To continue the semi-dialog between

To continue the semi-dialog between this site and James at Outside the Beltway, I think that partly why President Bush's sound bites are better than his speeches has to do with his physical demeanor when he speaks in these events sans an audience. Whenever he is trying to be somber, he tends to have a look on his face that has a somewhat stunned quality. His face can be evocative, but normally is such in less controlled situations. When he speaks in impromptu settings he tends to be more vivacious and emotive. There is also something, I think, to the fact that when he goes out to deliver a very specific message that he is overly self-conscious to do as little of the "West Texas" thing as possible. Plus he (and his advisors) have to be somewhat self-conscious about his propensity to malapropisms.

My original post on the subject is here and James' first reference on OTB is here.

Posted by Steven Taylor at March 18, 2026 10:28 AM | TrackBack