Phonetic Notes For Bush's UN Speech Accidentally Released

Posted by Steven Reynolds at 6:01 AM on September 26, 2007.

Steven Reynolds: Why don’t they help him with the word “nuclear?”

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This post, written by Steven Reynolds, originally appeared on The All Spin Zone

They give Bush a crib sheet for pronouncing words, but they leave out the one he has most trouble with, "nuclear." What a bunch of incompetents. That is, if we take Dana Perino at her words that they've been giving Bush crib sheets all along.

I don't want Bush as a leader, but I sure as hell don't want him as a leader looking and sounding like an idiot in front of all the nations of the world. So what if they gave him a pronunciation guide for a few tough words when he spoke before the UN. So what? Well, it isn't, to my mind, that bad for them to give the guy some help on some tough words. Like these:

Kyrgyzstan [KEYR-geez-stan]

Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a]

Harare [hah-RAR-ray]

Mugabe [moo-GAH-bee]

Sarkozy [sar-KO-zee]

Caracas [kah-RAH-kus]

What bugs me is the White House's Dana Perino claims this is standard practice for speeches. But is there a little pronunciation cheat sheet for the word "nuclear?" Nope, not there. Bush has been horribly mispronouncing that word for his entire life (or does he mispronouce it to make himself look "folksy?"). Has the speechwriting staff followed the Bush lead in incompetence so much that they couldn't figure that out while carrying out a practice of providing pronunication guides, supposedly, all along?

"Nucular" is not a word.

Tagged as: bush, united nations, perino

Steven Reynolds is a regular blogger for the All Spin Zone

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Sissy [Report this comment] Posted by: Sissy on Sep 26, 2007 7:26 AM Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Mis-pronouncing words is the least of "W"s problems. Everyone already knows that he is totally incompetant so why would anyone think that he could speak coherently when everything he does, says, acts on is incoherent? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Cool Picture [Report this comment] Posted by: Your Ishmael on Sep 26, 2007 8:08 AM Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Sounds like he didn't study enough International Relations if he can't pronounce the names of other countries' capitals. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Betrays a lack of familiarity with the words, the world, and policy [Report this comment] Posted by: KaptainSpiffy on Sep 26, 2007 8:11 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] a crossing guard that is unqualified, leading our children into heavy traffic. quality! acting as space filler for the box of tricks that is the republican cabal- bush is just the bubblewrap. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Please, can somebody tell me................ [Report this comment] Posted by: Basenjis on Sep 26, 2007 8:16 AM Current rating: 4 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Why on God's great green earth must the greatest, most powerful, most inventive, most original country in the world suffer the continued humiliation of being represented to the rest of the world by this most boorish, most arrogant, most inhumane, most inarticulate and least competent of leaders who cannot string a coherent sentence together, explain the simplest of concepts, or even speak to his public without a cheat sheet to help him with words of more than two syllables? The emperor lacks a lot more than a mere suit of clothes! [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » Because he and his party stole 2 elections Posted by: hurricane hugo » RE: Please, can somebody tell me................ Posted by: fmajor7 » RE: Please, can somebody tell me................fmajor7 Posted by: Basenjis GWB is an idiot, but pronunciation guide is OK [Report this comment] Posted by: CJC on Sep 26, 2007 8:52 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Readers of the news could also use pronunciation guides. Why they don't help him out with nuclear I don't know. They might also have given him a heads up on the difference between Austria and Australia. (In a speech in Sydney, Australia earlier this month George said "Austria.") However, I think it's Sar ko ZEE and not Sar KO zee. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » RE: GWB is an idiot, but pronunciation guide is OK Posted by: Benjaminsjw Pronouce this! [Report this comment] Posted by: Rune on Sep 26, 2007 9:31 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Trivial and frivolous article. The real story of interest is that Bush did not stammer and stumble through even the simplest of sentences when he was governor of Texas, but he has gone so far as to joke about his supposed inability to speak articulately as president. See for yourself. So, is this just an act to help him appeal to simple minded citizens or is there some progressive brain damage behind the drastic decline in speaking skills? BTW, Jimmy Carter says "nuke-a-lar" and he was trained by the Navy to administer nuclear powered vessels. Of course, Jimmy Carter is articulate, profound, and insightful when he speaks--even though he mispronounces "nuclear"--whereas George W. Bush is barely able to put a sentence together and makes major social gaffs (winking at the Queen of England after insulting her, giving the German Chancellor a little neck rub as he walked behind her at an official meeting of heads of state, etc.) that even someone who was not brought up in a family of political insiders would know enough to avoid. What is behind that? [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] » not when he was govenor? you have your facts wrong Posted by: KaptainSpiffy » -5 for spelling Posted by: KaptainSpiffy » RE: Pronouce this! Posted by: Basenjis nucular detante [Report this comment] Posted by: albalovescholo on Sep 26, 2007 10:27 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] as a woman who has spent more time in this god-forsaken state (texas), and yet DOES NOT sound even remotely like a hick, i have come to the conclusion that this person (georgie-boy) has cultivated a folksiesque persona, that is exemplified by an exaggerated texan drawl. my mother was born here, and spent every minute of her life here, until she was in her twenties--and she does not sound like half the red-neck he pretends to be. point of fact: he was BORN in the north east (and is therefore a "yankee"), and RAISED in the north-east, a member of a dynastic clan. there is NO WAY that "aw-shucks, ma'am" crap is his natural state. i believe he cooked it up as a means to charm the gals, and a great way to camouflage his lack of intellectual capacity and common social courtesy. if one assumes he is just a sweet country boy, his crass behavior, and lack of even the most rudimentary understanding of the world in which he was reared (and his entire family understands so keenly) is forgivable. he is a fraud, from the top of his fuzzy head, to the last drop of his cold, blue blood. i would bet every penny i have ever owned, or ever SHALL own that he has specifically PROHIBITED any suggestion that he is mispronouncing that word, under penalty of unemployment, and banishment from the realm (of Bushworld). [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] No, you are barking up the wrong Bush [Report this comment] Posted by: Rune on Sep 26, 2007 12:49 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] "ann richards knew better: 'Poor George. He can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.'" Sorry, but it is your facts that are wrong. Ann Richards made that comment as part of her keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 1988. The George she was referring to was Dubya's daddy, George H.W. Bush. Dubya had yet to become an owner of the Texas Rangers at the time, let alone become a political figure of any national significance (he had managed to lose a Congressional primary years earlier, but no one really noticed back then). It would be six more years before he would make a successful run for political office, defeating Ann Richards in the process. The clip I linked to shows very clearly that as Bush was running for governor, he had no problem speaking in complete, intelligible sentences without hemming and hawing, and without losing track of his facts or logic, even without any notes in front of him. It also shows very clearly that the Bush we know today speaks strikingly different. As I said above, see for yourself. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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» Because he and his party stole 2 elections Posted by: hurricane hugo

» RE: Please, can somebody tell me................ Posted by: fmajor7

» RE: Please, can somebody tell me................fmajor7 Posted by: Basenjis

» RE: GWB is an idiot, but pronunciation guide is OK Posted by: Benjaminsjw

» not when he was govenor? you have your facts wrong Posted by: KaptainSpiffy

» -5 for spelling Posted by: KaptainSpiffy

» RE: Pronouce this! Posted by: Basenjis

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