Peace2u
12-12-2007, 01:42 PM
US President George W. Bush was named on Tuesday, December 11, the first runner up for the dreaded "Foot in Mouth" award given for the most baffling comment of the year.
"We thought it was a bit obvious to honor Bush as he comes up with them every day," Ben Beer, spokesman of the Plain English Campaign, which names winners of the booby award, told Reuters.
After a fierce competition, Bush lost the first spot to former England soccer manager Steve McClaren.
Bush rightfully secured the second place with his "All I can tell you is that when the governor calls, I answer his phone" remark which he made in October while touring the fire-damaged state of California.
Plain English Campaign is a British organization which tries to ensure public information is delivered in a clear manner.
It annually hands out a number of prizes for the most nonsensical remark made by public figures.
Then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld won the prize in 2003 while Gordon Brown, now British Prime Minister, got it in 1994.
Typical Bush
The British organization described Bush's bizarre comment as another supreme example of the gobbledegook they are trying to prevent.
The president of the world's superpower does have a reputation for outlandish mode of speaking.
During his UN General Assembly speech in September, Bush was given a special pronunciation assistance to avoid any glitches.
He was reading from a written speech that included phonetic spellings in brackets to assist him with names of people and places such as French President Nicola Sarkozy and the Venezuelan capital Karakas.
Even some simple English words like "nuclear" were given phonetic spelling to make sure no mistakes are made.
In a speech on Iraq earlier the same month, he made an embarrassing gaffe suggesting that South African emblematic leader Nelson Mandela was dead.
In August 2004, Bush told a televised meeting: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful — and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people — and neither do we."
"We thought it was a bit obvious to honor Bush as he comes up with them every day," Ben Beer, spokesman of the Plain English Campaign, which names winners of the booby award, told Reuters.
After a fierce competition, Bush lost the first spot to former England soccer manager Steve McClaren.
Bush rightfully secured the second place with his "All I can tell you is that when the governor calls, I answer his phone" remark which he made in October while touring the fire-damaged state of California.
Plain English Campaign is a British organization which tries to ensure public information is delivered in a clear manner.
It annually hands out a number of prizes for the most nonsensical remark made by public figures.
Then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld won the prize in 2003 while Gordon Brown, now British Prime Minister, got it in 1994.
Typical Bush
The British organization described Bush's bizarre comment as another supreme example of the gobbledegook they are trying to prevent.
The president of the world's superpower does have a reputation for outlandish mode of speaking.
During his UN General Assembly speech in September, Bush was given a special pronunciation assistance to avoid any glitches.
He was reading from a written speech that included phonetic spellings in brackets to assist him with names of people and places such as French President Nicola Sarkozy and the Venezuelan capital Karakas.
Even some simple English words like "nuclear" were given phonetic spelling to make sure no mistakes are made.
In a speech on Iraq earlier the same month, he made an embarrassing gaffe suggesting that South African emblematic leader Nelson Mandela was dead.
In August 2004, Bush told a televised meeting: "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful — and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people — and neither do we."