Rick's Cafe Americain

There are a lot of jokes made at the President’s expense using the pretense that his routine malaprops are evidence of a lack of intelligence - or at least make for a snarky little symbol.  I admit to laughing at these gaffes, but admit that I think they are cheap shots.  I was once a defendant in a car accident case (actually, that may still be present tense - the insurance company is handling the case and they don’t take my calls) and I read my deposition transcript.  I pride myself on talking in complete coherent sentences and all I will say is “You don’t sound as smart as you think you do.” So no cheap shots about verbal slip-ups here.

Personally, I prefer to look to his answers to questions as evidence that he isn’t particularly bright.  Take for example this dialog at a conference of minority journalists:

You left out the best part...the people who could not contain their laughter about halfway through his sovereignity means sovereign explanation.

Of course, maybe we shouldn’t make too much fun of George.  I just got done with a deposition where the witness testified that the meaning of “dishonest” in an insurance policy had nothing to do with the defined meaning of “dishonesty” elsewhere in the policy (and he’s probably right (and not my witness)).  So George might be saying something profound when he says sovereignity means sovereign.

Or maybe he was just doing too much bass fishing the night before.

Bush’s malapropisms and other verbal gaffes are not a sign that he is unintelligent—he is not.  Rather, “Bushisms” generally reveal Bush’s illiteracy (a privileged son like him never needed no “book learnin’”, and a concerted effort was no doubt imposed by Daddy sometime after the grocery store debacle to make sure that Dubya acted like a “real [i.e., stupid, in the view of the Herberts and the Walkers] American") or his fear: he bumbles because he is afraid to answer the question either because he doesn’t know the answer (he is a very lazy man—the xbox analogy is perfect) or because he knows the answer is not what the public wants to hear.

They also often reveal his ignorance, as this one does.  It’s not that Bush is incapable of understanding the concept of tribal sovereignty or its implications, it’s that he doesn’t care to.  Still, I urge both those who like to snicker at Bushisms and those who believe the snickerers are elitists wrongly maligning a great man simply because he is a “regular guy” to read/listen very carefully to what he says.  Often, when Bush “screws up”, it is because he has forgotten or failed to stay “on message” and has said what is in his heart—and that should frighten all of us.

For example:

“Give me a chance to be your president and America will be safer and stronger and better.”
(this was said during his first term of office)

“I have been disgraced about what I’ve seen on TV that took place in [Abu Ghraib] prison.”
(among other things, an admission that he gets his information about Iraq from the TV)

“God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear.”
(no, he’s not a religious nut with messianic tendencies, he’s just stoopid)

“[A]s you know, these are open forums, you’re able to come and listen to what I have to say.”

“The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the — the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice.”

“See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.”

“I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves.”

“[T]hat’s just the nature of democracy. Sometimes pure politics enters into the rhetoric.”
(In the Rovian Era, it’s all rhetoric)

“We had a good Cabinet meeting, talked about a lot of issues. Secretary of State and Defense brought us up to date about our desires to spread freedom and peace around the world.”
(It’s not the facts that matter, but what we want that matters)

“I urge the leaders in Europe and around the world to take swift, decisive action against terror groups such as Hamas, to cut off their funding, and to support — cut funding and support, as the United States has done.”

And, of course, there’s this one.

(For more frightening quotes, click here.)