"He's not that good with his Spanish"

Thanks to dl004d for alerting me to this fantastic article on Bush's consistent botching of the Spanish language and the suggestion that Bush sang the National Anthem in Spanish while on the campaign trail in 2000:

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the assertion did not ring true to him because, "The president speaks Spanish, but not that well."

"I'm saying that not only was that suggestion absurd, but that he couldn't possibly sing the national anthem in Spanish. He's not that good with his Spanish," McClellan said.

Bush, a former governor of Texas, sprinkles his speeches with Spanish phrases, as he did during both his presidential campaigns, to show kinship with Hispanics.

You really don't have to know too much Spanish to understand that Bush's Spanish is abysmal. Another news article reported that Bush recently pronounced "coyote" in Spanish (referring to border smugglers -- see? He does care!), and that:

Mr. Bush took aim at Hispanics as an important voting bloc during the last two president campaigns. Mr. Bush has starred in his own Spanish-language advertising, and he was the first president to give his weekly radio address in Spanish. (The Spanish wire service Agencia EFE once said he spoke the language poorly, "but with great confidence.")

Pandering to Hispanics? Wow, those were the days.

Kerry's Spanish, for the record, was only slightly better, but Teresa made up for that by speaking 15 languages fluently. The Bush 'double' at the Press Corps dinner, who called Laura Bush "muy caliente," to my mind only reinforces the very plausible conclusion that Bush learned his Spanish through Taco Bell commercials. I think it's probably better for all concerned that he refrain from singing the National Anthem in Spanish until he's taken my 8-week intensive summer Spanish class. I can promise you, I wouldn't let him pass the class on attitude alone.