Bush: I'm not perfect

2004-09-03 09:08

New York - Nobody's perfect, not even me - that was George W Bush's message on Thursday as the United States president poked fun at his struggles with the English language and other foibles.

"You may have noticed I have a few flaws," Bush joked in his address to the Republican National Convention accepting the party's nomination to run for re-election in November.

"People sometimes have to correct my English," he said. "I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it."

The Austrian-born action hero, now the Republican governor of California, is backing Bush for re-election.

Stand-up comics and bitter critics alike have pounced on Bush's verbal misfires, which happen often enough to have inspired a series of books collecting his slip-ups.

But true to his image as a tough guy who fights back, Bush also took aim at those who have taken exception to what they see as bravado when he walks.

"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger - which in Texas is called walking," he said.

"Now and then I come across as a little too blunt, and for that we can all thank the white-haired lady sitting right up there," he said, pointing to his mother, Barbara Bush.

- AFP