Now everyone--The Times and, sorry to say, MSNBC--is noting every missed syllable. The man has a stutter. I don't stutter but I am a mushmouth who speaks too fast and slurs words. I've had to overcome fear of public speaking. I have empathy for Biden. The press has empathy for no one (but Trump).
My job for 24 YEARS has consisted of transcribing ppl speaking verbatim, and not a damn one of you can get through a sentence without interrupting yourselves, backtracking, starting and stopping, ums, uhs, and stutters. The ONLY ONE WHO EVER HAS was the profiler on the Susan Smith murder case.
I've done a lot of phone interviews over the years and found this to be true when transcribing (except for George Monbiot, who actually speaks in neatly formatted paragraphs).
Another thing I learned: some people *sound* very coherent when talking, but when you write it down it's just gibberish.
That's how this guy was. He would pause for 30 unblinking seconds, take a breath, and this perfect paragraph would come out at a nice, measured pace. It was amazing. I typed 100wpm, and I barely had to ever hit pause to catch up.
I think it was Sheriff Howard Wells. He got her to confess. When he answered a question, he would pause for 30 seconds, take a breath, and then answer it absolutely perfectly, at a measured pace. Not a single uh or restart. It's the easiest transcription I have ever done, and the only one like it.
I hate now how when you record a Teams meeting it automatically turns on the transcription and you can see it live. I have to immediately click to close that window every time because I can’t stand watching it as I’m speaking.
And just to bring things back around to the point of this conversation, none of us have a well documented severe speech impediment like the president does, right?
I once had to do a transcript of ten minutes of my own recorded speech that included every single word said, sound started, sigh sighed, “ha” laughed. It was humiliating
I've struggled with a stutter and related speech impediments all my life and I have a special contempt for pundits who use that to try to disqualify Biden
I'm horrified by it. Playground bully shit that adds nothing substantive and indeed, obscures or interferes with any substantive discussion. Plus the contempt for viewers/readers/listeners who might have some sort of speech issue shines through
You're not alone, Ryan. Same here. I honestly don't have an firm opinion on whether Biden should stay in or bow out. All I know (and have known since well before this moment) is that the stutter-shamers need to shut the fuck up and maybe engage in a little self-education.
My wife has dyslexia. Can't imagine my molten rage if she were a public official and people criticized her for not being perfect on a teleprompter. Speeches are pagentry, not policy. Give me a break.
NYT has been doing this for a while. They faithfully quote full sentences including every “umm uhh” stutter or repetition from Biden then paraphrase Trump like “Trump states that the economy is “strong” and his next term will be “tremendous””. I haven’t seen a full quote from Trump in a long time
I have two post secondary degrees, completed residency training and a dual UCLA fellowship in Consultation-Liaison & Trauma & was expert consultant to oncology & transplant services there & to med systems thereafter.
Today I mispronounced three medication words.
US political press defile themselves.
I keep looking for that recent clip where Trump spews total nonsense syllables at the end of one of his lines. It's as bas or worse than anything I've seen Biden do.
A month or so ago, several MSNBC hosts announced that they would play more of Trump's speeches specifically to highlight his inability to make sense. Funny how, after shoving that down our throats, they switch so easily to helping him succeed.
That isn’t even a stutter. Millions, billions, trillions whatever get mixed up all the time. I often say one and in my head I know that’s wrong and correct. It’s NBD. They are dumb numbers nobody can visualize anyway
None of these jerks ever have to step up & perform? Because I can't be the only one who's had the experience of walking in fully prepped, bit tired maybe, and...then the words won't come, sentences get tangled, ideas chase their own tails. A bumbling fiasco - happens maybe once a semester. So what?
Just got off the phone with my BFF and she said "hi" to my husband and called him by name. I blanked for a couple seconds before I remembered her husband's name to reply in kind.
