The Bushisms: Like Father, Like Son

By Daniel Kurtzman, AlterNet. Posted September 12, 2001.

Poor Dubya. The English language has been terribly unkind to him. So have his critics, who have been quick to deride him as the most syntactically challenged president in our nation's history.

Apparently we have forgotten the verbal feats of Bush the elder, who never met a metaphor he couldn't mangle. "He can't help it," former Texas Gov. Ann Richards once said of George H.W. Bush's frequent verbal miscues. "He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

Try as we might to read their lips, the George Bushes have often left us searching for meaning, not to mention nouns and verbs. As this side-by-side look at "Bushisms" reveals, Dubya has simply been striving to live up to his father's rhetorical legacy.

The Economy, Stupid

"We're enjoying sluggish times, and not enjoying them very much." --George Bush Sr., Jan. 2, 1992

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." --George W. Bush, Jan. 27, 2000

Freudian Slips

"For seven and a half years I've worked alongside President Reagan. We've had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We've had some sex...uh...setbacks." --George Bush Sr., in 1988

"It was just inebriating what Midland was all about then." --George W. Bush, reflecting in 1994 about growing up in Midland, Texas

Metaphorically Misspeaking

"Please don't ask me to do that which I've just said I'm not going to do, because you're burning up time. The meter is running through the sand on you, and I am now filibustering." --George Bush Sr., April 20, 1989

"The senator has got to understand if he's going to have -- he can't have it both ways. He can't take the high horse and then claim the low road." --George W. Bush, Feb. 17, 2000

The Call of the Wild

"If you're worried about caribou, take a look at the arguments that were used about the pipeline. They'd say the caribou would be extinct. You've got to shake them away with a stick. They're all making love lying up against the pipeline and you got thousands of caribou up there." --George Bush Sr., speaking about the Alaskan pipeline, Oct. 31, 1991

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Sept. 29, 2000

The English Patient

"Fluency in English is something that I'm often not accused of." --George Bush Sr., June 6, 1989

"The woman who knew that I had dyslexia -- I never interviewed her." --George W. Bush, denying a magazine article's claim that he suffers from dyslexia, Sept. 15, 2000

Is Our Children Learning?

"And let me say in conclusion, thanks for the kids. I learned an awful lot about bathtub toys -- about how to work the telephone. One guy knows -- several of them know their own phone numbers -- preparation to go to the dentist. A lot of things I'd forgotten. So it's been a good day." --George Bush Sr., Jan 21, 1992

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." --George W. Bush, Feb. 21, 2001

Mistake My Wife, Please

"It has been said by some cynic, maybe it was a former president, 'If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.' Well, we took them literally -- that advice -- as you know. But I didn't need that because I have Barbara Bush." --George Bush Sr., March 30, 1989

"The most important job is not to be governor, or first lady in my case." --George W. Bush, Jan. 30, 2000

Winging It

"If a frog had wings, he wouldn't hit his tail on the ground. Too hypothetical." --George Bush Sr., in 1992

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." --George W. Bush, in Oct. 18, 2000

Riding the Wave of the Future

"High tech is potent, precise, and in the end, unbeatable. The truth is, it reminds a lot of people of the way I pitch horseshoes. Would you believe some of the people? Would you believe our dog? Look, I want to give the high-five symbol to high tech." --George Bush Sr., April 25, 1989

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