<p>Probably because he just stopped over the OPEC countries couple hours before landing on the APEC countries.</p>
<p>Anyway, which one is more serious? Mispelling or carrying nuclear warheads by mistake?</p>
<p>Politicians make verbal mistakes. All the time. But during their years in office, they develop a certain polish that lets them smooth over mistakes with only slight evidence of a mistake. The MoC that I used to intern for was extremely skilled at public speaking, but made a few mistakes along the way. The only thing that enabled the MoC to speak so flawlessly was the 20 years or so served in office.</p>
<p>Our President, on the other hand, has a curious and unique political strategy: he appeals to the down home hokum that many Americans are familiar with, and refuses to answer for his mistakes. He’s polished, alright. I’ve seen him at speaking engagements where he could deliver quite the speech. And he’s well informed. But that really doesn’t appeal to the part of America that elected him President. So, in a vain attempt to retain his base, he stubbornly refuses to use his political polish. Instead of impression, he aims for familiarity.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, to the rest of the world, that reeks of utter arrogance. Having helped set up a couple of events with high-profile politicians, I know firsthand that everything, and EVERYTHING is detailed down to a tee. Everything from exits to (sometimes) where the water bottle/glass of water would be placed on the podium/discussion table. President Bush certainly knew where that exit was, knew that he was at the APEC summit, and knew everything else that was gaffed. Either he deliberately did it, again, to appeal to the voters back home, or he was suddenly flabbergasted by something and choked (figuratively, not on a pretzel). In either case, it doesn’t bode well for our international image.</p>
<p>A while back, I had a class with a professor who used to be on Bush’s National Security Council as part of the Executive Staff. He accompanied the President to some of the APEC summits, and gave us the impression that the President was well-informed, up to date, and fully cognizant of the issues at hand, as well as the implications of the topics that would be discussed. Which leads me to believe that these gaffes weren’t complete accidents.</p>
<p>Tlaktan- the thought that the gaffes may well be intentional makes my opinion of the big guy hit an all-time low. I don’t even want to imagine what the rest of the world thinks of a country that would elect someone who appears so ignorant.</p>
<p>Every time you think ‘that’s it, he’s hit the lowest he can go’, the Prez gives us more. It’s getting so that I wish he’d just stay home (pref. Crawford). Every time he goes abroad, I just cringe knowing that something is going to go amiss.</p>
<p>One only wishes this were fiction. As Alan Shore once said on Boston Legal, “All real. None of it scripted.”</p>
<p>Andover, Yale, Harvard. All failed to teach this man speak his native language.</p>
<p>They may have taught it but it doesn’t mean he learned it or could apply it (as the evidence shows)!</p>
<p>touche… we elected (twice!) a man unteachable even by the finest schools in the land.</p>
<p>Cut the guy some slack. I really think he suffers from a degenerative neurological condition.</p>
<p>^^^^^hmmmmmmm. and the most obvious manifestation is his “tick:” the snide half smile while half chuckling, regardless of the seriousness of the subject.</p>
<p>“degenerative neurological condition”</p>
<p>that’s one way to put it - politely ;)</p>
<p>any one here read “bush on the couch”</p>
<p>fun reading…</p>
<p>Regarding his ‘neurological condition’, I think he probably falls down a lot even when not on a bike. How many grown men of ordinary health have as many dings and bruises on their face as this guy does in the course of a year? They always tell us he fell off his bicycle but I know a lot of 50/60 yr old guys who bike and they very rarely take a tumble onto their faces…like never.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^^^During his later years President and ex-President Reagan was demonstrating some similar issues that can be traced back to his fall off his horse. He also had early Alzheimer’s Disease. Perhaps W fell down a few times when he was drinking a bit too much…Cummulative concussive syndrome has been well documented in boxers and football players and perhaps ex-drunks.</p>
<p>
I agree, watch the video: <a href=“http://www.archive.org/details/BrainTenYrs[/url]”>What's happened to George W. Bush after 10 years : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive;
<p>^^^!!!</p>