"John Gaquin" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message

.....You're talking about accents, and I'm talking about grammar.

No, you're missing my point, Doug. You're attributing grammatical or
structural mis-speaks to rank ignorance, but I disagree. I say they
predominantly arise from insecurity and self-consciousness in [mostly]
ex-temp public speaking.

His recent press conference is a case in point. I saw a room full of
professional wordsmiths and stand-up reporters doing their utmost to
embarrass and humiliate the President of the US. These guys are all
building their careers on the ease with which they can make a bad
speaker
look uneasy. I think we may be only a short time from the day when some
petty little s#*t like Terry Moran will stand up and say "Mr. President,
don't you think you were a fool to say that......"

When reading a prepared text GW does much better -- still not
"right-at-home", but I don't think it's a major issue. As I've said
elsewhere, we recently had eight years of one of the finest ex-temp
speakers
ever to inhabit the WH, thus proving conclusively that the ability to
speak
off the cuff does not necessarily bring with it a man of character and
integrity.

Unless you have had occasion to have private, off record conversations
with
Mr. Bush, neither of us can resolve this question.

Was in a room with him for a half hour (during the campaign) and spoke
with him for a brief second or two. You are absolutely correct.....the
moment the cameras were turned on, and the microphone was shoved in his
face, he changed........even then, I recall the media types hanging around
making the 'stupid' remarks.