers. We want them to know how
to teach the science of reading. In order to make sure
there's not this kind of federal cufflink."
Fritsche Middle School, Milwaukee, March 30, 2000
"The fact that he relies on facts -- says things that are not
factual -- are going to undermine his campaign."
New YorkTimes, March 4, 2000
"It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton
in nature."
Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 2000
"I understand small business growth. I was one."
New York Daily News, Feb. 19, 2000
"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have he
can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the
low road."
To reporters in Florence, S.C., Feb. 17, 2000
"If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls
and principles, come and join this campaign."
Hilton Head, S.C., Feb. 16, 2000
"How do you know if you don't measure if you have a
system that simply suckles kids through?"
Explaining the need for educational accountability,
Beaufort, S.C.,
Feb. 16, 2000
"We ought to make the pie higher."
South Carolina Republican Debate, Feb. 15, 2000
"I've changed my style somewhat, as you know. I'm less I
pontificate less, although it may be hard to tell it from this show. And I'm
more interacting with people."
Meet The Press, Feb. 13, 2000
"I think we need not only to eliminate the tollbooth to the
middle class, I think we should knock down the tollbooth."
Nashua, N.H., as quoted by Gail Collins, New York
Times, Feb. 1, 2000
"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady
in my case."
Pella, Iowa, as quoted in the San Antonio Express News,
Jan. 30, 2000
"Will the highways on the Internet become more few?"
Concord, N.H., Jan. 29, 2000
"This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's
what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve."
Speaking during Perseverance Month" at Fairgrounds
Elementary School in Nashua, N.H. As quoted in the Los
Angeles Times, Jan. 28, 2000
"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."
Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen
and uncertainty and potential mental losses."
At a South Carolina oyster roast, as quoted in the
Financial Times, Jan. 14, 2000
"We must all hear the universal call to like your neighbor
just like you like to be liked yourself."
At a South Carolina oyster roast, as quoted in the
Financial Times, Jan.14, 2000
"There needs to be debates, like we're going through.
There needs to be townhall meetings. There needs to be travel. This is a huge
country."
Larry King Live, Dec. 16, 1999
"The important question is, How many hands have shaked?"
Answering a question about why he hasn't spent more
time in NewHampshire, In the New York Times, Oct. 23, 1999
"Keep good relations with the Grecians."
Quoted in the Economist, June 12, 1999
and there's lots more at Slip Ups
regards
[ October 03, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[Mapraputa Is]

Anybody know where to find audio of this guy's best misspeaks?
No audio, but here is something you might find interesting. They argue whether Bush's mispronunciations are metathesis, anaptyxis or a compensatory syncope in its nature.
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"It's getting really babylonic here" -- Chris Baron

[HS Thomas]

metathesis or anaptyxis
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"Crucially, this is a regular phonological process affecting speakers of many languages, and not something that is indicative of intelligence."
Phew!
"Just a note, Don's a grad student in Computer Science and is just getting an A.M. in Linguistics on the side. "
He must be ree-lly comf-trable.
************

"Posted 3:22 PM by Josh Chafetz
WEISBERGISM OF THE DAY. Back in May, I wrote about how media consensus tends to form around a certain conception, which creates a feedback loop, with the media then largely reporting things that tend to confirm that conception. One of my examples was Slate's "Bushism of the Day." It's worth noting that the very name is unfair -- Slate doesn't run one nearly every day, but by making it sound as if they do, they also make it sound as if Bush misspeaks far more often than he does. It's also worth noting that the "Bushism of the Day" is often not a terribly egregious example of misspeech. Many of them are the kinds of verbal stumbles that you and I make fairly frequently -- the only difference is that every word we say isn't recorded and scrutinized, whereas every word the President says is.

But, worse, sometimes the "Bushism of the Day" isn't a mistake at all. Take today's:

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself." - Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003
Now, obviously, we're supposed to laugh at "his willingness to terrorize himself." But, remember, this was a speech -- i.e., delivered orally. Isn't it likely that it was read as, "his willingness to terrorize, himself."? The comma makes a big difference. With the comma, the meaning is perfectly clear: Attacking Saddam Hussein is part of the war on terror, as evidenced by three factors: (1) "the nature of Saddam Hussein" -- i.e., he's a bastard and we all know it; (2) "the history of Saddam Hussein" -- i.e., he has supported terrorist groups in the past; and (3) "his willingness to terrorize, himself" -- i.e., Saddam, himself, has engaged in terrorist activities. Gassing Halabja, for instance.

So that leaves me with a question. Is Weisberg so blinded by his assumption that Bush is a moron (or at least a bad speaker) that he just doesn't even consider the fact that Bush's statements often make perfect sense, or is he knowingly distorting them to make Bush look worse than he is?
UPDATE: Eugene Volokh, a frequent critic of the "Bushism of the Day," beat me to it by just under 20 minutes ... "
from Ox BloG
around feb 01,2003 Feb 01 2003

