"Childrens do learn," Bush tells school kids
Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:46pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Offering a grammar lesson guaranteed to make any English teacher cringe, President George W. Bush told a group of New York school kids on Wednesday: "Childrens do learn."
Bush made his latest grammatical slip-up at a made-for-TV event where he urged Congress to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, the centerpiece of his education policy, as he touted a new national report card on improved test scores.
The event drew New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings plus teachers and about 20 fourth and fifth graders from P.S. 76.
During his first presidential campaign, Bush -- who promised to be the "education president" -- once asked: "Is our children learning?"
On Wednesday, Bush seemed to answer his own question with the same kind of grammatical twist.
"As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured," he said.
The White House opted to clean up Bush's diction in the official transcript.
Bush is no stranger to verbal gaffes. He often acknowledges he was no more than an average student in school and jokes about his habit of mangling the English language.
Just a day earlier, the White House inadvertently showed how it tries to prevent Bush from making even more slips of the tongue than he already does.
As Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, a marked-up draft of his speech briefly popped up on the U.N. Web site, complete with a phonetic pronunciation guide to get him past troublesome names of countries and world leaders.
21 comments:
he's his own LOLCAT.
Jesus. I'm ashamed to be 'Merican, as Dubya would say.
"In my sentences I go where no man has gone before."
- George W. Bush
"I heard somebody say, 'Where's (Nelson) Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead. Because Saddam killed all the Mandelas."
I know that it should be "childrens doth learn", but give the guy a break.
he sure is a dummy.
Sysm - and not nearly as entertaining.
Valley Girl - he does raise the embarrassment level to new standards.
Cajunvegan - I'll have to include that one in my all-time favorite Bushisms list.
Justin - amazing isn't it!? Since Saddam is dead and Mandela is in fact, alive.
Flounder - he is the president of the United States, not some buddy of yours at a backyard barbecue. I don't think expecting him to not fuck up every thing he says is too much to ask.
Jiggs - dumber than a bag of hammers.
Yet we couldn't find anyone to beat him in 2004.
yournamehere: well with national literacy levels falling, maybe they're in the majority now. Might explain why he got elected.
Sigh.
(holding hand to head)
DOH!
sysm is onto something. LOLprezidentz!
It's just funny that he made that mistake while talking about education, specifically that "childrens do learn." He's just making up for what he missed as a kid. I also like how the official White House transcript had no such error.
BTW, NCLB is bullshit. As a teacher, you will most likely agree.
What... a moron.
He clearly isn't Hooked on Phonics, or grammar for that matter.
I love drunken presidents.
I think he's doing a fine job.
Right now, as a teacher of English, I want to cry. This is so much worse than the Dan Quayle Potato(e) Incident.
...because this man has ruined education in every possible way, you know.
I are can't believe he am our president.
It's better than Chillin's.
Sigh. *shakes head* I'll look forward to seeing this one on Letterman's Great Moments In Presidential Speeches.
I always enjoy the rare occasion when he does successfully pronounce a fairly difficult (for him) word. He beams so proudly, like he just completed a 30 piece jigsaw puzzle or something.
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