Holy Shit! Bush not fluent in Spanish!

[CynicalGabe]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/04/bush.spanish.ap/index.html

I love it. After throwing out a few words in speeches, with the dumb smirk on his face during the 2000 election and a couple of badly-stilted spanish campaign commercials, I totally thought he was fluent.

[MEBuckner]

@CNN

McClellan’s comment was noticeable because presidential press secretaries usually boast about a president’s ability rather than talk about any shortcomings. McClellan is in the last days of his job, leaving the White House next week.

"Also, all that ‘brush-clearing’ he’s always doing on his ranch? Man, that dude can’t even ride a horse. I mean, on a good day, he falls off maybe three or four times; and as for the ‘brush’, he still hasn’t figured out what poison ivy looks like.

“Oh, and one time, I was using the john in the West Wing, and in walked the ‘Commander-in-Chief’, and I gotta tell ya, really not that impressive, if you know what I mean. I feel sorry for Laur–Hey, who are you guys? Hey–Lemme go! Ow!”

[Otto]

Wait…you heard him trying to speak Spanish and you still thought he was fluent? Wow.

[madmonk28]

They’re trying to give Bush political cover on the immigration issue. He is seen by a segment of his party as too easy on illegal immigration. That is why he stepped into the issue of the National Anthem being sung in Spanish. He said he was against it, but it turns out in 2000 it was sung in Spanish at some of his campaign events and that he sung it in Spanish himself.

McClellan is arguing that Bush isn’t able to sing it in Spanish.

[Squink]

Helping matters, Bush also speaks fluent Spanish. So does his brother, Jeb Bush, who is married to a Mexican-American and was elected governor of Florida, thanks in part to a strong Hispanic vote.

http://www.s-t.com/daily/11-98/11-13-98/c05op077.htm

Bush also took a question from a Spanish reporter and answered in fluent Spanish. He said he believes the America dream is meant for people of all backgrounds.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/1999news/6_15a.htm

I was listening the other day to Governor Bush speak fluent Spanish to Hispanic voters when it struck me that Spanish is becoming unofficially, but truly, the second language of the United States.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/essays/may00/rodriguez_5-9.html

It’s also good to see President Bush, (a fluent Spanish-speaker, by the way), leading the vision for comprehensive immigration reform

http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/all-column-aapr22,0,3370037.column

[GIGObuster]

Bilingual and bi-lame on both languages.

[bup]

McClellan’s an idiot. All he had to say was, “He doesn’t know the words to the anthem in Spanish.”

I guess he wanted to get in a dig at his boss as he left.

[Marley23]

So what language does he speak?

This is interesting, actually, because I have been saying for days that Bush is a hypocrite for pulling that “the anthem should be in English” crap after giving campaign speeches in Spanish in 2000. [I vaguely remember a New York Times article in the fall of 2000 saying that both Bush and Gore spoke decent Spanish; the piece had native Spanish-speakers highlighting their individual strengths and weaknesses with the language.] This is the first time I’ve seen anyone else call him on it. And as for McClellan - I have no idea if he’s criticizing Bush or trying to protect him. That’s the way the last few years of Bush’s Presidency have been: his only defense against dishonesty is incompetence.

[Skywatcher]

@Marley23

So what language does he speak?

Politician.

[pravnik]

“The president can speak Spanish but not that well,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. “He’s not that good with his Spanish.”

¡Ay, el chasquido!

[HMS_Irruncible]

Bush does not speak Spanish. Bush has always not spoken spanish. Bush has always been at war with illegal immigration.

</1984>

[guizot]

Bush’s pronunciation of Spanish is horrible. I haven’t had time to analyze his syntax, grammar, etc. It’s merely a conceit to get votes.

[PapSett]

Hell, he’s barely fluent in English…

[caveman]

@Lute Skywatcher

Politician.

And no mean feat that is! After all, it requires the ability to speak out of both sides of your mouth. Way harder than rolling your Rs!

[CynicalGabe]

@Otto

Wait…you heard him trying to speak Spanish and you still thought he was fluent? Wow.

Sorry, I messed up the coding on my [sarcasm] tags.

[Guinastasia]

Perhaps Peggy Hill was his Spanish teacher.

[ouryL]

Bush is as fluent in Spanish as he is English. :eek:

[DiosaBellissima]

Oh Em Gee, guys! I mean, Ricky Martin played at Bush’s inauguration, so CLEARLY Bush speaks Mexican. Duh!

[picunurse]

Language as a second language? :rolleyes:
I once spoke with a guy who had been temporarily assigned to the secret service. His job, along with 3 other guys was to follow Dubau around when daddy was PODUS.
Mostly they played darts. In the 2 years they played, George never got any better.
The guy also said Dubau wasn’t allowed to drive dad’s boat. I saw a flim clip from 2003, on his birthday, with him driving dad’s boat. Mom looked so proud, Dad looked terrified.

[Marley23]

I should have done this research earlier. A few Google results from Bush+Gore+Spanish:
Bush and Gore employ splintered Spanish

As the Spanish wire service EFE has noted, Bush speaks the language poorly, “but with great confidence.”

Neither could be described as fluent. […]

By all accounts, Gore’s Spanish is much worse. His campaign has spread the word that he is relearning the language he first picked up during a high school summer spent in Mexico. But the vice president clearly does not remember much. With a few unscripted exceptions, his use of Spanish is limited to a couple of oft-repeated phrases, and even those he mispronounces badly.

Bush, Gore using bilingual approach.

They’ve got Web sites in Spanish. They issue press releases and toss around sound bites in Spanish. They make speeches, at least partly in Spanish, to Hispanic groups. Gore is even taking lessons from his eldest daughter, who once spent a summer studying in Spain. And both candidates might appear in campaign ads speaking Spanish, as Bush did in his 1998 gubernatorial re-election race.

[…]

But Bush and Gore occasionally make mistakes. Richard Estrada, a columnist for The Dallas Morning News, says that in a speech to the League of United Latin American Citizens last year, Bush kept referring to abrogados when he meant to say abogados (lawyers). This year, Gore told a Hispanic audience he wants to work with them mano a mano (man to man) when what he really meant was mano en mano (hand in hand).

Como se dice “Freudian Slip” en Español?