I'm Convinced That Bush Doesn't Comprehend The Words He Reads ...

from tele-prompters. Forget (for just a moment) the unwise policies and the lies... my point here is that the man is a monkey. An absolute idiot.

Obviously, Bush can read by phonetically assembling the sounds each letter makes... eventually coming up with a word-sound that's decipherably close to the word's actual correct pronunciation.

But after last night's performance, I'm CONVINCED that Bush* simply has NO CLUE as to the meaning of the words that others have written for him to read.

His 'style' of. Reading sentence. Fragments. And the way. He puts the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle... and the way he randomly stresses words... all without regard to the contextual meaning of the words and without comprehension of how his vocal inflections actually change the intended meaning. He's completely oblivious to the subtleties of the English language.

In fact, his random vocal inflections, the tempo and pace of his reading, even his facial expressions---all reveal that Bush doesn't have a clue as to the actual meaning of what he's reading.

-- Allen

PS: His mush-mouth slurring of every "s" sound and his over-pronunciation of every "r" sound is sufficient evidence (for me) that he's almost always (nearly) drunk for many of his public reading exercises. But that's a topic for another discussion.

edit: clarity/emphasis

A couple of weeks ago, Sam Waterston was at the Cooper Union hall in NYC, where he read Lincoln's famous 1860 speech. It was two hours long, and had the audience spellbound. They interrupted the speech several times, and, at the end, gave a standing ovation. Shows that words crafted by an intelligent and knowing hand can still move people, even after all these years.

as comedy.

he's doing hand springs and cart wheels.

I would have called for an evaluation of little Georgie on the first day. It is absolutely unconscionable to force him to do grade-level work without support personnel in the class...
...so has Dr. Rice written up an IEP, I wonder?

eom

He's a puppet and his function is to make speeches. It is obvious that he is a miserable failure.

I believe he has some form of brain disease.

From a previous discussion:



"Bob Woodward's description (in Plan of Attack) of an unusual event in which Bush suddenly "began speaking as though in a foreign language" and looking confused...I've wondered if Mr. Bush suffers from temporal lobe epilepsy.

The description Woodward gives sound very much like Mr. Bush had what's known as a "complex partial seizure". Woodward's further mention of a medication the president takes twice daily and the secrecy with which this info is guarded are also very suggestive : there are a number of
anti-epileptic medications taken twice daily) schedule. I
would think that the stigma associated with epilepsy (often undeservedly so) would make it something Bush's advisors would hush up."


"Vice President Cheney is the de facto President of the United States. When he arrives at the White House for one of his "briefings" of the President, all employees are cleared from the West Wing and especially from the Presidential office suites. Cheney arrives in an escorted armored limousine surrounded by his own personal, heavily armed bodyguard and is always shown directly into the President's office. It is reliably reported by that Bush has a thick pad of lined, yellow note paper on his desk, placed there by just before the Vice President arrives."

"After Cheney's departure, the notes taken by the President are transcribed by and prepared as talking points for the President..."

"At some time in the past, according to both and the President suffered what one of his aides called "a very minor seizure" and as a result of this, the President has a very difficult time following any unscripted conversations. For this reason, his staff carefully and aggressively protect the President from "unexpected" questions that he is not capable of answering."

"The President takes oral medication at least twice a day according to because of an unspecified "indisposition' and this subject is strictly off limits for any casual staff conversation."

"At one point during a staff conference, the President stood up and began to speak in an unknown language. Mr. Rove was able to stop the President and get him to resume his seat. It was reported by that for a period of time (about fifteen minutes) after this incident, the President appeared to be 'somewhat confused and very inarticulate.'"

I'm not familiar with the English words for it, but it sure sounds like a light stroke (or TIA in dutch), someone very close to me had that same thing happen.

A light stroke, a bloodclock or artery narrowing shuts down an artery in the brain for a short time. This way a piece of the brain get's little oxygen, mostly the side effects are gone within 24 hours but medical care should be taken right away.

Perhaps someone can explain it better, this is a crappy translation from Dutch.

But these people all of a sudden want to say something, but are talking gibberish, just nothing, like baby talk. Very strange.
And also having the urge to say things that just don't make sense, making strange connections in conversations.

it's global neurological deterioration caused by decades of heavy drinking. Bush is showing all the signs of it.

