NPR ripping * a new one - "disassemble"

[Avalux]

Don't know who the panel is on the Diane Rhem show, but several of them are openly making fun of *; saying he's an embarrassment to this country and wondering what the rest of the world thinks. One in particular mentioned "disassemble" and said he almost bounded up out of his chair and ran out of the room screaming. :applause:

I couldn't believe what I was hearing - good stuff. :rofl:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

1. It's like having Norm Crosby in the White House

Hayzues Marimba he's an embarrassment.

[driver8]

34. Or Yogi Berra!! n/t

[librechik]

66. If only Bush was as apt and meaningful as either of those guys n/t

[Vinca]

81. Norm Crosby . . . that's perfect.

:rofl:

[RobertSeattle]

2. Yep

It is not that he misspoke - it his arrogant "defining" of the word to the reporter.

Arrogance + Ignorance = Bad things happen

[BattyDem]

13. That's what makes it so funny

* always screws up words, that's nothing new. But this time ... he said a word and then arrogantly defined the word, implying that the reporter is too stupid to know the meaning, when in fact, Chimpy was the one who didn't have a clue! :rofl:

I bet the person who gave him the "Word of the Day" calendar is looking for a new job! :P

[fishwax]

44. that is pretty funny

I've always thought it was funny how he would define or explain things in press conferences, as if repeating exactly how it was explained to him minutes before the press conference. The "third rail" comment about Social Security, for example. But this incident was a whole new kind of funny. What an idiot.

[lectrobyte]

20. I still can't figure out how someone who allegedly has a couple of

Ivy League degrees can have such a limited vocabulary, and be so dead on his feet answering a question. The clip where he explains sovereignty to the reporters is also priceless. I think he doesn't know a word, so he assumes no one else will either. Unfortunately for us all, I'm convinced he didn't follow the advice a lot of us got in the '70s -- dude, slow down, you're starting to kill the important brain cells.

[Tigress DEM]

32. You would think that sovereignty of the Indian Nation would have...

been explained to him by somebody - I mean as pResident, it is his right and duty to know about those things.

With a DEM in office, there would have been no question on understanding of that word or the concept or the government's obligation in making sure that sovereignty remain secure for the India people.

[ProfessorGAC]

56. Maybe He Cheated His Way Through College

Would that surprise you in any way? It wouldn't surprise me.
The Professor

[Straight Shooter]

57. He didn't cheat. He received his degree through entitlement.

bush is too stupid to cheat. He lets others cheat on his behalf, and then mimics their example.

[Avalux]

58. He barely passed

low C average. I remember reading about a former prof describe 'student Bush' - sat in the back of the class, didn't pay attention, constantly made wisecracks. His grades were so horrible the University of Texas Law School rejected his application.

If he had cheated, wouldn't he have cheated better? :rofl:

[TahitiNut]

63. As a mid-60's undergraduate, I know cheating was common.

It was relatively common for two groups of 'students' to enter into a codependent relationship in the Vietnam era -- both groups seeking to maintain their "full-time" student status ... and corresponding draft deferments. College attendance required both money and grades. Affluent but mentally ill-equipped students would ally with academically-gifted but impoverished students, exchanging monetary resources (for tuition, fees, living expenses, etc.) for academic 'resources' (term papers, examination stand-ins, crib sheets, etc.). Many instructors, professors, and graduate assistants turned a blind eye to these arrangements, at least partly due to their shared "anti-war" perspectives. It was always my understanding that such arrangements were fairly widespread at the Ivy League colleges, where the three ingredients (i.e. poor-but-smart students, rich-but-stupid students, and "anti-war" faculty) of this recipe were most abundant and the demand for these ingredients was highest (high tuition, academically competitive, high draft quotas).

I sometimes kick myself in the butt for being so misguided as to obtain my income by working various jobs - including a period when I tried to work full-time and carry a full-time load. If instead I'd found a rich-but-stupid ally, I could've earned my tuition and fees by engaging in academic work that would've helped instead of hindered my own academic performance. Lord knows there were enough opportunities.

[many a good man]

73. Thanks for the history lesson

Wow.

[TahitiNut]

76. Sure thing. College grades were a LOT tougher to get in those days.

We didn't have the "grade inflation" we see today where 'A's are handed out like hall passes. I never heard of people getting above a 4.0 on the 4-point scale, like we hear today. I don't believe there was anyone in my graduating class with a 4.0 average. From what I'm hearing today, college grading is almost a joke.

