Almost two years ago in October 2004 Rheta Grimsley Johnson, a favorite columnist, wrote this about George W. Bush. It was scathing in its simplicity, and it was absolutely brilliant in its ability to define this mean little man.
The article needs to be brushed off every now and then and reread and appreciated all over again.
Thanks, Rheta, for this column way back then. It was not very popular to say such things then….much thanks.
People like Bush. He doesn’t use big words. He’s one of us.
10/9/2004 10:30:51 AM
Daily JournalI read an article. The article said people like George Bush. They like Bush because he speaks in short sentences. They can relate.
It makes sense. Who wants a wordy president? Bush sounds decisive. He sounds sure. He sounds sm–. Never mind. He is on our level.
The article called Bushspeak “austere.” Bush wouldn’t say “austere.” That’s a fancy word. Bush hates fancy words.
She nails his character, or lack of, in almost every paragraph. I could feel her anger combining with mine as I read it.
He also uses body language. His body uses short sentences, too. His body says: “I am tough. Don’t mess with Texas. I don’t windsurf.”
Bush smiles a lot, too. He really smirks. Bush doesn’t say “smirks.” That’s a fancy word.
Bush loves Laura. She is a good little woman. Laura doesn’t meddle. Laura is quiet. Bush likes that.
And a little dig about the Weapons of Mass Destruction.
There were no WMDs. So what? Not his fault. Might have been weapons. Could have been. Should have been.
The U.N. is wimpy. France is wimpy. The world is wimpy. Except for us. And Great Britain.
Short, but powerful. Be sure to read it all. Thanks, Rheta.
And every time he talks, he looks like he’s trying to grunt out a deuce. The dude needs a laxative – along with an eviction notice.
Frankly, I’ve lost all interest in what “the dude” needs, or even deserves. Neither will occur.
Yeah, that’s pretty much a given.
For something pretty much given, it doesn’t seem to be a point widely taken.
Look at me. I talk normal too. Please like me.
You left out the exclamation points! They’re essential!
Now, try again.
I grew up surrounded by men like Bush. They called each other “real men”. Men of few words and much action. Men who knew everything worth knowing. Strong good Chriatian men, who ruled their domains with iron fists full of Big Fat Bibles they used like billy clubs.
This was way back in the days when sticking straws up frogs butts to blow them up was considered normal little boy’s play.
I have been scanning and uploading old old family pictures online. I found one of all the kids in our neighborhood back when my brother and I were very young.
There was the usual neighborhood bully, and his name was..guess what…Dickie. His dad was the music director of our Southern Baptist churches…a guy who demanded the best of others but let Little Dickie blow up frogs with dynamite. He would just do the “boys will be boys” thing and look the other way.
He doesn’t use big words — he’s just a normal guy.
That doesn’t mean he should be President, any more than Bush should be.
In the NFL, they give these things called “Wunderlich tests” (I probably misspelled that), that supposedly determine the ability of potential NFL players to succeed in the NFL and learn what’s in the playbook. Sure, it’s probably overrated (Vince Young scored something like a 9 the first time around), but it’s at least some sort of gauge of a player’s ability. Maybe we need some sort of “Wunderlich” for our country’s leaders. I’d like a President who doesn’t see the office as a tool to exercise his personal vendettas: “This is the guy who tried to kill my dad.”
She does it to Bush again in such a clever and snide and brilliant way, and she really does the same to undecided voters.
A Day in the Life of an Undecided Voter
And I love this part. I bet she fooled some more folks with this article, and some did not even realize they had been had.
Rheta – a great Southern name! She reminds me of Mollie Ivins crossed with Flannery O’Connor with a dash of Eudora Welty and Dorothy Parker thrown in for good measure.
Bush, of course, didn’t speak like this before he ran for office to be Gov. and Prez. He did use big words, and without much of an accent, too. (Listen to old recordings of him if you can stand it.) This is a facade, done so long it has become second nature.
It’s sort of like being fluent in two languages. Only these two are very very much related. I do think that’s part of his hesitating speech: he has to be careful how he says things – he has to say it in simple, subject-verb sentences that are short, telegraphic, without modifiers.