A Freudian Slip?
I was wrong, when I said Bush wasn’t getting a photo-op out of today’s Iraq handover. As shown by this note (which the Administration is hoping will grace the covers of every major newspaper), it looks like Bush not only speaks in hyperbole, but writes in it as well :
Does it seem off that Bush would use the word “reign”? Maybe not if you read the definition :
reign (r n) n.
1. Exercise of sovereign power, as by a monarch.
2. The period during which a monarch rules.
3. Dominance or widespread influence: the reign of reason.intr.v. reigned, reign?ing, reigns
1. To exercise sovereign power.
2. To hold the title of monarch, but with limited authority.
3. To be predominant or prevalent: Panic reigned as the fire spread.
“To hold the title of monarch, but with limited authority”? Hmmm…sounds pretty accurate to me. Although I’m still open to the suggestion that he just misspelled “ring”.
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Originally he was going to write “Dood, that’s tight,” but he decided to go for something historicable and poeticized.
Comment by dAnimal — June 28, 2004 @ 4:27 pm
Hee, if he meant to write “ring” and wrote “reign.”
But, I think he meant the “be predominant or prevalent” definition.
Still, though, it is weird to use a word like “freedom” with a word like “reign,” when they seem like virtual opposites.
Comment by DeAnn — June 28, 2004 @ 7:30 pm
The expansive multi-nation coalition of the willing shake hands upon announcing Iraq’s sovereignty.
Bush: Whose the funkiest? Blair: You are, Bushie. You are. Bush: I gotta call my dad and tell him to start rolling out Carlyle and Investco’s new business opportunities. Blair: Word to that, Bitch. Bush: The duckets is gonna
Trackback by Human Bacon — June 29, 2004 @ 7:32 am
I think they’ve Photoshopped it. What he really wrote was “Good, now I can resign!”
Comment by Michael — June 29, 2004 @ 7:46 am
Actually, I think he saw Condi’s word “soveREIGN” on the note, and used that as a spelling aid. I also love how he put the capital “D” in the middle of “FreeDom.”
Though I have a second theory for the tinfoil hat folks–maybe this was a pre-arranged, staged photo-op press thing, and Condi wrote both the note and the sharpie message ahead of time, which would make her the poor wordsmith.
Comment by dAnimal — June 29, 2004 @ 2:14 pm
Actually it has a nice ring if you look at #3
3. Dominance or widespread influence: the reign of reason. (reign of freedom).
Way to go President Bush! You scored a resounding victory for our proper place in this world, free. You did so in a region lost to this concept. ‘Let freeDom reign’ for our Iraqi brothers.
Comment by Pancho — July 1, 2004 @ 11:44 am