[Nite Owl]

3. Jon Stewart used that

line of his last night. "...disassemble?, that's what we are doing in Iraq." But when NPR makes fun of him that's incredible.

[Avalux]

9. I think once damn breaks (and it's bulging right now) -

* will go down hard...it will become commonplace for the media to point out his faults and laugh at him. They will no longer be afraid to speak out.

[Tigress DEM]

38. when they realize how much fun... and how many papers sell etc...

I told my STRIB we are on a trial reconcilliation for 13 weeks - Sunday only - and the last 10-12 times they asked me back I told them, quit reporting spin and fluff and I will think about it.

If it's about the bottom line, fine. If no one is buying it, then they will have to change.

I tell my Republican friends it isn't about conservative versus liberal anymore. It's about "Do you believe in your right to having the facts reported and your obligation to look at those facts and make up your mind or do you believe propoganda from the administration should be your 'facts' that tell you what to think?"

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. The most disgusting thing about the way he said "disassemble"

was that he pronounced it slowly -- "dis-as-sem-ble" -- so the ignorant, unwashed masses could learn this hard new word, and then, adding insult to injury, defined it: "That means they lie." And, of course, in the process of showing off his erudition, he used the wrong word. It was hilarious, but at the same time horrifying. We have a president who can barely speak 8th-grade-level English himself, and who has the gall to talk down to everybody else. He makes me want to scream, tear out my hair and throw crockery.

[Coexist]

5. I know - he said it like he was proud of his new .50 word

[AllegroRondo]

35. Someone got him the 'word a day' calendar for Christmas.

[fob]

70. A woman called in to Randi Rhoads show the other day and said

it was dictionary.com (I think that the site she gave) word of the day for the day before bush* made the comment. What she didn't clarify was if the WOTD was "disassemble" or "dissemble".

BRB, while I look it up...YEP!

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2005/05/

Dissemble - Word of the Day for May 30, 2005!

dissemble \dih-SEM-buhl\, transitive verb:
1. To hide under a false appearance; to hide the truth or true nature of.
2. To put on the appearance of; to feign.

intransitive verb:
To conceal the real fact, motives, intention, or sentiments under some pretense; to assume a false appearance; to act the hypocrite.

[faithnotgreed]

79. fob! cool find - that would be classic if jon stewart had used that!

[Stephanie]

7. It reveals that he doesn't read at all

One type of language mistake is made by those who read, can spell the word, know the definition of the word, but mispronounce it because they're only familiar with it in print. The other type of error is made by Bush - does not read, could not spell it, and makes the malapropism because he is only parroting what he's heard someone else say, without comprehending it.

The first type of error is entirely forgiveable.

[TahitiNut]

39. Insightful.

I entirely agree. The distinction between (literate) 'readers' and 'listeners' (boob-tubers?) is also quite obvious on the Internet, including DU. When I see erroneous homonyms ("your" vs. "you're" and "there" vs. "their" vs. "they're"), including mangled metaphorical idioms (e.g. "tow the line"), I think it's obvious that the author is regurgitating language only heard (probably as a passive bystander) and not read. These are CLEARLY not "typos." When I read such posts, I envision an African Gray parrot using a voice-writer.
:dunce:

[Flying Dream Blues]

59. Gawd, yes...tow the line...taken for granite...and my personal favorite...

nip it in the butt! bwahahahahahahaha. I mean, you gotta laugh, but at the same time, it's pathetic.

[tblue37]

67. I have an article about that on my

Grammar and Usage for the Non-Expert website:

http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/toetheline.html

[Flying Dream Blues]

71. Another one: put through the "ringer"...nt

[City Lights]

14. He does this with all the new words he learns.

It's like he's so proud that he learnt sumpin' new he's just got to share it with everyone. poopy and bar must be so proud of their lil' chimp. He didn't learn nuttin' at Yale and Harvard, but this presidentin' thing is learnin' him good!

[Tigress DEM]

41. WoW, what a tag line!!

[City Lights]

61. Thanks!

:hi:

[leftofthedial]

21. that smarmy, condescending tone

like he is some kind of expert lecturing a bunch of third graders just pisses me off

I can't believe the press corpse (sic) hasn't revolted out of inability to swallow the relentless insults to their intelligence any longer.

[City Lights]

27. I know. Not only have they not revolted, they continue to cover for him.

How many print publications printed what he actually said? They usually print what they think he meant to say and it makes me sick.

