I agree with Bobby; Bush isn't dumb, it's too easy to underestimate him.
He's showing his contempt for his enemies.  Labels and names have the power
to either confer status or demean.  Yes, it may sound like a guy spoiling
for a fight but he is a guy and he is from Texas.  Hell, even my Texan
grandfather, soft-spoken as he was, could give out insulting names in the
politest of company with a straight face.  For sure, Teddy Roosevelt's
'Speak softly and carry a big stick' it ain't.

Money may have got him into Yale (and I wouldn't be too sure it was just
money) but from what I've heard, he didn't do too badly there.  He's not
dumb.

Kat

----- Original Message -----
From: "BG Greer, PhD" <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.c-palsy
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 12:20 AM
Subject: Re: mag raine's report from the bay area


> In a message dated 2/18/2003 8:58:09 PM Central Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>
> > Bush call the "enemy"  pygmies, and thugs...... It just doesn't seem the
> > smart thing to do. That's why I don't think Bush has a very full
> > understanding of what his own name calling might provoke.
> >
> >
>
> Mag,
>
>        Everything ANY president says is calculated. Whenever Bush I
> pronounced Saddam, he pronounced the arabic equivalent for shoe shin boy.
US
> presidents don't speak off the cuff. So "Pygmies, Thugs..evildoers,
> whatever", has a calculated impact. This is diplomacy in the 21st Century.
> You take nothing at first hand because there is always a hidden and a very
> calculated agenda.
>
> Bobby