July 16, 2006
Bushisms Make Even White House Transcribers "Sic." BuzzFlash Finds Dozens of Gaffes Documented on WhiteHouse.gov
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
We've all heard plenty of "Bushisms" over the years, when Bushit offends not only our sentiments but the English language. Entire 365-day calendars have been filled with various gaffes and slip-ups.
Recently, BuzzFlash.com discovered dozens of Bushisms on the President's own website, www.WhiteHouse.gov. A search on the site for the Latin word sic, which is used to indicate that printed mistakes were in the original source and are not typos, reveals several specific instances when Bush's own transcribers were forced to distinguish their own competency from that of the President.
Of course, this method only found the small percentage of Bushisms that happened to be specifically labeled as such. The following are just a few of the highlights we copied straight off the site:
* * *
They ask, what's
the job like to be President. And the answer to that job [sic] is you
make a lot of decisions. (7-7-06)
(if he can't answer questions, at least he can answer "jobs")
You know it's so much easy [sic] just to shove these problems down the road. (7-11-06)
You need to have you a governor in the great state
of Mississippi who understands what it means to create an environment
for job growth, who
hurts when he hears people are [sic] working. (11-1-03)
(we hurt when we hear Bush is working!)
When we catch illegal immigrants
from other country [sic] it is not as easy to send them home. (5-15-06)
(especially the ones who don't speak the English good!)
It was not always
a given that the United States and America [sic] would have a close relationship.
(6-29-06)
(either he meant the US and Japan as the full context implies, or he
just found out the nation's full name)
I sent a supplemental up to the United States Congress recently to make sure our troops what they have they need [sic] to be able to do their jobs. (5-17-06)
A 19-year-old [sic] veteran of the police force, Officer
Cox was off-duty when he stepped up to help fellow officers in pursuit
of a suspect. (5-15-06)
(a teenager was already a veteran cop?)
I was not pleased that Hamas has refused to announce [sic] its desire to destroy Israel. (5-7-06)
I'm pleased
to report that it's got some good news for the American taxpayer. This
economy is growing, federal taxes are rising [sic], and we're cutting
the federal deficit faster than we expected. (7-11-06)
(rising taxes means good news?)
I was more than happy to sign its extension, and we've been very hard [sic] in implementing it. (4-10-06)
I strongly believe what we're doing is the right thing. If I didn't believe it -- I'm going to repeat what I said before -- I'd pull the troops out, nor if I believed we could win [sic], I would pull the troops out. (4-6-06)
In
the 1980s, the United States helped Afghan freedom fighters drive the
Soviet Red Army from Kabul, and once the Soviets withdrew, we decided
our work was finished and left the Afghans to defend [sic] for themselves.
Soon the terrorists moved in to fill the vacuum. (3-29-06)
(the word mix-up
wasn't even the biggest problem here. Last time we checked, the "freedom
fighters" we helped - like bin Laden - were the
terrorists)
The people of the city (Tal Afar, Iraq) still have many challenges
to overcome, including old-age [sic] resentments that still create suspicion.
(3-20-06)
(so now he's blaming Iraq on the elderly?)
Government should be an advocate
of faith-based and community-based programs, not an impedent [sic] to
faith-based programs. (4-1-05)
(if there's one thing we can agree on, it's that government shouldn't
be an "impedent")
My six years as governor of Texas have been
invaluable to me as I carry out my duties as the presidency [sic]. (2-27-05)
(Hillary said she and Bill "are the president," but only George
can be "the presidency")
Saddam would still be in power if (John
Kerry) were the President of the United States, and the world would be
a lot better off. [sic] (10-9-04)
(why did they add sic here?)
Manuel Guerra contacted [sic] polio as an
infant. (4-23-02)
("hi, polio, how's it going?")
Here are three bonus quotes we found on the White House website from others:
Laura Bush: The poverty rate in households headed by a high school
dropout is ten times higher than in a high school [sic] headed by a college
graduate.
(2-15-05)
(we hope so!)
Dick Cheney: So we've never made the case, or argued the case that
somehow Osama bin Laden [sic] was directly involved in 9/11. (3-29-06)
(apparently he meant Saddam here; maybe he just had them backwards
all along by mistake?)
Chief Justice John Roberts: My nomination was
announced some 10 weeks ago here in the White House, the home of the
executive branch. This
morning, further up Pennsylvania Avenue, it was approved in the
Capitol, the home
of the executive [sic] branch. (9-29-05)
(this explains a lot about his judicial philosophy!)
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
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