- Hardcover: 128 pages
- Publisher: Fireside; De Luxe edition edition (21 Jun 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743262522
- ISBN-13: 978-0743262521
- Product Dimensions: 18.3 x 13.2 x 1.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,398,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
Provides a selection of gaffes, malapropisms, confusing statements, and mangled phrases gathered from America's forty-third president's first term.
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"I was in the Air Force for over six hundred days." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
"I was in the Air Force for over six hundred days." Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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11 reviews
101 of 110 people found the following review helpful
And this man is our President?
10 May 2004
Format:Hardcover
George W. Bush's verbal gaffes are both highly entertaining and extremely troublesome. Not since Ronald Reagan (well, actually Dan Quayle) has there been an American leader who has been elected to the nation's highest office despite his thorough mangling of the English language.
As in the previous editions of "Bushisms", Weisberg had his work cut out for him. He probably didn't have to do too much research to find plenty of material with which to fill the pages of this latest edition. And if Bush's public appearances weren't controlled to the extent that they are by the people around him, he would undoubtedly have even more material with which to fill several more volumes.
I'd really recommend reading Weisberg's preface to the book, which very astutely addresses the issue of W's alleged stupidity, in a way that I haven't heard expressed before. Weisberg states that it is not that W is inherently stupid, but rather he chose stupidity through a life filled with privilege and prestige. After all, when life has come easy, what incentive was there for him to think deeply about any issue or challenge any previously held belief?
In fact, when you look at W's life, it almost comically conforms to a stereotype of the spoiled rich brat who gets everything handed to him on a silver platter. However, I'd argue even further that W's problem is not one so much of stupidity, but shallowness.
Even his discovery of Jesus at age 40 with help of the Rev. Billy Graham - something that has endeared him to the born-again crowd - seems oddly superficial. As Weisberg states, Bush's old answer to hard questions was, "I don't know and, who cares." His new answer was, "Wait a second while I check with Jesus." Bush's statements about how Jesus changed his heart (but apparently not his brain) are of a piece with the thinking of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and others of their ilk. They probably have the entire Bible committed to memory, but still haven't a clue what any of it really means.
I would wager that most thinking people would be mortified if some of the things that have come out of George W's mouth attributed were attributed to them in print. However, I would doubt that the existence of this book causes him much embarrassment. Indeed, as Weisberg states, there's a shocking way in which W almost wears his lack of knowledge as a badge of honor.
Washington Post op-ed columnist Richard Cohen once remarked about Ronald Reagan that he believed that his public policy positions were true because they ought to be true. So it is with W. (tax cuts, evidence of Iraq's nuclear weapons, among many other issues). The man is blissfully ignorant. And the American people are paying the price.
I bought this book because of its entertainment value. And then I wept...a lot.
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Illustrating ignorance impeccably
11 Jun 2004
Format:Hardcover
1. To the conservative whose review will appear a couple below this: This is a book review, not a place for your political treatise (though you seem to have lost the knowledge that the writer of this little gem isn't making this up - "the Shrub" really has said these things, ya' know). Please keep your ill - informed opinions to yourself, unless using the appropriate forum. We liberals really CAN read well - sometimes we even understand the words. And we don't use every forum we get our hands on to insult people not agreeing with us, unlike...
2. This is a funny book, truly.
3. I use the term "methinks" quite frequently, and I don't at all like what's happening with our country. So, I don't think it's that, really. :)
Thank you.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
much needed silliness
8 Jun 2004
Format:Hardcover
While most politicians make more than their share of 'misstatements', no one does it with more panache or better neologisms than W. While there are quotes that border on scary, generally this is the sort of silliness we could all use in an election year when we'll almost certainly get more verbiage than substance. And may the Higher Powers protect us from having pseudo-intellectual poseurs who use "methinks" in their reviews decide the 2004 election.
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