In his interview on "Meet the Press," the president proved he has mastered the Orwellian art of duckspeak.
By Christopher Ketcham
George W. Bush's unplugged performance with Tim Russert on Sunday offered hope for even the dumbest of men: You too can become president of the United States.
Yet Bush's apparent inanity conceals his immense talent as a political speaker. If one applies the principles of duckspeak to Bush's performance, he is a doubleplusgood doublethinker. Duckspeak, of course, is the language celebrated in George Orwell's "1984." Characterized by mindless invocation and the repetition of slogans, it was the highest form of speech in Orwell's nightmare demolition of the English language, Newspeak. Orwell wrote:
"Newspeak vocabulary was tiny, and new ways of reducing it were constantly being devised. Newspeak, indeed, differed from most all other languages in that its vocabulary grew smaller instead of larger every year. Each reduction was a gain, since the smaller the area of choice, the smaller the temptation to take thought. Ultimately it was hoped to make articulate speech issue from the larynx without involving the higher brain centres at all. This aim was frankly admitted in the Newspeak word duckspeak, meaning 'to quack like a duck'."
Loud honking sounds emanated from Bush as soon as the interview started and were most clearly heard after Russert pointed out the numerous times that Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and the president himself said there was "no doubt" that Saddam had WMD. "I don't want to get into word contests," Bush told Russert. Translated from the duckspeak: Words mean nothing.
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http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/02/10/duckspeak/index.html
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