I knew there was brain damage the first time I saw him speak, by the slurred speech, the disconjugate gaze, the odd phrasing. The confabulation about the morning of 9/11 provided the diagnosis and the fall off the Segway confirmed it.

He may well have had a TIA (mild stroke in English, too) during that "speaking in tongues" episode, but it would be unrelated to the overall neurological damage.

he can still look back later on in older age as the guy who elected a true moron - he can brag about how well he had honed his craft to his grandchildren. You gotta give Rove some credit - it seriously must take a magician to get b*sh elected. I have no experience in politics and I can say with absolute certainty that I would be a far superior president - by a longshot. This says very little of my political skills though.

believe in him. He and they live in a world without the drawbacks of a reality they can't comprehend or face.

He is clueless

Unfortunately, they can't make him sound intelligent. When he shoots that "I'm strong and full of resolve" look into the camera, the lack of intelligent reflection on the actual text shines through the facade.

in which the reader must fill in the blank on the fly as the script is being read. Instead the placeholders and stage directions are actually read out loud.

"Hi, I'm name. You point to camera are invited to come with us."

-- Allen

or a kid forced to read a book in english class. over pronouncing, etc., are signs of illiteracy or dislexia.

last night, he went to THREE teleprompters instead of the usual two.
after about 5 minutes of his droning in a funereal dirge, everyone went to sleep.

oration requires the actor's ability, or at least a mild passion for the content of the speech. bush is not that complex.

I've noticed that every speech, no matter the content or the
occasion, is delivered in exactly the same way - just sounds,
with no expression, no light and shade in the delivery, and
nothing in the face. He always looks like a shop dummy, and
his eyes never show any emotion - no intelligence, no humour,
no compassion, nothing, just two blanks in his face.

Come to think of it, I've just described our Prime Minister.

Its where they come in the middle of the night and perform a lobotomy. Bush is a Stepford Prez.

He struggles reading children's books. What gets me is when he's reading speeches and tries for facial expressions, but he's making the expressions AT the SCRIPT! So he's looking down, frowning at the paper, raising his eyebrows at the paper... as if he's never read it before, let alone rehearsed it. He always looks like a 3rd grader reading a book report written by his Mom.

And your analogy holds even more true when one considers the fact that his performance is punctuated with several smirks that reveal his own sense of pride at having pronounced a multisyllabic word without messing up. Or when he pronounces the English equivalent of a foreign leader's complex surname.

He looks up and flashes that smirk of self-satisfaction as if to say "how's that ma?"... "I did it!"... "bet you thought I'd mess up".

And then there's that sheepish grin that says "I hope you didn't notice" when he knows he's screwed up an important word.

Even venerable professionals like Walter Cronkite will mis-read words every now and then. At least they aren't so arrogant about it and will admit their mistake, RE-pronounce the word correctly, and move on.

The Bush ego won't permit him to even do that. (Assuming of course, that he was actually AWARE of his mistake. And that's a BIG assumption.)


-- Allen

Flipped on the speech ever so slightly. I'm glad I did. My son and I had a good laugh at the way he gave the speech, just not the empty content.

who never had to work at anything - even acting to convince others of his sincerity - and doesn't give a shit because he thinks he's got it made. Whatever becomes of his presidency, he'll still be rich and get to do whatever he wants. I say he just doesn't care.

Last week's Frontline featured the rise of "Christian" influence in government; young Bush was an early convert. It featured some campaign speeches for governor of Texas. Just the shallow creep I'd voted against! He didn't really care--he was the same clueless frat rat.

But he used to have it together more. He gave a much better performance. This was not so many years ago. There are recent health issues. He's changed.

review what he just read ... he couldn't do it ... anyone listening to both would be, like ... 'huh?'

he doesn't have any ideas .... foreget vision ...

if you've ever heard any of his radio readings ... it's another 'delivery' with that 'sound resolute', but strangely paced ...
to make it sound like he knows what he's saying ...


Last minute instructions: 'now, be sure to sound "strong" and "full of resolve" ... and, don't forget to salute' ...