It turns out that Dubya is not the only member of the family who is clueless about the world:
I guess the Democratic People’s Republic of Florida’s trade with the Republic of Spain is growing lately! :rolleyes:
It’s not as bad as some of his dear brother’s blunders, but I wonder why he felt the need to use the full (incorrect) name for a country, when he could just have said Spain instead.
Note to Mods: I put this in MPSIMS, because it’s mainly pointless, but if it should go somewhere else, please feel free to move it. Thanks.
I’ll never forget when GHWB was running against Clinton, he was asked what a gallon of milk cost. He said $1. Former head of the CIA, Representative from Texas, and VPOTUS, has no idea what a gallon of milk costs us peons. That says it all, to me.
Eh, be fair. The article merely displays the quote in the OP. It looks like Jeb didn’t call Spain a republic, but merely said “president” instead of “prime minister”. Since he was speaking in Spanish, I’d say cut him some slack. It’s a blunder, but not a major one.
Yeah, the “Bush was amazed at the supermarket scanner” story will probably have as long a lifetime as the “Al Gore said he invented the Internet” story.
But you’re right, mike, in the fight against ignorance, we shouldn’t be citing any such fictitious stories here.
And incorrectly referring to a constitutional monarchy as a republic is pretty small potatoes, IMHO. I’m hardly a Bush fan, but I think I’ll stick to substantive reasons for that, rather than rely on irrelevant trivia like this.
Yeah, let’s nitpick every little thing we can about the President and distract ourselves from legitimate gripes about his policies. It’s so much easier to just snag on every little thing that fits your preconceptions and shove people in categories than actually try to be non-partisan. Objectivity is overrated anyway.
The fact that this non-event inspired two threads here on the SDMB boggles my mind. I’d have closed this one, though; at least the other was in the right forum and didn’t have quite as blindingly ignorant of a thread title.
I’m sorry if the thread title and the OP didn’t come out as humouros, which was the intent. I apologyse for making such a gross generalisation about the Bush family based only on the remarks of two of its members about foreing countries.
The OP was meant as hyperbole and I apologyse for not making it absolutely clear that some members of the Bush family may not be ignorant about foreing countries. Thank you all for your input, I will take into account in future postings.
I should also point out that it is not such a “non-event” as it might be perceived in the United States. Spain was at one time a Republic, when Franco was in power, and therefore the name Republic of Spain brings back memories of that time to the mind of many Spaniards.Pointing this out was not the intent of my OP, since I am not one of the people who took offense, although I do think it did show a certain degree of ignorance about the country about which he was speaking. The main point I was trying to make, which I thought I clearly stated in the OP but unfortunately did not come across properly because of the title, was that I found it strange that Jeb Bush took the trouble to mention the full name of the country (incorrectly), when saying “the President of Spain” would have been a) sufficient, b) correct and c) easier.
Having said that, I would like to address two specific posts,
Just to clarify: I did not make any partisan statements and I was talking about an error made by Jeb Bush, not George W. Bush. Although I did mention prior similar blunders in which George W. Bush and made a gross generalization for which I have apologysed, I can’t find any relation between your statements and my OP. Objectivity is not overrated at all, you should consider that.
White Lightning. I don’t think there is any reason for you to be rude. I did state that if a mod considered this to be in the wrong forum, then it should be moved and I explained the reasons for placing it here. Your tone is not appreciated.
Enh. I was just saying that had I been the mod to close one of the two threads on this topic, I’d likely have closed this one just to save trouble. As far as my tone, you say ‘hyperbole’ I say ‘ignorant.’ Potato-potato. I am sorry if I hurt your feelings.
So I guess, by the standards you want to ascribe to our President, you also would fail…
Ya know, with everything else that President Bush (and any President) has to worry about, knowing the EXACT history, in total, of EVERY country that EVER existed doesn’t seem to be a major consideration for me. If he had called Spain, say…Norway, then I would agree that would be of some concern. Let’s save our time and energy for something that matters, shall we?
