I Be Likin' What You Be Saying, Part 2

A seemingly infinite amount of ink has been spilled over the fact that our president isn't the best with words. We now have seven-years worth of Bushisms - a convenient term that does a lot, signifying a lack of intelligence as demonstrated by a malapropism or grammatical blunder.

I use the word convenient because attacking Bush via his speech pattern is an easy (albeit an ad hominem fallacy) technique by which to allude to the overall ineffectiveness of him as a leader and to the untrustworthiness of the policies he supports.

But what if Bush were black? What if Bush were a black conservative who frequently employed Black English Vernacular, a "language" which is teeming with malapropisms, slang, simplifications, and grammatical inaccuracies? Would Bush be dumb then?

Are not those same academics who support the teaching and accreditation of BEV contradicting themselves when they laughingly mock Bush's admittedly non-prescriptive use of English?

Interestingly enough, I've heard from numerous blue-collar workers an appreciation of Bush's linguistic style, for, as these men have said, "He talks like I talk."

Judge all or judge none, but don't judge some and not others. That, again, is called hypocrisy.