The president speaks!

There has been some commentary following Bush's apparent failure to recall the familiar expression: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

This brings to mind the whole set of malapropisms by the President - commonly referred to as Bushisms. These Bushisms haven't been analyzed in any thorough manner, so we decided to take a look at the current set, and see if there was a pattern. There is. An apparent failure to translate thoughts into coherent speech, which manifests itself in several distinct ways: Using a noun, verb, or adjective which is opposite that of the President's intention. Errors of tense and number (especially singular vs. plural), and plenty of repetitions and tautologies. This is particularly notable when Bush is dealing with complex sentences (anything over and above a simple subject-verb-object). Bush's failure to communicate basic ideas is the result of sloppy thinking - or worse.

If you are interested in how the Bushisms stack up, we invite you to take a look at the following table.

Sometime later we shall present a detailed analysis of how Bush's thoughts get (mis)translated into error-laden speech. While plenty of folks chuckle at the Presidents verbal stumbling, we think that it's more serious. It appears that Bush's inability to handle complex thoughts may have led him over time to forsake rationalistic approaches, and instead, make decisions based on his feelings. This may explain why he disdains nuance (as he's said), and why he has simple solutions for everything. E.g.

Tax cuts always help.

Good people will make any controversial program (like drilling in ANWR) come out all right.

American military power is benevolent. (Again, Americans are "good people").

Evil is the reason for misfortunes.

...and so on...

posted by Quiddity at 9/18/2002 11:19:00 PM