OxBlog is just a f****g (the original is ph***g) superb new blog from three students at the University of Oxford (yeah, that would be the one in England...).
A taste:
STRAUSSIANS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR SHOT AT TENURE. Dan, yes, of course it's uncool to be a conservative on campus! (for those of you joining this debate already in progress, you'll want to scroll down a few items) For one thing, when an institution is strongly controlled by people with a certain mindset, it's very hard to break in if you make it clear that your views are at odds with that mindset (and leftists, of all people, should know that -- it's cribbed straight from Foucault and Chomsky). Young academics want tenure, and conservative students on campus take a lot of heat from those who call mainstream conservatism "fascist," and then hang a poster of Che in their dorm rooms. Except for highly political types always looking for a fight, conservative students will learn to just keep their mouths shut in this atmosphere.
It's not all campus left-right dialectics, either. But every bit of it is wonderfully written, gracefully phrased, poignant, and pithy. There are powerful reasons Oxford perennially vies for the title of World's Greatest University, and here are three of them.
America's future Prez's ? See what Oxford did with Clinton.
OxBlog: Trying to live up to the hype since April 23, 2002!
The political rantings of Josh Chafetz, a 2001 Rhodes Scholar and graduate student in political theory at Oxford, Dan Urman, a 2001 Marshall Scholar and graduate student in international relations at Oxford, and David Adesnik, a 2000 Rhodes Scholar and graduate student in international relations at Oxford.
regards
[ October 04, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[HS Thomas]

More Bushisms:
==============
"I've coined new words like misunderstanding and Hispanically."
"I haven't had a chance to talk, but I'm confident we'll get a bill that I can live with if we don't."
"Our nation must come together to unite."
"There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting nearly directly overhead."
"[W]e've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them, and I want to know who the leakers are."�Chicago, Sept. 30, 2003
regards
[ October 04, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[Mapraputa Is]

Posted 6:21 PM by David Adesnik
WELL, HE IS MARRIED TO A KENNEDY: Arnold admits he has behaved less than admirably around women.

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"It's getting really babylonic here" -- Chris Baron

[HS Thomas]

Oh, you mean Arnold not Dave Adnesik:
I got distracted by :
There are killer breasts and Killer Breasts
It's a mans world!
Breast implants
Somewhere along the line emerged a new a bill of rights or commandment that says :
To err is a male duty, and to forgive a female duty. Since the time of Eve I should think.
I guess Arnold wanted to win all the female votes.I wouldn't have thought he had a problem on that point!
Arnold seeks forgiveness for Randy Arnie 30 years ago, altogether a different person! The fact that he is not denying responsibility may mean he'll get even more votes.
The implication is that the Kennedy's weren't particularly known for roosting in their own chicken barn.
regards
[ October 05, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]

[HS Thomas]

This Eugene Volokh guy seems interesting
The Volokh Conspiracy
regards

[Mapraputa Is]

This one must be a hoax, but it's funny:

The sign said: "Dear Dalai Lama..."

[Phil Chuang]

It's time for balance!
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- When asked what's wrong with letting local school districts decide how best to spend federal education dollars, President Clinton replied, "because it's not their money"
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"[I]t depends on how you define "alone" ... there were a lot of times when we were alone, but I never really thought we were."
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"
- excerpts from Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony
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" Every time Bush talks about trust it makes chills run up and down my spine. The way he has trampled on the truth is a travesty of the American political system."
- Presidential candidate Bill Clinton, describing his opponent (Federal News Service, 10/28/92)
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"The other thing we have to do is to take seriously the role in this problem of...older men who prey on underage women...There are consequences to decisions and...one way or the other, people always wind up being held accountable." Bill Clinton, June 13, 1996, in a speech endorsing a national effort against teen pregnancy.
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The president was giving a speech in Berlin in May, 1998, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Airlift, which kept the city afloat in 1948-49 when Stalin attempted to starve it into submission. Clinton chose to give special recognition to then-Lt. Gail Halvorsen of Provo, Utah, who had dropped packages of candy for Berlin's children from his aircraft as he landed with supplies at Templehoff Airport.
"She is here with us today," the president declared, speaking of Halvorsen. "I'd like to ask her to stand."
Gail Halvorsen then stood up - Mr. Gail Halvorsen, a 77-year old grandfather.
"Thank you, Sir, " said Clinton.
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Clinton quotes the Bible - incorrectly.
Oct 1994 Remarks made at the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. "Your Majesty; Mr Prime Minister, here in the Rift Valley you have bridged the tragic rift that separated your people too long. Here in this region, which is home of not only both of your faiths, but mine, I say, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the Earth."
If Bill is going to quote the bible, perhaps he should do it correctly! Here is the CORRECT quote:
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Earth. Matthew 5:5
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"The last time I checked, the Constitution said, 'of the people, by the people and for the people.' That's what the Declaration of Independence says."
President Bill Clinton, campaigning October 17, 1996. From a campaign speech given in California. Quoted in Investor's Business Daily October 25, 1996
That statement is in NEITHER - that phrase was in the Gettysburg Address!
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"I am the only President in who knew something about agriculture when I got there." (Bill Clinton, Washington Post, 4/26/95)
Jimmy Carter, Harry Truman, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington who were all farmers before they were Presidents.
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"I'm sure I spent more time in Texas than anybody else who had run for President recently." (Bill Clinton in Longview, Texas, U.S. Newswire, 9/27/96)
George Bush (1988, 1992), Ross Perot (1992, 1996), and Phil Gramm (1996) - all Texans who recently ran for the presidency. (George Bush moved to TX in 1948 after graduating from Yale, founded an oil company in 1953, ran for the Senate in 1964, elected to the House in 1966, 1968 and ran for Senate in 1970. So, except for the 10 years (1970-1980), Bush was a Texan since 1948.)
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"African-Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do."
President Clinton on Black Entertainment Television, November 2, 1994
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As a candidate in 1992, Bill Clinton blasted Bush administration standards of behavior and pledged to conduct "the most ethical administration in the history of the Republic."
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"Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that."

[HS Thomas]

Still a Bushism is a Bushism.
Ever heard of a Clintonism ?
Thanks for the balance, though.
It will temper the way Bushisms will be viwed.
Map, that was funny. The Pope couldn't look more exasperated.
regards