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Bush Gets A Little Help On Speeches
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| Lebezniatnikov |
| quote: | Bush's UN Speech Full of Fone-eh-tick Pronunciations for World Leaders
ABC News' Ann Compton and Jennifer Duck report: Never before has the White House released a draft version of the President's speech to the annual United Nations General Assembly.
But this year, a glimpse of how the President sees his speeches was accidentally placed on the UN website along with the speechwriters' cell phone numbers.
Pronunciations for President Bush's friend French President Sarkozy "[sar-KOzee]" appeared in draft #20 on the UN website. Other pronunciations included the Mugabe "[moo-GAHbee] regime" and pronunciations for countries "Kyrgyzstan [KEYRgeez-stan]" and "Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a]."
Most leaders submit a text in advance, especially to help the many translators who simultaneously turn the speeches into more than half a dozen languages. The teleprompter also needs to be loaded with a copy of the President's words so it will appear on glass screens in front of the lectern.
The Bush White House is unaccustomed to providing advanced texts suitable for reporters to publish before he actually speaks.
During an afternoon briefing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said, "there was an error made in trying to make sure that interpreters had what they needed. I don't know how the draft of the speech -- it was not final -- was posted, but it was, and it was taken down."
Perino said it was "not unusual" to include phonetic spellings for various countries in the speech though when asked if the president had a hard time pronouncing some of those country names Perino declined comment saying, "I think that's an offensive question."
The White House also added that no one has called the speech writers' cell phones.
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This has me laughing, but it really isn't funny at all when you think about it. I mean, who, among people who read/listen/watch the news on a semi-regular basis, can't pronounce Mugabe or Sarkozy? And Bush is supposed to be such close, personal friends with President Sarkozy now! lol. :stongue: |
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| Krypton |
| Does anyone ever think they could do a better job at president than Bush? If only it were that easy to run for president. |
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| Groundhog Boy |
Why the do you think the Republicans want Fred Thompson? Same deal, actors know how to work a blank slate. Fortunately for Bush, he doesn't have to consciously wipe the slate clean.
By the way, if they have phonetic spellings, why can't he pronounce words like nuclear correctly? |
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| Lebezniatnikov |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
By the way, if they have phonetic spellings, why can't he pronounce words like nuclear correctly? |
I imagine that's why they instituted the phonetic spellings. |
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| Capitalizt |
| I can't believe after 7 years nobody has told Bush has to say the word "nuclear". I saw the dumbass mess it up again the other day.. |
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| Moral Hazard |
| Guys, I'm not normally one to defend Dubbaya but c'mon, phonetic keys in speaches are common place. I'd venture to guess that phonetic spellings are the rule rather then the exception. While it would be nice to think that GW can pronounce these words without the assistance of hooked on phonics I don't think that this is really cause to ridicule him (there are much better grounds for that). |
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| George Smiley |
| quote: | Originally posted by Krypton
Does anyone ever think they could do a better job at president than Bush? If only it were that easy to run for president. |
I am convinced that Bush is merely the face of a combination of neoconservative idealists and corporte bodies who really run the country behind the scenes. I guess they need some dumb oaf who will believe anything they say and implement their policy suggestions.
Strangely enough, the Manchurian Candidate was on the telly the other night...
No! Not the Mancunian candidate!
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