Abooga Rooga?

It's hard to improve upon the opening to this dry, tiny Reuters report:

If you want to see it for yourself, go to the White House web page for the President's speech, and click on the video option. Start listening 20 minutes into the speech -- just at the two-thirds mark -- and all the various mangled iterations of Abu Ghraib come in quick succession.

Reuters gets it basically right. But they don't quite communicate the look of angst that grips the President's face at his first effort, which actually comes out:

"Abugah ...

[Pause; President bobs head in internal struggle to shake free third syllable; a truly anxious moment when one feels a stab of sympathy for the man, and wonders if he'll be able to pull it off;]

... rayp."

[Heavy sigh of relief. He did it! Hooray! George W. "low expectations" Bush surprises and pleases us once again. And to think he only had to practice twice beforehand!]

Comments (0)