QUOTE FOR THE DAY + MINI BOOK REVIEW

"The second pillar of peace and security in our world is the willingness of free nations, when the last resort arrives, to retain aggression and evil by force."

- George W. Bush, 11/19/03


Snave's note: Howard Dean, DNC Chairperson, may put his foot in his mouth from time to time, but he is NOT, repeat NOT, the President of the United States of America! Neither are other Democratic politicians who say things they should have thought better of before opening their mouths. There may be more of them than there are of Bush, but again, they are not the POTUS, which in my mind, elevates Bushisms above just about any ill-advised comments Dems might make. I'd wager that for every rash thing Dean might say, there are at least a few good Bushisms.

People can read all kinds of things into Bushisms. Mark Crispin Miller has written an interesting book called "The Bush Dyslexicon", in which he suggests that some of the Bushisms are rather revealing. Miller has an idea that when Bush makes these "errors", some occur at times when he
doesn't know (or maybe doesn't care) about that of which he is speaking. This could be due to distraction; I think it might also be due to a sense of smugness... kind of a feeling of superiority,in that he's in control.

Or, some Bushisms might reveal or suggest how he really feels about an issue. One example is the famous Bushism about humans and fish coexisting peacefullly. Miller points out that in this case, "peaceful coexistence" is a term coined during the Cold War era, and thus, Bush's environmental record may be based, in part, on a view that it is indeed a matter of "humans versus nature", or that nature is something we as humans must control. Of course this is Miller's interpretation of a comment, but I believe that in this case it is a fair assessment.

That's just one example, and Miller writes about many, many others. The book is pretty thorough, and sure it's biased to the left... but it might make good reading for someone who is a moderate and isn't really sure about Bush. Miller delves into a bit of psychology, and what he comes up with is amusing... and at the same time, alarming. Check it out!