9syntax, madcap circumlocutions, spoo-
nerisms and other ‘‘Bushisms’’ that have
haunted the internet — or as Bush would
have it, internets — for decades. Many
Bushisms have entered American lore,
taking their place alongside the gonzo
poetry of Yogi Berra. It is Bush who pop-
ularized the term ‘‘misunderestimated,’’
who posed the question ‘‘Is our children
learning?’’ who mused ‘‘I think we agree,
the past is over.’’ In 2009, Bush announced
he would write a memoir to ensure that
‘‘there’s an authoritarian voice saying
exactly what happened.’’
To the friendly audience at the Bush
Center, the Iraq-Ukraine mix-up landed
as a Bushism par excellence, a harm-
less and endearing slip-up. The former
president chuckled, shook his head
and joked that he was having a senior
moment. Sympathetic laughter rippled
through the crowd.
But not everyone was amused. This
was a faux pas that told uncomfortable
truths. It makes perfect sense to con-
fuse Russia’s war in Ukraine with Iraq:
The two events have much in common.
Saddam Hussein was no Zelensky, but
the Iraq invasion was, indeed, brutal
and unjustifi ed. It was a world historical
calamity that sowed chaos, spread torture
and resulted in, according to numerous
sources, hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The ideology behind Bush’s war may have
been cooked up in the stolid bureaucratic
world of think-tank Washington. But inspirit it was no less reckless and gran-
diose than the imperial visions driving
Putin’s conquest of Ukraine.
Bush left offi ce in 2009 as one of the
least popular presidents in history.
Today’s Bush is a cuddlier fi gure, who,
we are told, likes to putter around his
art studio, painting pictures of dogs and
American fl ags. Bushisms have played
a role in this rehabilitation, helping to
recast the erstwhile ‘‘war president’’ as
a mellow senior citizen who laughs at
his own foibles. A Bush Center podcast
takes its name from a ‘‘Saturday Night
Live’’ sketch lampooning Bush’s mala-
propisms: ‘‘The Strategerist.’’ Last year,
Bush appeared on ‘‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’’
to take a quiz, ‘‘Bushism or Not?’’ basedOne tweet featuring
Bush’s mixup had
been viewed
26.9 million times
when this article
went to press.