Need to know

[bladespark]

Cany anybody confirm or deny the rumor that Bush Jr. was an extremely erudite and eloquent speaker in his earliest political debates? Yes/no? I really would like to know this, but google is proving useless to find something like that, give the sheer volume of stuff on Bush floating about.

Comments

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

If he was, why didn't retain that trait into his later years?

Judging from the fact that his father isn't too good at public speaking, either, I wouldn't bet on it.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

The theory is that he decided that people didn't like somebody who sounded too high-brow, and deliberately dumbed himself down.

I doubt it myself, but if there's some evidence for it, I would like to know.

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

dumb himself down to nearly the point of retardation? XD

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

'nearly'?

[harliquinnraver.livejournal.com]

XD point taken

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

What I would like to know is why Karl Rove had to leave. I would have thought he was tired of the whole thing except that he used the tired "more time with my family" line as a reason; come on, now, everyone knows you were forced out when you use that. But why? What manner of turnabout caused the architect of two successful election campaigns to fall?

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

If you've been following the news, you'll know that Bush Jr recently had to use his presidential perogative to protect Rove from being publicly questioned. I assume this is an attempt to avoid having to do that again (because, honestly, even doing it once makes him look shifty).

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

He didn't dumb himself down. If anything, he stopped drinking and became more articulate.

Chew on that for a while.

I've noticed that when he's speaking about something he cares about, he's far more articulate than if he doesn't give a rat's ass about something. For example, for any speech on making things better for the American people, he stutters and mixes his words, but if he's talking about the "War on Terruh" he speaks as well as a Rhode's Scholar.

It's the damnedest thing. Check it out sometime.

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

He says "freedom" really well. Consider his third State of the Union speech, of which I happen to have a copy. *Ahem*:

My fellow Americans,

Freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom liberty freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom security freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom *deep breath* freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom freedom and a side order of nachos. To go, please.

Thank you, and may God bless America.

[svashtar.livejournal.com]

He's also very good at saying "Terror".

Oh, wait. He isn't. He keeps pronouncing it "Terra", which gives me the impression he's got a war against our fair planet. Maybe that is his nefarious plan.

[baloo-ursidae.livejournal.com]

No, he sounded like an idiot even during his campaign. He got elected on name recognition alone.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

No, no, no, I don't mean during his campaign,he was obviously an idiot then. I mean BEFORE he was even governor of Texas. His very first debates ever, anywhere.

[baloo-ursidae.livejournal.com]

Oh. As I understand it, the answer would be the same. Maybe in his college days prior to his discovery of cocaine, but I don't know that much about his college years.

[scribe-of-stars.livejournal.com]

There exists a precarious middle ground between underestimating your opponents and outthinking yourself while trying to thwart them. Your stance, I fear, falls too close to the former.

...Whoa, that was way too formal. To put things back into balance, boobs boobs boobs. Sorry about that.

[kaura-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

It's actually pretty easy to be a good speaker in high school or college debates. You learn a lot of shortcuts that make you sound erudite during an actual tournament... but don't translate well to real life.

[graydown.livejournal.com]

I have no references for any of this, but here's my understanding of the story:

George II is not what most people would call a stupid man. He's the kind of guy who can meet a person once and remember them forever. A schmoozer. A people person. I don't know how eloquent he used to be, but his "aw, shucks" accent and attitude was carefully calculated to play off the native anti-intellectualism of low- and middle-class America and its counterpart, liberal elitism (real or perceived).

If I were doing this research, I'd start by trying to track down material from his campaign for governor of Texas.

Regardless of how erudite he is, I think he's a stupid man because he surrounds himself with people who agree with him. That's like putting up a sign saying "Trouble Welcome!" next to a pile of trouble chow on one of the main trouble migration routes. ... I love writing sentences like that. ^_^ Sorry if this wasn't very helpful.

[dotty-alice.livejournal.com]

Very helpful. I have a 2008 "The End is Near" Calendar that counts down to January 20, 2009 the days of King George II's reign.

[actonrf.livejournal.com]

I do not know of his early debate but he seem always a bit rough when he ad libs anything.

Acton
Vote for Bush 2000 -IRL
Volunteer Bush Campaign 2004 -IRL