"Internets", also known as "The Internets", is a Bushism-turned catchphrase used humorously to portray the speaker as ignorant about the Internet or about technology in general, or alternatively as having a provincial or folksy attitude toward technology. Former United States President George W. Bush first used the word publicly during the 2000 election campaign. The term gained cachet as an Internet humor meme following Bush's use of the term in the second 2004 presidential election debate on October 8, 2004.
Bush used the word Internets [a] in his third presidential debate against Al Gore on October 17, 2000: [1]
JOYCE CLEAMER, AUDIENCE MEMBER: …I'm very concerned about the morality of our country now. TV, movies, the music that our children are, you know, barraged with every day. And I want to know if there's anything that can be worked out with the—Hollywood, or whoever, to help get rid of some of this bad language and whatever, you know...
BUSH: ... You bet there's things that government can do. We can work with the entertainment industry to provide family hour. We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent. There ought to be filters in public libraries and filters in public schools so if kids get on the Internet, there is not going to be pornography or violence coming in.
In the 2004 election's second debate in St. Louis, Missouri, this time opposing John Kerry, Bush used the word Internets [a] in response to an audience question about a potential military draft: [2]
DANIEL FARLEY, AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. President, since we continue to police the world, how do you intend to maintain our military presence without reinstituting a draft?
BUSH: Yes, that's a great question. Thanks. I hear there's rumors on the, uh, Internets [b] [pause] that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer army works. It works particularly when we pay our troops well. It works when we make sure they've got housing, like we have done in the last military budgets.
^a The word "Internets" as used by Bush is capitalized in the official debate transcript.
^b The official transcript follows the word "Internets" with "(sic)". The transcript also omits the filler word "uh" preceding "Internets". Video footage of the quotation shows the full version.
Bush used Internets for a third time on May 2, 2007:
Information is moving—you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it's also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets. [3]
During a discussion on education at a Twitter-themed town hall meeting on July 6, 2011, at the White House, President Barack Obama used the term "Internets" and quickly corrected his statement. [4] [5]
On the evening of October 9, 2004, the day following the Bush/Kerry debate, Saturday Night Live parodied Bush [6] with Will Forte's impression of George W. Bush:
I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft. I don't know how many of these Internets are carrying these rumors, but they're just wrong. I think the problem here may be more of a question of getting rid of the bad Internets and keeping the good Internets. You know, 'cause I think we can all agree … there're just too many Internets. [7]
The Saturday Night Live parody was replayed the following morning on CNN's Inside Politics Sunday . [8] Numerous homages and parodies, most including an audio or video clip from the second 2004 debate, appeared on other humor and entertainment web sites, including YTMND, [9] [10] and spread virally on the Internet.
On his show The Colbert Report , comedian Stephen Colbert consistently referred to "the Internet" as "the Internets". [11] During one episode Colbert's character, also named Stephen Colbert, states,
Last night, as I was surfing the Internets … literally: My backyard wave pool has Wi-Fi … [12]
Keith Olbermann similarly made use of the term during his Oddball segment whenever viral videos are covered. The term continues to appear as a popular topic tag on both technical [13] and political [14] blogs.
In general, an internet (uncapitalized) results from the connection (internetworking) of at least two computer networks by establishing a gateway (router) between them. It is proper to pluralize this term. For example, RFC 1918 refers to "Address Allocation for Private Internets ". However, since the establishment of the Internet, this usage has been less common.
A much lesser-known recorded use of "internets" actually preceded Bush's use in the October 17, 2000 debate with Al Gore by about eight months. It appeared in a sketch of the comedy show Upright Citizen's Brigade in the episode entitled "Music", which was aired February 7, 2000. [15] In the sketch, the host of a country-western music TV show tells a guest from New York City that "[t]here's a whole lot of things you can't learn in your fancy books and internets."
In 2010, in a Los Angeles Times interview, author Ray Bradbury (author of Fahrenheit 451 ), who was distrustful of modern technology, said "We have too many cellphones. We've got too many Internets." [16]
Bushisms are unconventional statements, phrases, pronunciations, malapropisms, and semantic or linguistic errors made in the public speaking of George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States. Common characteristics of Bushisms include malapropisms, spoonerisms, the creation of neologisms or stunt words, and errors in subject–verb agreement.
From January 14 to June 8, 2004, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2004 United States presidential election.
The 2004 presidential campaign of John Kerry, the longtime U.S. senator from Massachusetts, began when he formed an exploratory committee on December 1, 2002. On September 2, 2003, he formally announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. After beating John Edwards, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, and other candidates in the primaries, he became the Democratic nominee, challenging Republican incumbent George W. Bush in the general election. Kerry selected Edwards as his running mate.
