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| Intellectually Curious George -- "Texas English'' is his first language |
| 2006-08-24 |
| Throughout the Internet over the last few years, those who have been in the personal presence of W.... always have the same message of John at Powerline. It was, in short, the most inspiring forty minutes I've experienced in politics. And I think I remember, he was one of those predicting defeat for W in '04. Meet W from this article..... then from Powerline the post titled, "Hail to the Chief" and repeat, "Let Bush be Bush." They both may be right, but I'd like to submit an alternative explanation for Bush's linguistic deficit. Language barrier. This theory occurred to me not long ago at an off-the-record luncheon with Bush and a hundred or so of his supporters. I was the guest of a guest, and welcomed the opportunity to observe the president in his natural habitat. What I witnessed was revealing. Not only was the man fluent in the English language and intellectually agile, he was knowledgeable on a wide range of subjects raised during a 90-minute Q&A. Someone apparently had been slipping intellectual-curiosity tablets into Bush's cola. Toward the end, one of the guests said, "Mr. President, I think if Americans could hear you speak the way you have today, you'd have a 95 percent approval rating.'' |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #9 My brother attended one of these get-togethers with W and reported the same thing. Especially how fired up he gets when he talks about doing what he believes is the right policy. |
| Posted by: FWIW in DC 2006-08-24 16:42 |
| #8 It's clear that Mr. Bush went native when he moved down to Texas, and that the local patois is more natural to him after all this time than that he was born to. Some people are like that -- you should hear me after spending some time with Mr. Wife's Indian colleagues (with your eyes closed you'd think I was wearing a sari with a bindi stuck over my "third eye") or after we'd lived in Germany a little while (one of Mr. Wife's colleagues there was relieved to learn that he'd brought me with him from America rather than being a local "souveneir" that had subsequently been in a brain-damaging car accident -- my Americanness was clearly not apparent to eye or ear). |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-08-24 10:56 |
| #7 And while at Harvard he took a class called Management Communications (MC, ta da). He has been shown to communicate well to over 50% of the voting public. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-24 10:42 |
| #6 "Texas English"? Bush is from Connecticut. He was educated in the finest Northeastern blueblood schools. He went to freaking Harvard, for chrissake. |
| Posted by: gromky 2006-08-24 10:10 |
| #5 those who worry about how ideas are communicated rather than what is being communicated are fools. This is nonsense. How you communicate is at least as important as what you communicate. This is common sense. If you don't believe this, try telling your wife how much you care about her, but do so in an angry or lacadaisacal tone. Try telling your boss all the correct information, but do so in an unpolished and unprofessional manner. Have you ever taken a speech class, ferchrisakes? Think before you speak, please. This is Rantburg. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-08-24 10:03 |
| #4 those who worry about how ideas are communicated rather than what is being communicated are fools. those who don't worry about if their effectiveness in communicatiing are foold. This has ever been the great strength of the left: care about communication and not miss an opportunity to send the message. So while America slept, the left has turned the world against she. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-08-24 04:43 |
| #3 It is a failing of the Bush advisors to create a format that works for him - leave the man's style alone, allowing him to connect with his audience - which he can certainly do. Reagan was Hollyweird trained - and loved the camera, audience or no. Clintoon was adept at the small "townhall meeting" format, where he could check out the "babes". I figure George is at his best at a Texas BBQ, excelling at the one on one or small groups in an informal setting - talking Texican. Hell, even when he's "into" a press briefing at the WH like on Monday, you can tell he can connect - with everyone but petrified Helen and the real assholes. The drawback there is that those asshat MSM reporters are falling all over themselves trying to force sound bytes, create a mistake posing their "Do you still beat your wife?" BS, rather than posing intelligent questions and taking the President's response as given. Shucks, somebody on his staff shud get it by now. They shud jus' leave 'im be. Tell 'im to let his hair down and have fun. Let Bush be Bush. Let 'im do a little rip-snortin' and ass-kickin'. Let the Beltway Boobs and the MSM go fuck themselves. |
| Posted by: flyover 2006-08-24 02:47 |
| #2 John from Powerline's comment that Bush is a fine communicator up close and personal tracks with something I read a few years back - that GWB was kind of a 180-degrees-out-of-phase version of Reagan. Ol' Ronnie was incomparable in front of a crowd, but in front of a small group, he came across as awkward and even a little confused. Dubya, on the other hand...well, we've seen him trying to do the mass communcation thingy with |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2006-08-24 01:18 |
| #1 those who worry about how ideas are communicated rather than what is being communicated are fools. I'd rather hear a good idea from an ignorant, tootless bum than a bad idea from a well spoken, well respected person. but hey - that's just me. |
| Posted by: Flavitle Omart7450 2006-08-24 00:50 |