Spoken like a true Bushman II
I'm chomping at the bits...Eugene Volokh has again taken aim at Slate's Bushism of the day, which is:
"I want to appreciate those of you who wear our nation's uniform for your sacrifice."—Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 14, 2005
Then Volokh goes through the typical inquisition of (in his view) implausible reasons why anyone could find this funny and the most logical one he comes up with is that Bush should have said "thank" instead of "appreciate." Umm, getting warmer, warmer, WARMER!!! The REASON why thank is better is because he "WANTS to appreciate." I want a million dollars. Do I have a million dollars? Nope. I'd appreciate it if someone gave me a million dollars, invaded 2 countries, and risked life and limb for my bumbling. No wait, that's a bad example because if someone actually did those things then I actually WOULD appreciate their efforts, not simply wish to appreciate. Pity, we're inaugurating a Commander-in-Chief whose Christmas list barely includes appreciating those in the military. Slate 3, Volokh 0.
P.S. I think the full context that Volokh provides for the quote makes the gaffe all the worse. I'm giving Slate an extra 0.5 points for making Bush look better than required.
Slate 3.5, Volokh 0.
"I want to appreciate those of you who wear our nation's uniform for your sacrifice."—Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 14, 2005
Then Volokh goes through the typical inquisition of (in his view) implausible reasons why anyone could find this funny and the most logical one he comes up with is that Bush should have said "thank" instead of "appreciate." Umm, getting warmer, warmer, WARMER!!! The REASON why thank is better is because he "WANTS to appreciate." I want a million dollars. Do I have a million dollars? Nope. I'd appreciate it if someone gave me a million dollars, invaded 2 countries, and risked life and limb for my bumbling. No wait, that's a bad example because if someone actually did those things then I actually WOULD appreciate their efforts, not simply wish to appreciate. Pity, we're inaugurating a Commander-in-Chief whose Christmas list barely includes appreciating those in the military. Slate 3, Volokh 0.
P.S. I think the full context that Volokh provides for the quote makes the gaffe all the worse. I'm giving Slate an extra 0.5 points for making Bush look better than required.
Slate 3.5, Volokh 0.
posted by Armen Adzhemyan at 7:15 PM
1 Comments:
I want to appreciate Volokh's attempts to defend Bush, but I'd have to sacrifice common sense in order to do so. I do appreciate the humor, though.
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