[redqueen]

30. That's a good question - which papers covered up his arrogant stupidity?

I wish I had Lexis access.

[City Lights]

42. I just did a Google news search and found a few.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=bush+disassemble&btnG=Search+News

Surprisingly, the Chicago Tribune covered it, and they caused a bit of an uproar awhile back by defending their position of translating bushspeak into English for their readers.

Vocabulator in chief
Rhetorical twists in some of President Bush's statements defy definition, the Tribune's Mark Silva writes

By Mark Silva
Tribune's White House correspondent
Published June 2, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Sometimes, President Bush approaches the English language like a new bicycle or toy wagon: Some assembly required.

Criticizing Amnesty International for comparing the American-run detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Soviet-run gulags of old, Bush complained this week that the human-rights group had based its findings on the word of detainees: "People that had been trained in some instances to disassemble--that means not tell the truth."

What he apparently meant to say was "dissemble," but this president doesn't always say exactly what he means to say.

more... http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0506020161jun02,1,5001382.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

[driver8]

68. and that smug chimp-like face...

I cannot even stand to look at the guy, much less listen to him.

What an arrogant piece of shit "our pResident" is.

[Zorbuddha]

22. It was a defining moment

illustrating how he is wrong about EVERYTHING.

Form AND content.

[GiovanniC]

23. It's Classic Child-Like Behavior

Egocentrism... believing that if he doesn't know a word, that nobody else knows it either.

Frankly, if he's trying to get across the point that he believes people lie, then he should just say "they lie" instead of trying words he doesn't understand and then defining them as if everyone else is as dumb as he is.

[MissB]

25. My feelings exactly.

Except for the crockery part.

[fishwax]

46. He always does that with big words

He has to say them slowly, or he'll screw them up and he knows it. This time, though, saying it slowly didn't help :rofl:

[LizW]

65. Exactly!

I tend to break out in hysterical, shreiking laughter when he does it. It is funny, yet horrifying.

You would think the smarter people around him would say to him, "Stop. Doing. That. You are making a fool of yourself."

[TrogL]

80. Oh Lord, you've got to be kidding

He's watched "Short Circuit" too many times.

[peacetalksforall]

6. That is why Laura is going to take over soon. n/t

[zbdent]

8. I can see his Memoirs - working title is still in progress, but

the secondary title is "English as a second language".

Hmm, maybe "In Over Dick's Head"?

[Flying Dream Blues]

60. LOL! As the Irish say, what an eejit! n/t

[LibDemAlways]

10. After listening to it a couple of times,

I'm pretty confident that whoever was feeding him his answers used the word "dissemble" which the chimp was totally unfamiliar with and didn't catch. His mind latched on to the closest word he knew which was "disassemble," which he then slowly repeated. Then the voice in his ear, without having heard the chimp's mistake, added "It means not to tell the truth." That was for the chimp's ears only, but the idiot made the mistake of repeating it out loud thereby compounding the error.

His handlers must be awfully glad the press covers this shit up.

[Avalux]

15. I tend to agree with you

It's strange how slowly he said the word - almost as if he wasn't sure he should (because he was unfamiliar).

[Kota]

17. I think you may be right.

[goclark]

69. You hit the nail on the head!

The ear piece did him in this time.

Please America WAKE UP!

[peacetalksforall]

11. George W. Bush - the 43rd President whose backers had all the

dictionaries modified in the first decade of the 21st century and who spent 55 million of taxpayer money to convince us that the words, grammar, syntax, and pronounciations of GWB are the real thing. So this is how history evolves.

[kohodog]

12. HaHa, "dissemble" was the word of the day May 30 on dictionary.com!

He's a slow learner and has a small attention span. But at least we know where he gets his "grown up" words!

[Avalux]

16. Are you serious?

OMG, that's either ironic or someone was playing a joke on *. :rofl:

[kohodog]

18. Check it out: link!

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2005/05/

Word of the Day for Monday May 30, 2005

dissemble \dih-SEM-buhl\, transitive verb:
1. To hide under a false appearance; to hide the truth or true nature of.
2. To put on the appearance of; to feign.
intransitive verb:
To conceal the real fact, motives, intention, or sentiments under some pretense; to assume a false appearance; to act the hypocrite.

