The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder

Product Description

"They misunderestimated me."—President George W. Bush

It seems like too easy a target, too cheap a laugh, but Mark Crispin Miller, with the deftly trenchant wit that always distinguishes his writing, uses the blunders and malapropisms of George W. Bush to make a larger point about the way in which we elect our presidents. Miller places Bush in the context of other notorious dunces-in-chief, and shows him indisputably in a league of his own. The book is a raucously funny ride—whether it's Bush envisioning "a foreign-handed foreign policy" or Miller skewering vociferous cultural conservatives like William Bennett and Lynne Cheney for their silence on Bush's particular "West Texas version of Ebonics"—but there is also a strong undercurrent of outrage. Only because our elections have become so dependent on television and its emphatic emptiness, Miller argues, can a man of such sublime and complacent ignorance assume the highest office in the land. To quote Bush himself, "It's not the way America is all about."
Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #499535 in Books
* Published on: 2002-06
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 370 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
Miller, a New York University professor of media studies, has fashioned a devastating compendium of President George W. Bush's grammatical gaffes, syntactical shipwrecks, mind-boggling malapropisms and simply dumb comments. Page after page (after page) of quotations, suggests Miller, reveal that Bush is a man who, while not stupid, is prodigiously illiterate and woefully uneducated. Further, and compounding the problem, Bush could not care less about these shortcomings. How then, Miller asks, and this is his larger concern, did someone in Miller's opinion so obviously unqualified to be president convince so many voters that he was? Miller's answer is, in a word, television: Bush succeeded on TV not despite his "utter superficiality," but because his superficiality blended seamlessly with the vacuous culture of the tube. It was not simply that Bush's handlers were able to manipulate his image, attempting to construct out of his ignorance an anti-intellectual "good ole boy" persona, but that news professionals in the medium were all too willing to go along with this ploy. They went along because the pundits of TV have become, according to Miller, increasingly right-wing, thus natural Bush allies, but also because they no longer care to talk about substance, preferring instead discussion of "likability" and other attributes of pure image. While Miller is sometimes vague in his arguments, he has produced a sharp-edged polemic questioning the wisdom of how we elect our leaders. As President Bush has said, "It's not the way America is all about."

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Miller (media studies, New York Univ.; Boxed In: The Culture of TV) suggests that Americans may be suffering from a corporate form of dyslexia: "Seeing that it's all gone wrong, yet always hearing from on high that everything is perfectly all right, we each feel...as helpless and perplexed as any undiagnosed dyslexic." Miller's explanation is that George W. Bush and his handlers have mastered the use of television, highlighting the candidate's hyper-chummy style to sell their theme and message. An opening analysis compares the current President with former Presidents Bush, Nixon, and Johnson, whose images often suffered on television, then shows how the 2000 campaign used television to the candidate's advantage. Miller uses extensive quotes from campaign appearances, television interviews, and the televised debates to demonstrate how the candidate focused on canned "theme" and "message" texts while repeatedly revealing through body language and malapropisms what he may actually have been thinking. Miller makes no effort to be unbiased and is sometimes openly contemptuous, but the analysis is thoughtful and the quotes are accurate and well documented. Recommended for media studies collections. Jill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Customer Reviews

Brain Damaged, Mildly Retarded or a Great Actor?3
This is a somewhat amusing outdated book that mainly quotes various statements to spew from the mouth of one G.W Bush during the first year of his presidency.

It goes without saying for me that Bush has absolutely no input as to what decisions are made but the real question in my mind is if he has brain damage from the years of drug and alcohol abuse, is he drunk or high on acid while giving interviews and speeches, is he just that dumb or is he a great actor that is intentionally playing the role of inept moron in order to create a scapegoat to divert attention away from the real controllers?

For every conservative in your house. . .5
Wonderful. A close, intimate reading of the complex tapestry that is George Bush. Recommended for evangelical Christians, Oil Company executives, and NASCAR mommies and daddies who STILL believe.

Trenchant & Observant5
When you actually listen to the things George W. Bush says, you might just wince at the barbarisms, mispronunciations of words and the poor grammar. "Misunderestimate" is one of Bush's most infamous to date. My personal favorite "Bushism" was one he made in or about 2000 in re imports. Bush actually said that "more and more of our imports are coming in from overseas." Where did he think imports were coming from, Boston? Good grief!

If nothing else, Bushisms do provide some comic relief during these times of strife and war. While I am no fan of this president and will be among the many who will call the emperor naked and his administration of the emperor's new clothing genre, I do get a kick out of some of his more outlandish comments. As for calling him an anti-intellectual, I beg to differ. I would have to say that instead of opposing intellectualism, Bush is out of the ballgame as he is certainly a far cry from an intellectual by anyone's reckoning. Gently put, he is not the brightest bulb in the lamp or the sharpest tool in the shed.

Was Bush a child who got left behind? This book includes quite a list of Bush's verbal gaffes and poorly contructed sentences. It makes you wonder why on earth the media panders to him - the emperor is naked, for Pete's sake!

This author claims Bush's verbal challenges are caused by dyslexia. His term "West Texas ebonics" actually made me laugh. Bush's barbarisms, while grimace-worthy is not necessarily a regional problem. Bush's handlers try to prep him for television and instead of focusing on issues, many times the media will throw in red herrings such as Al Gore's lack of spontaneity in his delivery and Perot's distinctive ears. For Pete's sake! What do those trivial matters have to do with pressing issues? Absolutely nothing!

It is very sad that Bush (called Dumbya by the local democrat organizations in this state) is not able to name world leaders; thinks Mexico is South America (and yes, he did say that early in the game) and expressed surprise that imports to America came in from overseas. How in the blue hell did he get to be the apple of the media's eye? He is lobbed some soft ball questions; he does not appear to be able to catch hard ball issues or grasp complex issues and questions. As for "the soft bigotry of low expectations," Dumbya is the poster child for that claim and is also the poster child of who got left behind.

In April of 2007, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada called Dumbya a naked emperor, which seems very spot on. This was in re Dumbya's kvetching about Nancy Pelosi taking time off from her job just as he was about to take some time off from "presidentin'," as his humorous alter-ego who plays him on "Saturday Night Live" says.

Miller hits the bull in the eye when he chafes against the Right's concerted efforts to make Dumbya appear to be an ordinary man for everybody. Comparing him to previous presidents is an insult; Dumbya does not appear to be anywhere near their league of intellectual depth and comprehension of issues. Representative Watts' claim that one need not be smart to be president is a sad fact in today's world; one would think that intelligence would be a job requirement.

Bush, unlike Carter, Clinton, LBJ, Lincoln, Senator John Edwards, Gerald Ford and others did not work his way up from humble beginnings. He had Affirmative Action for the Rich - in this case called "being a legacy." Having a dad who's well connected will certainly open many a door. It has been well documented that Bush was no scholar and was quite a regular attendee at campus parties. As another reviewer on the US boards notes, Dumbya wasted good opportunities at schools like Andover and Yale who most likely would never have accepted him without some string-pulling. He was spoonfed a sense of entitlement to a lavish lifestyle; constant protection and gaining admission to schools who otherwise would not have accepted him. Dumbya's comment about Buckley's having written a book and Dumbya having read one - sad comment given that during his administration, Dumbya said he didn't read and that included the news. How in the blue hell can a president dodge the news? That is a large part of the president's business!

Miller's book is crisp, well written and his trenchant comments will stay with readers long after finishing the last page. This is not just a book for those who don't care for Bush and I admit that I am one - this is a book for everybody. It is a look behind the Presidential Curtain.