Hinderaker and Bushisms

I heard this last night on Countdown but couldn’t believe I was hearing myself correctly.

Here is the full quote from John Hinderaker at Powerline Blog

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn’t raise his standards, he will exceed Bush’s total before he is inaugurated.

Let’s examine this a little more closely:

“Obama thinks he is a good talker”

1. Mr. Hinderaker does not know what President-Elect Obama thinks. If he had written “Obama seems to think of himself as a good talker” that would have been acceptable, but Mr. Hinderaker is making a statement of fact (“Obama thinks”) when he doesn’t know that.

2. “…good talker”? Talker? Other than calling someone a “smooth talker” I can’t remember hearing anyone referred to as a “talker”. Yes, technically “talker” is a derivative noun that you can find in the dictionary, but it’s a fairly odd word choice.

he is often undisciplined when he speaks.

Really? Define “often”.

I’ve been following the campaign for several months and haven’t heard many slip-ups. I did see a clip where he said something about being ahead in “57 states”. At first I thought he was saying it as hyperbole. Perhaps not.

But… “often”?

I can understand “often” when talking about Sarah Palin, who couldn’t give a single interview without stumbling over her words.

He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not.

President-Elect Obama seems like a pretty smart guy. I bet he’s figured that one out already. But thanks for the tip.

But then the wheels fall off completely:

President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn’t raise his standards, he will exceed Bush’s total before he is inaugurated.

Um. What?

Bush is perhaps the least eloquent politician since Dan Quayle (who had a few very memorable gaffes).

They’ve even had a term for them: Bushisms, which you can find on Google and books of them at Amazon.com, with publication dates going back several years.

He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting.

It doesn’t sometimes seem halting. It sometimes is halting.

What’s worse? Sometimes he just plows right through the door.

See for yourself:

(If that video doesn’t work, try this link.)

Bush is to the English language what Freddy Krueger was to teenagers in the ’80s: a nightmare.

Anyone who isn’t embarrassed by Bush’s abuse of the English language simply hasn’t been paying attention.

Bush isn’t an example… he’s a cautionary tale.

See also:

Slate.com: The Complete Bushisms (which can be easily accessed at http://tr.im/bushisms).