He was an open, candid personality who did not dissemble his thoughts, and the public respected him as a politician who was unusual in the sincerity of his views
--Robin Cook, "If John Smith were alive, imagine how different this Labour government would be," Independent, May 7, 2004

However, like that little Mexican boy, I learned to dissemble my anguish and sat as quietly as I could, hoping that no one would notice I did not like the food.
--"An acquired taste," Manila Bulletin, December 27, 2004

In the years since he joined Today in 1987, Humphrys, 61, has perfected the ability to extract truth from those who aim to dissemble.
--Tim Luckhurst, "As John Humphrys announces his retirement...," Daily Mail, May 3, 2005

While Raad often combines fact with fiction, his goal is not to trick or dissemble.
--Janet A. Kaplan, "Flirtations with evidence," Art in America, October 2004

[Avalux]

24. lol - thanks!

Here's a theory - * gets the word of the day in an email from Condi who tells him he might want to use it in his speech. He thinks it's a great idea, but never seeing or hearing the word before, doesn't quite know how to pronounce it. So the time came for the boy king to proudly show off his new "word of the day" and being his arrogant self, even gave the meaning (look what I can do!). Fool.

[fishwax]

48. that is way too funny

:rofl:

thanks for the link

:rofl:

[gratuitous]

19. Laff riot for upcoming word of the day

Epitome

[Tigress DEM]

47. Epitome

pResident: "Yeah, I know that word, epitome, that's where we found Sadaam on the day we captured him, in his little epitome."

[Avalux]

53. lol!

:rofl:

[City Lights]

29. Priceless. Somebody bought chimpy a dictionary calendar for Christmas.

Too bad he can't read.

[elehhhhna]

43. I have a contest idea.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3777603

[jokerman93]

62. dictionary.com is great

The woman who does the word of the day column there is clearly a liberal. I've been getting word of the day since 2000 and she consistently puts out words that have some current topical interest - especially political. Her commentaries are always fun and interesting.

http://dictionary.reference.com/

[fob]

74. I'll say, I took a gander at the entire month of May and whoa!

1 palindrome: a word, verse, phrase, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward.
2 supplicate: to make a humble and earnest petition.
3 labile: open to change; apt or likely to change.
4 traduce: to vilify.
5 claque: a group of fawning admirers.
6 frisson: a brief moment of intense excitement.
7 extempore: without premeditation or preparation.
8 cosset: to treat with excessive indulgence; to pamper.
9 aver: to assert as true.
10 wayworn: wearied by traveling.
11 ameliorate: to make or grow better.
12 concomitant: accompanying; attending.
13 triskaidekaphobia: fear of the number 13.
14 indolent: lazy; inactive.
15 lenity: the state or quality of being lenient.
16 camarilla: a group of secret and often scheming advisers.
17 ablution: the washing of the body or some part of it.
18 untoward: not favorable or fortunate; also, improper.
19 menagerie: a collection of wild or unusual animals; also, a diverse group.
20 presage: an omen; also, to predict.
21 abnegate: refuse or deny oneself; also, to give up (rights, claims, etc.).
22 faction: a usually contentious group or party; also, internal dissension.
23 pallor: unusual or extreme paleness.
24 suffuse: spread through or over; to flush.
25 artifice: an artful trick, stratagem or device; also, cleverness, skill.
26 saturnine: gloomy or sullen.
27 lionize: to treat or regard as an object great interest or importance.
28 finical: finicky.
29 pliant: easily bent or flexed; also, easily influenced; compliant.
30 dissemble: to hide under a false appearance; also, to assume a false appearance.
31 recreant: cowardly; also, unfaithful or disloyal

I wonder if you crossreferenced those with what bush* was doing those days...

[fob]

72. Ooops, I didn't read far enough, I reposted that upstream.

[AP]

26. Unfortunately, teasing bush about his vocabulary doesn't really hurt him.

It makes his supporters perceive and even bigger divide between them and NE liberal elites.

[Avalux]

31. So how many true supporters do you think * has?

If they're so supportive of this idiot, nothing will change that. It's the folks who reluctantly supported him who need to hear this stuff - and it does give them pause.

[AP]

75. There's obviously a sliding scale of support.

And I think people who are 95-55% supporters of bush move to the right 10% if they hear stuff like this.

It also makes anti-Bush people go around repeating useless criticisms of Bush.

NPR's anti-Bush listeners will now go around in their work places saying "can you believe what a dummy Bush is" instead of, "can you believe how every policy Bush implements fucks over people who work for a living and makes the wealthy wealthier."

So when Rehm does an honest show about, say, Christopher Cox and what he's going to do with the SEC, then I'll listen. If they're going to sit around and make fun of Bush's vocabulary (which, sometimes, I suspect is totally intentional) then I'm not interested.

