This made me chuckle…I happen to teach 6th grade, and I happened to have watched this painful speech on TV yesterday. Your description is right on the mark.
He’s so, so bad. Why can’t he go away?
Not that Kerry was all that much better. It seems like we’re doomed to have a never-ending rotation of idiots and/or puppets in the White House from now on. Real leaders are too threatening, and probably too smart to have anything to do with Washington. Bleh.
So on target.
You know, looking back, one thing that decreases my respect for my parents is how they talked to us when we were kids. I see adults do this all the time. They take kids too seriously. They feel genuinely offended when kids “talk back” or “show disrespect.” They engage kids in pathetic verbal battles and mind games: “You always have to have the last word, don’t you?” or “I’m older than you, so I know better.”
Bush always seems to be talking to us as though he’s the parent and we’re the children. He’s going to tell us what’s what because he’s older.
He never fuckin’ gets that many of us are just plain smarter, more educated, and more engaged than he is! That his logic-for-six-year-olds doesn’t work on us and is embarrassing him!
It’s too disgusting for words. The only thing more appalling than that this man is the leader of the Empire is that so many people defend him. Weep.
I know this is veering off topic, but I know exactly what you’re talking about. One of my friends’ dads was like this. He would bluster around about demanding “respect” (which he seemed to define as instant obedience and complete submission) and yet seemed to be determined to do everything in his power to show why he was unworthy of it.
Kids can smell a hypocrite a mile away. A lecture about drinking responsibly is ignored if the kid sees you driving drunk or getting into fights. Likewise, a lecture about respecting one’s elders or superiors means nothing if dad is bitching about what an idiot his boss is for hours on end and cussing about what a pain in the ass his elderly parents are. How can you expect your kids to be honest if they see you stealing or cheating your way into things you don’t deserve? How can you expect them to respect you if you show no respect to any other person?
To bring it back to Bush, how can we expect world leaders to obey UN dictates when we’ve demonstrated that we feel the UN has no authority over us? How can we condemn other nations for violating human rights when we’re blatantly engaging in the same actions?
Bush is inept and embarrassing, so why shouldn’t his press conferences be the same? The press conference was just another reminder that he doesn’t like dealing with the press, and we already know he doesn’t think the press serves much of a purpose in a democracy.
When he said “I’ve earned political capital” after the 2004 election, I wondered if one of his advisers was smacking himself in the forehead for using the phrase in front of Bush. And he’s so lucky that at some point, “can’t talk his way out of a paper bag” turned into “stays on message.” He may not know how to speak, but he uses his buzzwords over and over, and apparently that’s good enough for some people.
Oh no. It’s not because he’s older. It’s because he’s the President. Presidents should be smart. Some Presidents have been very smart. He’s the President. That makes him smart too, doesn’t it? How could he get elected – twice – if he wasn’t smart?
Every time he leans on a podium with that patronizing smirk on his face, I wanna puke.
Hey, that’s better than me–it so grates me, I want to slap that smirk off his face. At least your puking wouldn’t get you tackled by secret service agents.
Parent to child:
As bad as are the smirk and the ABCdarian explanations that’s not my problem. My problem with GW is his prosecution of bad ideas, such as invading Iraq, with the zeal of a true believer. If he wants to do a Thelma and Louise more power to him, but he’s taking 300 million people with him.
NO! He is taking BILLIONS with him, Americans need to realize this! US foreign policy isn’t just a news headline, it affects millions upon billions of people.
I know most people on this site realize this, but can we agree to hold off the fight against ignorance on all other fronts while we confront this one. Labeling countries “evil”, threatening military action for testing a freakin’ missile, invading countries, withholding UN dues, all affect billions! People listen when America talks and people across the globe cower when the president rants about a war without borders! When CNN shows a bomb exploding or a Marine shooting widely into a facade of a building in Iraq, PEOPLE ARE DYING!!!
Bush might be screwing the 300 million to who he is accountable for, but he is killing thousands more because… he is a terrorist?
I dunno, it seems to me that a critic of GWB that can mangle history this badly should probably be a bit more circumspect.
The U.S. certainly helped South Vietnam (illegally) avoid honoring the treaty that was supposed to result in reunification of the North and South.
The U.S. certainly attacked the North using an awful lot of bombs.
At no time did the U.S. “invade” Vietnam (North or South) and if the U.S. presence in the South is twisted to be an “invasion” it was certainly not “repelled” (which implies a direct and immediate removal–not a withdrawal after seven or twelve years, depending on when one starts the clock).
Bush said that all of the countries in the Far East except one – presumably North Korea – live by the will of the people . He made it sound like they are democracies. When he said that, I began to Tivo. I should be able to get his exact quote.
Because of that comment, I tried to find a transcript later that same day. Nothing. I don’t get it.
headdesk That was an edited TV show. Bryan Ekers nails it in this post in this thread.
See tomndebb’s post.
Uh huh. Gotta cite for that? Preferably not one from Leno knock-offs.
Hey, how about you tell me the one about how American kids are 20th in the world as compared to kids in other nations.
This small mind is apparently unaware that “capitalist” doesn’t necessarily mean democratic. SK has indeed become less authoritarian lately–is that what he’s talking about?
Me, I loved the way he lauded Rod the Governor (I’m not about to try to spell his name) for the growth in jobs(in April), and then went straight to a fund raiser dinner for Topinka, the GOP candidate for Governor, who is attacking Rod on this very issue.
God, politics is a slimey business.
I can’t stand to hear the man talk (Bush)–he either misplaces a modifier, uses the wrong word, mixes up his pronouns–something. Every friggin’ sentence has an error in it. No-one, not even Rev Spooner, is so inept with language. I always believed that Reagan showed his Alzeimer’s through his speech patterns, long before his odd logic and physical symptoms presented themselves, but Bush has him beat in terms of lack of communication skills. IMO, he is what we see–and a whole mess of people seem to believe that the Emperor is wearing clothes.
:rolleyes:
Not really related to the OP, but something that may be of interest to those posting in this thread …
Bush sings U2! He seems pretty well-spoken here!
Interesting that not a single stormtrooper has stopped by to defend the Furher. I think even the wingnuts are sick of the fucker by now.
Wolfian
As far as American students lagging behind almost all of the students of industrialzed nations, those sites are easy to find:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41278-2004Dec6.html
Of course that’s from a story about 18 months old. I think things have improved drastically since then don’t you? :rolleyes:
As far as Mr Leno’s “JayWalking” segments, I’m afraid those people are the “norm” and not the exceptions.
Please tell me you are or are going to be a parent? I’m an adult and my father still does this to me. :mad:
I agree with you as well, I get the same vibe from Bush. Like we just aren’t old enough or experienced to understand the decisions he’s making.
I am convinced that Bush is now just a pull-string toy with ‘action phrases’ that the administration is using to distract us.
One of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time was when the Daily Show constructed a speech with his buzzwords from clips over the past 6 years.