This is a timeline of events during the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
The word "strategery" was used in a Saturday Night Live sketch, written by James Downey, airing October 7, 2000, which satirized the performances of George W. Bush and Al Gore, two candidates for President of the United States, during the first presidential debate for election year 2000. Bush, played by Comedian Will Ferrell, when asked by a mock debate moderator to "sum up, in a single word, the best argument for his candidacy", replied "strategery", satirizing Bush's reputation for mispronouncing words. SNL later released the episode as part of a video tape titled Presidential Bash 2000.
The Pottery Barn rule is an American expression alluding to a policy of "you break it, you bought it" or "you break it, you buy it" or "you break it, you remake it", by which a retail store holds a customer responsible for damage done to merchandise on display. It generally "encourages customers to be more careful when handling property that's not theirs". It is an analogy often used in the political or military arena to suggest that if an actor inadvertently creates a problem, the actor is obliged to provide the resources necessary to correct it.
The 2000 presidential campaign of Al Gore, the 45th vice president of the United States under President Bill Clinton, began when he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Carthage, Tennessee, on June 16, 1999. Gore became the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election on August 17, 2000.
The 2004 United States presidential debates were a series of debates held during the 2004 presidential election.
JibJab is an American independent digital entertainment studio based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1999 by brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, it first achieved widespread attention during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land Is Your Land" became a viral hit. Initially known for political and social satire, JibJab produced commercials and shorts for clients such as Sony, Noggin, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, Sprout, NBC, Qubo, and Disney before focusing on its now-flagship personalized eCard and messaging services. In 2016, its animated sticker-making program – which has been available since 2004 – became the top App Store app by download growth.
The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Republican ticket of incumbent President George W. Bush and his running mate incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney was re-elected to a second term. They narrowly defeated the Democratic ticket of John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts and his running mate John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina.
The Colbert Report is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor. The Colbert Report is a spin-off of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, where Colbert was a correspondent from 1997 to 2005.
"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" was a remark made during the 1988 United States vice presidential debate by Democratic nominee Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Republican nominee Senator Dan Quayle in response to Quayle's comparison of his experience in Congress to that of John F. Kennedy, the Democratic 35th president of the United States, whom Bentsen knew from their time as congressmen from the 80th to 82nd Congresses. Since then, the words "You're no Jack Kennedy," or some variation on the remark, have become a part of the political lexicon as a way to deflate politicians or other individuals perceived as thinking too highly of themselves. Michael Dukakis and Bentsen later went on to lose the 1988 United States presidential election to George H. W. Bush and Quayle, who thus succeeded Bush as vice president of the United States.
Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as a United States Senator from 1985 to 1993 and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1985, in which he represented Tennessee. Gore was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States in the 2000 presidential election, which he lost to George W. Bush.
"Stay the course" is a phrase used in the context of a war or battle meaning to pursue a goal regardless of any obstacles or criticism. The modern usage of this term was popularized by United States presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan.
In addition to its standard interviews, The Colbert Report features many recurring segments that cover a variety of topics.
The CNN/YouTube presidential debates were a series of televised debates sponsored by CNN and YouTube in which 2008 United States presidential election hopefuls fielded questions submitted through YouTube. The Democratic Party installment took place in Charleston, South Carolina and aired on July 23, 2007. The Republican Party installment took place in St. Petersburg, Florida and aired on November 28, 2007.
The 2004 presidential campaign of Wesley Clark, a retired U.S. Army general who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACE) from 1997 to 2000, officially began on September 17, 2003. A movement to draft Clark for the Democratic nomination began in April 2003, and was led by activists who felt Clark's military service and criticism of the War in Iraq made him a strong candidate. Prior to announcing his campaign, Clark was not known to have publicly identified with either party.
The keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC) was given by the Illinois State Senator, United States senatorial candidate, and future President Barack Obama on the night of Tuesday, July 27, 2004, in Boston, Massachusetts. His unexpected landslide victory in the March 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic primary made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party overnight, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father. His keynote address was well received, which further elevated his status within the Democratic Party and led to his reissued memoir becoming a bestseller.
The vice presidency of Al Gore lasted from 1993 to 2001, during the Bill Clinton administration. Al Gore was the 45th Vice President of the United States, being twice elected alongside Bill Clinton in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. Nearing the end of his tenure, Gore ran for president as the Democratic nominee in the 2000 United States presidential election in which he was defeated by George W. Bush following the controversial Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision and was succeeded by Bush's running mate Dick Cheney. This made Gore the first incumbent Vice President of the United States to run for the presidency since George H. W. Bush who was elected to the presidency in 1988 and the first incumbent vice president to lose a presidential election since Richard Nixon in 1960.