>>"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
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>>-H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
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>Great quote Tom - thanks! I googled it and found a lengthier excerpt - you might find interesting: http://www.petebevin.com/archives/2004/11/11/a_downright_moron.html
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>Article today on CNN also points out that it's not just the president that might be caught up in these types of endeavors: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/books/11/15/lost.for.words.reut/index.html

As much as I dislike our president, his inability to speak with the precision of a professional pedant is not something I hold against him. Language evolves and words are created and connotations modified all the time. Contrast him with William Buckley whose wordsmithing is impeccable, but whose meaning I often had to chase down through one "GRE" word after another. I may laugh about Bush's language skills, but at least I know what he was intending to say.

Going WAY back in time.........one of the problems Adlai Stevenson faced in 1952 and 1956 (aside from the incredible popularity of the general who won the war in Europe) was that he was an intellectual who spoke way above the ability of the average American to understand. I think part of Bush's appeal is that he's NOT smarter than average - the voters think he's one of them. (Personally, I want a president who's smarter than I am. Otherwise, what's the point?)

With everything there is to dislike about the president's policies, personality, etc. his language difficulties should be the province of Leno or Letterman.