Okay… It was an emotional speech that tugged at the heartstrings and stirred patriotism. In the “plus column” are marks for (1) no mention of that INANE and INSULTING “Infinite Justice” tag some idiot placed on our military operation, (2) a couple of memorable and quotable lines, and (3) stating that American demands for justice are not subject to negotiation.
On the other hand, I feel that the President’s speech writer(s) made some mistakes, some “so-so” and others that can only be put in some “bonehead” category. So, here are three that caught my attention and detracted from an otherwise great oration:
(so-so) George W is incapable of correctly pronouncing “terror” or “terrorism”, so the use of those particular words should have been held to a minimum. In other words: “How much does a thesaurus cost?” vs. “How many times should we make George say terra?”
(bonehead courtesy) CANADA = FRIEND… Just because Btitain’s Prime Minister was in the gallery is NO reason to forget our other friends. I’m saddened by the omission and, because the Canadians have been our friends for so long, this would have been a very appropriate time to have acknowledged this. Canada would only have cost George three syllables.
(bonehead message) There is growing pressure to declare a HOLY WAR against the U.S. so, tell me: WHY even mention GOD in this speech beyond the indirect aspects of prayer and freedom of religion? What special brand of stupidity did it take to make mention of GOD near the end of this speech in a thinly disguised rewording of “God is on OUR side”? Why take the risk that our refusal to condone terrorism might be misinterpreted as anything even remotely similar to a holy war???
Just for the record, he didn’t mention “every other country” that suffered casualties in the attack. There were citizens from 80 countries (that we are aware of) who lost their lives. Not that that excuses him not mentioning Canada, but let’s not exaggerate things, either.
Treally need to bring his speech writers down a peg, because they’re writing stuff he OBVIOUSLY had no say in, so it sounds weird coming from his mouth. Like that line about the terrorists hijacking Islam - all I could think was, “Come on, people, I can’t even PRETEND to believe that Bush had a hand in that clever line.”
But pity the man who declares a war on terrorism and can’t pronounce the word “terrorism”. All throughout he tried and never quite actually pronounced it.
His handlers also need to tell him to stop doing that thing where he sticks his tongue out.
Granted it won’t make the top Five great speeches of all time, but it was good. He skipped Canada, which I thought was a major slipup in some speechwriters mind.
He is starting to mention fair treatment for Islamic peoples in the US more, which is good. I’m hoping he’ll take concrete steps there soon, which sadly might be needed.
I thought it was a good speech with a good firm message. I must admit that I got a little nervous when he mentioned a ground war because I’m afraid that means we’re going to have lots of casualties. But I guess casualties are to be exptected if we’re going to have a war. There were a few parts of his speech that gave me goosebumps and I liked that. I feel very confident that everything is going to be fine and America will hold strong!
Mauvaise, the person he winked at was his wife! Right after he winked the camera went to her. Unless he was winking at Blair… but I doubt it.
I thought it was a great speech. As for not believing that Bush would have come up with some of the things he said, well, that’s why Presidents have speech writers.
I get the feeling that L’il Dubya’s done growed up this past week. I can clearly see a difference in his style of speech, emotions, and mannerisms. Even his eyes convey more of a leadership quality - he often appeared lost or befuddled prior to recent days.
As for muffing a few words, hey, he’s gotten much better with his pronounciation, IMO. It’s funny that, until some people in this thread pointed out “terra”, I didn’t even notice. Being from NYC, “war on terra” sounded normal to me.
I thought it was a good speech. His delivery was much better than other speeches he has given (aside from his repeated mispronunciation of “terror” and “terrorism”). I was actually suprised at how well he delivered the speech as I think he is at his worst when working with prepared text.
My thoughts exactly!
I can’t help but think this as well. I keep thinking this is going to be one of those generation defining events like Pearl Harbor and the assasinations of JFK and Martin Luther King.
Jon Stewart’s monologue brought tears to my eyes.
I noticed this too. I’ve seen him wink in the past. Bush is a “winker.” I believe he was winking at his wife. I think he was doing it as an acknowledgment of her support. But that is just a wag.
(Sorry about all of the quoting and the “me toos.” Previous posters just said so much of what I wanted to say.)
Criminy, people, there’s a difference between mispronunciation and accent. Bush pronounced ‘terrorism’ the same way a great many other Texans pronounce ‘terrorism’ - TERRA izm. Jimmy Carter pronounces it ‘TEHR izm’, as do many other Georgians. If that, and the perceived slight to Canada, is all you can find wrong with the speech it must have been pretty damn good.
Not that some people would ever admit that anything Bush did was good…
I also felt the slight to Canada was so obvious that it must have been intentional, and wonder what we did to annoy this administration.
I think that Hillary Clinton hurt her credibility during the address. The camera was on her three times. One time she was talking while the speaker was talking. The other times she looked unhappy to be there and was clapping very slowly (as if just going through the motions) when others were enthusiastic. This was supposed to be a show of bipartisanship support.
Not directed at you, tevya, or at this thread in particular. There are several examples on this board where some people have shown that they will snipe at Bush no matter what he does. I just get tired if that kind of attitude.
What are ya’ll talking about? The Presidential address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!
::D&R very fast::
I agree with Mikemike2 on Hillary’s appearance, and I recall a President from Georgia who had a HELL of a time pronouncing “Nuclear”. G.W. had a great group of speechwriters, and I was impressed with the delivery. He’ll never be the speaker Clinton is, but I don’t think Clinton could have made that speech any better. Just my opinion.
i spoke with my canadian coworker today, i asked him about the canada miss. we decided that w must think that canada is part of the states and possibly spell it with an e.
i am really baffled by the canada blackout esp. when the canadian and us military are copiloting air patrols right now. you don’t mention the country that is doing this?
his speechwriter should be sent to pei, instead of the cayman islands. the speech was good otherwise.
Ironic, really, since he disassembled a nuclear core when he was in the Navy. Still, handling one properly is more important than pronouncing one properly.
I refuse to debate whether he is or not - you’re entitled to your opinion. However, since George W probably did not sit at his desk with pen in hand and scribble his speech on the back of an envelope, I must conclude that you mean the President’s speech writers are idiots.
I find it difficult to imagine Al Gore doing any better under these circumstances.
Go easy on the Dubya about the whole pronounciation thing. If you will remember, his dad couldn’t say, “Saddam” correctly and kept pronouncing it “Sadim.” Which led to NPR doing a bit with “Bush” (it was the guy who does Smithers on The Simpsons) saying that his misspronunciation was actually part of carefully planned plot to wage psychological warfare against Saddam.
What he said. I’m from the south, and I assure you, a great many people pronounce it just the same way Bush does. Different ways of speaking for different regions. I’m sure there are a lot of other words that Bush pronounces with a southern accent that people from a different region will think is “wrong”. And vice versa. (Damn, now I’m defending Bush? I think he stinks as a speaker–no comment on how he does as a president. I’m reserving judgement on that.)
