That's a double barf alert. Who wrote that again? Molly Idiot?
Know what I'm saying.
I could never become a polished public figure who speaks with a silver tongue. Heck, I can't talk to my mother-in-law without getting tongue tied.
I have always known that the President is constantly trying to say things "just right", because words have powerful meanings. Because of this, I would listen harder, not expect him to just rattle off anything. He is worth listening to, no matter how many simple errors he might make.
It's the concepts and issues that he speaks of that are of the utmost importance. Not to mention, who could live through the past six years with Gore and Kerry droning on!? They have nothing inspiring to say.
His impromptu speech at Ground Zero, his speech in the National Cathedral, his speech after the Space Shuttle tragedy, his speeches in Iraq on two surprise visits... all of these WILL be remembered as highlights in his term, not because sound bites are illuminting. But because his IDEAS are everlasting, not the small slips of the tongue.
Strange that writers continue to use President Bush's "approval rating" at its lowest point rather than at its highest point. Approval ratings flucuate all the time. Why is it more pertinent to cite the lowest blip of an unnamed poll?
Good one, Molly.
I have always suspected that Bush "plays dumb" so that he will be "misunderestimated," makng it easier to surprise everyone when he pulls a rabbit out of his hat.
But I also think this is a misguided strategy, and one which has done him a lot of self-inflicted damage which cannot be undone.
A good leader is of necessity a good communicator, IMHO. And a good communicator, Bush ain't.
If he is playing dumb, I wish he would knock it off.
What the talking (air)heads forget-at their own peril-is that Mr. Bush says what he means, and means what he says. Who cares what they think? Are they President?
It's particulalry amusing to see Hollywood stars bash the President's public speaking. They might need six or seven tries to complete a scene and they're working from a script.
The media presented nonstop and unedited coverage of the events surrounding the hours and days immediately following 9/11. Many Americans got their first unscripted, unedited view of their brand-spanking-new President. They liked what they saw. His approval ratings soared.
I can hear you. The rest of the world can hear you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
The media works very hard to edit Bush so that he appears inarticualte. Meanwhile, they portray folks like Kerry as brilliant intellectual spokesmen. Why hasn't anyone noticed that these DEMwits wax on and on and never actually say anything?
With a straight face Scarborough insisted people in Bush's administration told him they think the President is an idiot.
I don't think that anyone who went to Yale for his undergraduate work and then did an MBA at Harvard's B-school is stupid. But as the article observes, Molly Ivins is, for once, correct.
My brother is like this. Very bright man, went to engineering school but is also quite cultured, well-travelled, and well-read, knowledgeable about art, classical music, architecture, and history. Quite an astute person. But he trips over his own tongue and people don't initially realize how very intelligent he is.
It's like the commercial says: "People judge you by the words you use." They also judge you by your accent. And in much of the US, particularly in the Northeast, if you have a Southern or Texas accent and speak a little slower than people do in New York, there is a belief that slower speech = slower thinking. So when the president speaks with a Texas accent and stumbles over the Washingtonese language provided by his speechwriters, the intelligentsia takes him for a fool and then writes articles about how stupid he is. Then the rest of America interprets his malapropisms as evidence of stupidity.