Looking for something else, I just came across the transcript of one of Bush’s performances as he traveled around the land in February of 2005 trying to destroy Social Security.
It’s almost too easy to pick on Bush’s rhetorical and intellectual inadequacies, so let’s do it. These specimens come from an appearance in Omaha:
Look, I'm worried about a society in which there's too many lawsuits. I believe all these lawsuits make it hard for people to form capital.
(On the surface, this seems utterly inane. Form capital? And yet something must have been stirring feebly in the presidential brain. All I can think of is that such things as the judgments against the tobacco industry, for instance, may have prevented major stockholders from getting even richer.)
I think there's a group — the life expectancy of certain folks in our country is less than others. And that makes the system unfair. In other words, if you're dying earlier than expected, the money you put in the system simply goes to pay somebody else.
(This time the message is clearer. Not only does the Decider fail to grasp the basic principle of the Sermon on the Mount, he also fails to grasp the basic principle of the insurance industry.)
MS. MORNIN: That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute.THE PRESIDENT: You work three jobs?
MS. MORNIN: Three jobs, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. (Applause.) Get any sleep? (Laughter.)
(No argument from me on this one. Bush has got it exactly right. It is uniquely American. It’s how a certain few among us — not Ms. Mornin of course — “form capital.”)
