I’ve been looking for transcripts of the debate tonight (or last night and last month, technically, because we’ve crossed over into Friday and October) because I wanted to make sure the heading on that first debate post was correct. It’s not really a surprise, but the transcripts I’m finding are “sanitized”; they clean up the speakers’ little tics and hems and haws, but also appear to clean up some of Bush’s butchered syntax and frequent subject-verb disagreement and word-slurring. Some of that can’t be rendered well in print and shouldn’t. But for the record, it seems important to represent what they really said, butchery and all, rather than offer a version that cleans up language errors that were an important part of the exchange and how it will be perceived.
I finally found video of Bush, and here’s the “commander in chiefs” line as he said it and how it appears in transcripts:
Video: “That’s not what commander in chiefs does when you’re trying to lead troops.”
Transcript: “Not what a commander in chief does when you’re trying to lead troops.”
But to be honest, Bush was so garbled in his delivery that the “that’s” at the beginning of the sentence was contracted almost to just “s.” and he may have slipped an “a” in front of the commander. But the “chiefs does” is indisputable. I feel sorry for the poor transcribers.
All that said, here was another gem that I missed during the broadcast:
Bush: You know, I think about Missy Johnson. She’s a fantastic lady I met in Charlotte, North Carolina. She and her son Brian, they came to see me. Her husband, P.J., got killed. He’d been in Afghanistan, went to Iraq.
You know, it’s hard work to try to love her as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm’s way.
What did he mean? “It’s hard work to try to love her as best I can”?
I heard that too. I have no idea. Whatever he meant, I’m sure Laura Bush was wondering the same thing.
I will confess that I saw all of 20 to 30 seconds of the debate before going to the tavern across the street for a beer and to catch the end of the Yankee game. Kerry was speaking and the split screen showed Bush looking irritated. I said to Dawn that he looked mad and then headed out the door. And that was all I saw. So the guy was ticked-off for the whole “show”? All I can think is that this was the first time in four years that he couldn’t control the agenda and was stuck listening to someone who was taking him to task for his actions. He had the petulence of a guy who is used to being surrounded by sycophants and it must have been like having a bucket of ice water tossed on him. What is interesting is that he allowed himself to do this, letting people see his surly side.