March 31, 2001

4:42 AM

Bush laughs at himselfA new approach: join the others in laughing at you and maybe they will come to think of you as "just plain good folks." My problem is not what he says or how it is said but what his policies portend. But I could be wrong.
posted by Postroad (9 comments total)

Video clips of his stand-up'ish routine are available from both CNN and MSNBC.
posted by frednorman at 4:57 AM on March 31, 2001

I don't like him now for the same reasons I didn't like him before other people elected him into office.

He wears a suit.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:52 AM on March 31, 2001

Actually, it's turned in to an extremely effective technique for controlling the media. Everyone spends so much time talking about his malapropisms that they don't bother fact-checking his statements.
posted by electro at 11:27 AM on March 31, 2001

Now, maybe I'm just a linguistics nut, but I couldn't help but scratch my head when he explained the line, "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" He says he was using the "intransitive plural subjunctive tense". All four of these are indeed grammar terms, but put together in this context they make no sense. "To be" is considered neither transitive nor intransitive, and his usage couldn't be considered subjunctive in any dialect of English _I'm_ aware of.

In his defense, I personally don't care if he speaks a variety of English which differs grammatically from the "standard". (Although, it can't be denied that a large number of people do care and this is a reality to be reckoned with.) What I don't like is when he says things which are clearly attempts to sound grandiose but end up just sounding ridiculous. And other times he says things which even under the closest analysis and prodding fail to yield any semblance of coherence.

I have no problem with a president who may occasionally misspeak but can laugh at himself and still takes his responsibility seriously. What ticks me off is when he pretends to be a center-leaning conservative but then selects some of the most right-wing people imaginable for his administration (Ashcroft, *cough*)... or when it's so obvious what's going on with him and his big business pals... or when he refuses to be briefed for more than ten minutes on any particular issue... or when it sure looks like he's not really the one in charge. No, it's safe to say that my distaste for the man has nothing to do with his English.
posted by caveday at 12:18 PM on March 31, 2001

This other story covering the correspondents' dinner give him lots of points for an arsenic joke: ''As you know, we're studying safe levels for arsenic in drinking water,'' Bush told the ballroom. ''The scientists told us we need to test the water glasses on 3,000 people. Thank you for participating.''

Call me crazy, but even if the administration's decision to bend over for the coal industry and repeal EPA's drinking water safety standards made for hilarious context, I don't want to hear jokes about poisoning the press corps from the guy who just last week canceled regular press conferences.
posted by bumppo at 5:17 PM on March 31, 2001

Where's aaron?
posted by lagado at 6:36 PM on March 31, 2001

Aaron is under house arrest. But Straw got away.
posted by Postroad at 8:01 PM on March 31, 2001

Ho ho ho... we all be Jes'-Folks, round here.
posted by TheShovel at 12:05 AM on April 3, 2001

Good job getting our troops out of China Mr. President. You have a tough job. I'm curious what Bush thinks of www.rawilson.com since of humor and the depths Bush perceives Bob's since of Humor.
posted by luckyduckydave at 6:05 PM on April 12, 2001