Oh, no. We thought the worst that could happen to George Bush politically when he visited Las Vegas was the grief he would get over approving nuclear-waste storage at Yucca Mountain.
Far from it.
A much bigger gaffe was mispronouncing the name of the state. The president repeatedly said "Ne-vah-da" when he spoke on Tuesday.
As state Archivist Guy Rocha noted, it's just the kind of thing that "sets people's teeth on edge."
Oh, yes it does. It's pretty easy to spot carpetbaggers on their TV commercials when they don't get it right. We're also frequently annoyed by the show "CSI," because roughly half the people on that program, who supposedly live and work in Las Vegas, get it wrong and the other half get it right.
From our limited research, even the dunces on Comedy Central's "Reno 911" can at least pronounce the name of the state correctly.
We suppose it's akin to saying "Warshington" or pronouncing the silent "s" at the end of Illinois. As for the president's home state of Texas, well, people call it a lot of things.
Democrats made "Ne-vah-da" out to be another example of Bush's reputation as a simpleton. Republicans like Lynn Hettrick of Gardnerville said the president has more important things to worry about.
That's true. We all have more important things to worry about than how the president pronounces the name of our state. Like the nu-cyu-lar waste headed our way.
For inspiration, we need look no further than another quote attributed to President Bush: "The future will look better tomorrow."
We can only hope.