Do you know that back in the days of monarchy, if the king misused or mispronounced a word, then all the sycophant loyal subjects would do the same as a sign of support. I've heard Tim Russert use Bush-speak on his show after Bush has invented some new word or pronunciation, and when I've heard this, I've thought, "this is not an accident -- Bush intentionally misspeaks and the sycophants intentionally repeat, and it's meant to resonate some bizarre anti-intellectual cult of Bush." Let's see if Rehm does a show on that.

[jokerman93]

77. Totalitarianism changes the lexicon

With your comment in mind, I noticed on the Faux channel's "24" a few eeeks ago (great show by the way) that the main character Jack Bauer (All-American white guy 007 type CT agent) pronounces the word "NUCULAR".

Now THAT is intentional!

[Gormy Cuss]

40. Teasing him on his simple English, yes but this was more

With great self satisfaction he stood there and defined a completely different word. There are many prep school Bush elite out there who are mumbling "moron!" after that little display.

I agree that liberals harping on it would do him more good than harm, and I'm not disassembling (sic).

[TahitiNut]

49. If there were any justice, Yale should lose its accreditation.

If Yale were subject to a "lemon law," they'd issue a warranty recall on degrees issued in the late 60's and early 70's. After all, if Bush* were a Yale-brand automobile, would anyone put their life at risk and buy one? Not me.

[Gormy Cuss]

64. Maybe a truth-in-legacy disclosure

If you made it through based on your family's ability to buy a new building perhaps your degree should have a special designation, say a BAM (bachelor of arts, money)

[Tigress DEM]

28. Guess they are tired of being called Namby Pamby Radio

I hope this means the media is really going to work on getting back to the business of being the fourth estate again. Still, I think we can't let up on keeping their feet to the fire until we get the war criminals out of office and our votes truly counted.

I'm thinking CSpan has been getting more audience share for some time than a lot of the mainstream news outlets.

CNN's Ted Turner has made noise that they are going to get back to being the real media outlet.

This was a short time after CNN's co-founder Reese Schoenfeld had said on May 16 to John Gibson on The Big Story that it was the "media's responsibility" to lie for the government. (ie since the Secretary of State is not allowed to lie it is the media's job to do that for him.)

http://www.newshounds.us/2005/05/24/reese_schonfeld_cofounder_of_cnn_says_the_public_does_not_have_a_right_to_know.php

[redqueen]

33. I don't listen to NPR. Did they discuss the Downing Street Minutes?

I hope so...

[Avalux]

36. Not on the Diane Rehm show (still on)

Right now, she's interviewing a Buddhist hospice advocate. They're discussing the end of life, the horrible medical/insurance system in the US and how EVERYONE has a right to medical care and dying with dignity.

We'll see if the DSM is brought up later. NPR is the only radio station I can get at work, so I listen throughout the day.

[fishwax]

52. They actually did discuss it on the roundtable

I think it was the last segment of the roundtable, but the subject was discussed. Diane said they her program had received a lot of questions about the issue from listeners this week. Perhaps she'll have a full show about it next week ...

[kohodog]

37. No, they drank the koolaid too.

I haven't heard them mention it, unless there was an oblique reference during the British election.

[Tigress DEM]

45. I don't listen to Namby Pamby Radio either, but...

I think I will send them kudos for moving in the right direction with this one.

I've done that in several occasions with the media, stating that I think their general approach sucks, but that I am encouraged with this shift in programming. If we give it a positive response, then they might do it some more.

Couldn't hurt.

[fishwax]

50. Yes, they did

This is a specific weekly episode of the Diane Rehm show that is dedicated to discussing the week's events. I can't say for sure if it's been on either of their news programs, but the DR show has a significant audience and following.

Anyway, Diane said they had gotten a ton of emails about the issue, and they discussed for about 6-8 minutes what were the contents of the minutes and why the press had not reported it more. I didn't hear any mention of Kerry's plan to make it an issue, though ...

[Avalux]

51. thanks

I must have missed that portion of her show. :hi:

[fishwax]

54. whoops, I just responded to your other post too

about the same thing. DIdn't meant to be redundant. :)

I actually missed the part where they were dissing bush :(

:hi:

[Avalux]

55. It was good, especially the laughter from the panel

I couldn't help but laugh along with them. Diane tried to calm them down a bit but they were too far gone.

[Strawman]

78. No disassemble!

Says Johnny 5