Bush Hooked On FON-iks at UN

UN speech draft included phonetic pronunciations
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2007 5:17 AM CDT
Bush Hooked On FON-iks at UN
President Bush addresses the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007, at the U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)   (Associated Press)

A draft of President Bush's speech to the United Nations included phonetic spellings to help him pronounce difficult names like sar-KOzee, according to a copy of the speech accidentally posted for a time on the UN website. It was up long enough for reporters to see it, much to the embarrassment of the White House, reports ABC.

"I don't know how the draft of the speech was posted, but it was, and it was taken down," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. Asked if Bush has a hard time pronouncing some of the names in the speech, Perino responded: "I think that's an offensive question." (More UN General Assembly stories.)

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