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Bush's UN Speech Full of Fone-eh-tick Pronunciations for World Leaders
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ShareSeptember 25, 2007 1:52 PM
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.
Richard Coolidge contributed to this report.
September 25, 2007 in Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (386)
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Who cares???
Posted by: evcj | Sep 25, 2007 2:26:48 PM
The man is an idiot.
Posted by: pbj | Sep 25, 2007 2:28:31 PM
I'm no Bush supporter, but so what? Why not make the best effort to pronounce the names correctly? Why is this news?
Posted by: Doug | Sep 25, 2007 2:28:57 PM
Hey, Bush Jr...take off the polka-dotted dunce cap and listen up for a second. It's "NU-klee-er"...not "Nu-kew-lar".
Posted by: wilder5121 | Sep 25, 2007 2:29:50 PM
Yes, the man is an idiot, but who cares about pronunciation guides?
Posted by: ntsc | Sep 25, 2007 2:29:59 PM
this might be the most stupid(STOO-pid)thing I have read today.
Posted by: Jen | Sep 25, 2007 2:32:01 PM
Doug -- It's another piece of evidence (not that we need anymore) that the guy is an idiot. The leader of a nation should know how to pronounce Mauritania, for Pete's sake, or at least know how to sound a word out or use a dictionary. This guy does none of those things...
Posted by: Cardsgal | Sep 25, 2007 2:32:17 PM
I would want that too. Come he is the President of the United States of AMERICA! Those are so easy to say, everything else requires training...and with that said, he is too busy to remember all of the pronunciations...I am glad that the nation's speechwriters are finally helping the President.
Posted by: Tyrone | Sep 25, 2007 2:38:53 PM
Example of Bush stupidity #8,566,792
And still he somehow has a 28% approval rating? I guess 28% of Americans are even dumber than he is. Unbelievable.
Posted by: cat | Sep 25, 2007 2:39:05 PM
I wish I could just Tivo through the rest of GW Bush's presidency and fast-forward through the next 16 months. So darned embarrassing.
Posted by: BenMurphyNYC | Sep 25, 2007 2:41:04 PM
What's up with you people? So what if the president needs help saying a few words? Can you say Kyrgyzstan correctly off the top of your head? Leave the president alone, he works very hard for all of you and he deserves your graditude.
Posted by: Kendal | Sep 25, 2007 2:43:45 PM
Most children today are not taught phonics. I think that it's a mistake not to teach them phonics. I'm not sure why this is news though. Dictionaries have phonetical spellings as well and I've used those many times to learn to pronounce words.
Posted by: TexBork | Sep 25, 2007 2:48:06 PM
This is a cheap shot. Although Bush's pronunciation is weak, anyone who speaks publicly would appreciate such a guide. Everyone mispronounces something on occasion. Given the opportunity, I can show you clips of Jay Leno, Bill Clinton, and anyone else getting tongue tied. It just happens when you speak as much as they do.
Posted by: Ricky Sims | Sep 25, 2007 2:51:33 PM
I think many of the comments posted here are unnecessarily harsh and snobbish. Any world leader or high ranking individual would get the same level of support from their staffs. Don't think for a minute that other world leaders can properly pronounce every other leaders name in their native language/dialect without some help. If you want to get partisan and nasty, Republicans can go to that pillar of Democratic glory, JFK and say "Ich bin ein Berliner" ...I am a jelly donut!
Posted by: Rob | Sep 25, 2007 2:54:15 PM
Oh please, there is plenty to insult about the man without having to dig for this stuff. The speech writers probably have standing orders to add pronunciation guides for all proper nouns. Doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me. Most of them are going to be easy enough, but I certainly wouldn't mind a phonetic guide to Kyrgyzstan.
Posted by: dan | Sep 25, 2007 2:55:04 PM
Good point, Rob!!
Posted by: ellsbells930 | Sep 25, 2007 2:55:26 PM
This is such a childish story. I have an advanced degree and cannot pronounce every American name, much less every African name. I did not realize that liberals require American Presidents to fluently speak every language in the World. Good for Bush on being well prepared!
Posted by: Kevin | Sep 25, 2007 2:57:45 PM
This was not put on the un website by accident. It is another vile attempt to discredit the great leader of our country by democrats and liberals. They are why are country is divided, not because of President Bush. We all got the same intelligence. Democrats voted for the war too. They just want to surrender, cut and run, stop funding our troops so more die and place blame instead of finding real world solutions. Democrats and Liberals are a bunch of losers.
Posted by: No2demosandlibs | Sep 25, 2007 2:59:16 PM
Yawn, No news today I guess.
The actual contents of the speech wasnt available, only the pronunciation guide? right......
Posted by: Les | Sep 25, 2007 3:02:15 PM
I am dismayed not by the utterly lliteracy of President Bush but by the fact that so many people think it is normal the leader of the USA to be utter illiterate!
Posted by: Toma_Zachary | Sep 25, 2007 3:02:47 PM
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