From LBN -- Bush Shows Gift Of Gaffe At APEC Summit

[Lone_Star_Dem]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2981007

All credit for finding this article belongs to DUs kskiska.

I'm going to cross post because this is not something I want those of you who post primarily in GD to miss. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you may become a bit ill, but all in all you'll appreciate it like only a DUer could.


SYDNEY (Reuters) - Even for someone as gaffe-prone as U.S. President George W. Bush, he was in rare form on Friday, confusing APEC with OPEC and transforming Australian troops into Austrians.

(snip)

"Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction," he told Prime Minister John Howard. "Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit."

As the audience of several hundred people erupted in laughter, Bush corrected himself and joked, "He invited me to the OPEC summit next year." Australia has never been a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Later in his speech, Bush recounted how Howard had gone to visit "Austrian troops" last year in Iraq. There are, in fact, no Austrian troops there. But Australia has about 1,500 Australians military personnel in and around the country.

Upon finishing his speech, Bush took the wrong way off-stage and, looking slightly perplexed, had to be re-directed by Howard to a centre-stage exit.

Link...

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-apec-bush-gaffe.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Bluebear]

1. Oh my good heavens, World. Please. PLEASE forgive us.

[WatchWhatISay]

17. I fear we will have to promise not to do it again before they forgive us

And that is not likely, unfortunately

[BelgianMadCow]

25. A promise would not suffise I think

People were shocked over here. But somehow I do think someone like Al Gore, who was very well received in Brussels lately, could mend the gap, just not with a promise only. A sincere apology would be a good start, and I'm sure he would come up with more than that.

What is really worrisome, is that the entire war on terror is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that generations to come will have to live with the results. I know I would hold a SERIOUS grudge if my family was killed while I was innocent, like so many Iraqis.
Your treasury robbed, thousands dead and a legacy that is a nightmare. Mission accomplished for some.

[uppityperson]

2. "aides say his folksy style has helped endear him to Middle America" my MA ass.

Sorry aids, even we Middle Americans can smell incompetence and fools.

[Bluebear]

5. So his aides think "middle Americans" are a bunch of illiterate rubes, evidently. nt

[uppityperson]

8. We ain't all no Homer Simpsons, naw, yuck yuck yuck. eom

[MotorCityMan]

33. Everybody sing now.....

"And I'm proud to be an American..."
.
.
.
"GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!!!!!"


Please make him stop. Just make him stop.

[lpbk2713]

18. Typical BushCo spinmeister bullshit.

Ratings don't lie. This asshole is the WORST .... PRESIDENT ..... EVER.

[question everything]

3. Didn't he commente on the Queen's visit

some 100 years ago instead of 25, or so?

[Bluebear]

6. He said she visited America in 1776.

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/bushvideos/youtube/bushqueen.htm

[JDPriestly]

4. What an idiot!

[Spazito]

7. bush is one big walking GAFFE!

It would be news if he DIDN'T embarass his country while travelling, I think he is batting zero so far in all his trips.

[Bluebear]

10. Somehow saying "OPEC" doesn't surprise me. Oil, oil, oil. nt

[Spazito]

11. LOL, true, I didn't think of that! n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. Good Catch!

Something of Freudian slip...

[izzie]

9. I just read some place that some one said he was usually drunk

when he was riding his bike. I guess who ever that was was wrong. It sounds like when he goes to other countries he sounds drunk. Didn't he pull some fool thing in some country with a women President? I guess like so many Am. he feels he can really act the fool once he leaves his own country. Our forever frat Boy President.

[Spazito]

12. Oh, yes, his "massage" of the German Chancellor, Merkel,

another stellar moment at the last APEC meeting I believe.

[izzie]

28. That is the one I was thinking about. Crazy stuff. Will Bush ever

stop being this silly frat boy?

[MidwestTransplant]

13. Jet lag no doubt. Surely he wasn't trashed.

[lpbk2713]

14. You'd think with his money he could afford better quality drugs.

Such a dickhead. What an embarrassment to us all.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. It seems to me he might be getting some really good ones

Some of the most incoherent people I've ever know were ones who had unfettered access to quality drugs. Take Rush Limbaugh for example. :P

[Cha]

16. I'm disgusted..that asshole is

anywhere near representing the USA anywhere.

Fucking blubbering idiot.

[LuckyLib]

19. Isn't there some sheep ranch in the Outback that needs a lone shepherd to sit with the herd

in the far hills for a few years? Please?

[radfringe]

20. rolling my eyes

if it wasn't so pathetic, it would be funny...

meanwhile he's dreaming of racking in big bucks by speechifying...

[WinkyDink]

21. I say again: Bush utters syllables. Words quite literally mean nothing to him.

It is why he mangles well-known aphorisms ("Fool me twice...).
Why he contradicts his own previous remarks.

And it is why he has utter contempt for laws, such as those about perjury; for documents, such as the U.S. Constitution; and for treaties, such as the Geneva Conventions.

[bananarepublican]

22. Austrians... Australians... OPEC... APEC.... Iraq.... Iran.... What's the big deal?

Most of the letters are in fact correct. You say Warren Commission... I say 911 Commision... What's the difference?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

23. That darn earphone feed screwed up again... eom

[SalmonChantedEvening]

24. "Ah reely loves that there Kidney Opera House"

:D

[wicket]

27. FUCKING MORON

[Lone_Star_Dem]

29. Wouldn't it be nice if he wandered off and was eaten by dingos

Or kangaroos, or sheep or anything really?

[Bluebear]

30. 'or anything really?'

:spray:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

34. Yes, even a mass of carnivorous butterflies.

:rofl:

[AlCzervik]

31. Did ya hear the one about the "Austrian troops" at "OPEC" that moved the lecturn?

[lpbk2713]

32. Kicking ..... Simply because this dickhead is so incredibly stupid.

His stupidity is only equalled by the that of the 59 Million who voted for him .... TWICE

[Bluebear]

35. you said it. nt

[etherealtruth]

36. I can't even laugh ...

the response this generates is embarrassment :(