I got tagged. This meme, or whatever you call it, has been allllllll over the place. I just so happened to be reading at Jen's and saw that she tagged me at the end. My apologies to anyone else, if they tagged me first and I didn't see. Here be zee rules:
1) Pick up the nearest book
2) Go to page 123
3) Read through the first 5 sentences
4) Plagar... post the next three
[5) See if you can say something interesting and original about them]
So... from Bush on the Couch by Justin A Frank, M.D.
While one could argue that many politicians share one or two of these traits, it's difficult to name a single politician who exhibits all of them. When viewed together, they form a pattern of related linguistic misfires and abuses that raises startling and profound questions. Not surprisingly, Bush's wayward way with words reminds us once again of the learning and coping mechanisms he uses to try to tame the chaos that rages in his mind.
Ooooeee... I have to confess to not having read the entire book yet, so this makes me wonder what "All of these traits" are? Then when he goes further and says not just "linguistic misfires," but "linguistic abuses," he reinforces my belief that Dubya is not a moron who accidentally butchers the language, but that he's smart enough to use the misuse of language as a manipulative tool. Perhaps one of those "profound questions," eh?
His "wayward way with words..." like "dissembling?" Nice way to talk about his butchering of the language, but regardless of how you say it, it supposedly reminds us of TWO deficiencies: Deficiencies of learning mechanisms, and deficiencies of coping mechanisms. To me this says Dub can't cope, because he can't learn (from experience.) His language butchery are exhibits of his attempts to hammer square pegs into round holes. And of course, failing, consistently, "to tame the chaos that rages in his mind" (such as it is)... Does that really need embellishment?
I know the meme says 3 sentences, but I'm going to go beyond and include a fourth sentence; the one that ends the paragraph from which the first three came:
Moreover, closer inspection suggests that Bush doesn't just struggle with language; he perverts it, in ways that reveal a capacity for indifference and contempt that reverberates far beyond the written or spoken word.
As I've said many times before: The genus of Bush/Rove was to convince the world he was a moron; to get people to "misunderestimate" him; to thereby truly become the master of low expectations. He's just a stupid drunk frat boy, right? Yeah, who's fucked up the country and the world in ways no one could have imagined a US president ever would. And I do remember Nixon, so there.
No tags; I'd probably just hit people a second time.
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2 comments:
My aunt bought me a roll of George W. Bush toilet paper. I ran out this weekend so I've had to use it. It has a bunch of "stupid" Bush quotes, including the one you mentioned that Bush is "misunderestimated." But a few of the others have caught my eye such as,
"We need an energy policy that encourages consumption."
That quote is not so stupid when you realize that he was telling the truth as he sees it. I'll have to do a post on this sometime because I think we really need to re-evaluate taking Bush at his word. Sentences that used to sound dumb, turned out to be exactly what he did... and we still have a year left.
He may have been the most disastrous President in American history, but he was also the most effective. We should be listening to him much closer so that we might be able to stop his final year plans.
Such as the summit of the North American Union he has planned to take place in New Orleans this year - the city he privatized the shit out of after a major hurricane. This announcement was completely ignored by the coverage of the State of the Union. Maybe it shouldn't be.
Jen,
You're spot-on when you say Dubya has been the most effective Preznit we've ever had: Uncompromisingly stubborn and pig headed, he's gotten damn near every single thing he's wanted. And damn near every single fucking thing he's done has been or led to a disaster. Except that undersea sanctuary north of Hawaii. I still haven't figured out what's reeeeeeally going on with that. It sounds on the surface like a good thing; so out of character for him.
And then there's the megalomania. Remember when he said, "I think Jeb would make a great President too." By his inclusion of the word "too" (meaning also) at the end, he's saying that he himself is a great president. He's like that African dictator, Bokassa, who made himself a general and then lengthened his coat so he could wear all the medals he awarded himself.
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