Bushisms: The First Term, in His Own Special Words

by Molly Ivins and Jacob Weisberg

Book Overview

Provides a selection of gaffes, malapropisms, confusing statements, and mangled phrases gathered from America's forty-third president's first term.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743262522
• ISBN13: 9780743262521
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Fireside Books
• Length: 103 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Just try to forget that he's the President...

The Bushisms herein are hysterically funny, but also fascinating in what they reveal about how Bush thinks, and the things that he apparently does not know. It's certainly worth a read -- you'll find yourself sharing your favorites over and over. For your sense of well-being, though, I suggest you try to forget that he's the guy with the keys to our nuclear arsenal. From time to time, my friends and I have engaged in imitating our president's, er, style. I recall when Bush finally admitted to having "miscalculated" when planning our post-invasion strategy in Iraq. I imagined he might make a statement like this: "We may have misunderestimated the responsiveness our troops would receptively experience, which after all was commisserate with the disparaging between a nation guided by the Almighty, and cowardly killers that kill when faced by them, the troops, that is... um, by the Iraqis. Not all Iraqis... it's just that when we set out to do a job -- and I want to be very clear about this -- we did one, and if that means we have to take some militaristic action, I'm all for it, in terms of terror and what's necessary to disabling it combatively. I mean, if errors have to necessitatively be made with respect to our accuracy, then I'm all for it if, in the larger picture, the larger sense, I mean, when the questions of the future are asked about force and those who fought it in the name of peace, I will always, and I mean ALWAYS, say that I did, and I am very proud of every one of you to have representated the fight against it."

Bush is a dips**t...there is no doubt!

Pay no attention to the idiot that left the review "Jealousy is a Horrible Thing, May 31, 2004"...this coward did not even use a real name. Hey coward...why do we have to use policy to defend this book? This is not made up...these are direct quotes of the Texas Village Idiot himself in action! It is not the author's fault that DUB-YA never learned to read or write! I still find these quotes hysterical. ONLY THE BOOK THOUGH. The fact that this guy is really our president is discouraging to say the least. I love the funny quotes but now I want a book that lists his LIES along with the accurate truths/facts right alongside!! Get this book and let it help you vote for the right man...KERRY!

Illustrating ignorance impeccably

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.

Bush a threat to democracy

W. is a living proof that democracy produces mediocrity. With American democracy we are getting extremely dangerous mediocrity.This book should be a wake up call to all Americans, particularly to those 70% who are too lazy to vote! Please America, get a life, get an education, the world cannot be lead by morons!Excellent reading. Strongly recommended.

And this man is our President?

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.