Posted on 01/21/2005 4:27:12 AM PST by kattracks
Edited on 01/21/2005 4:28:09 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Former White House political adviser and sometime presidential speechwriter Dick Morris praised President Bush's inaugural address Thursday night as the best speech in more than 40-years - and one of the top inaugural addresses in American history."That was the greatest inaugural address since John F. Kennedy's and one of the five or six greatest of all time," Morris told the Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. "It was beautiful. It was poetic. Those of you who didn't see it missed a lot," the one-time Clinton advisor said.
The Bush speech articulated "a bold new policy" based on the spread of freedom, he noted - much the same way Kennedy did when he pledged in his address to "pay any price, bear any burden . . . to assure the survival and success of liberty."
The White House advisor said Bush's focus on the spread freedom around the globe hit on a fundamental truth: "No democracy ever starts a war of aggression."
"That doesn't mean we stop trading with China immediately," he cautioned. "It doesn't mean we invade Iran. But it does mean that we stand up for the Ukraine, like we did. It does mean we take action in the Afghanistan and Iraq elections, like we did."
Morris said there's already compelling evidence of the power of elections to defeat aggression.
"If you want proof of how effective that is, look at Palestine," he told O'Reilly. "Ever since the elections were held the terrorists can't get the right time of day."
Former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, however, was less impressed.
Normally a Bush booster who worked for the president's reelection campaign, Noonan told FNC's "Hannity & Colmes" that some of Bush's inauguration rhetoric was "grating."
"I found the speech today [to be] a rather startling speech . . . a big ambitious speech," she told Alan Colmes. But she warned, "history is going to play out and history is going to compare what really happened with the assertions that were made in this speech."
Noonan added, "I'll be frank, I think some of it went over the top a little bit in regards to what is possible in this world . . . I found it a little grating, in some respects."
One can only wish Noonan a speedy recovery.
I thought it was a good speech, too, but Noonan's article about it in today's Wall Street Journal was downright nasty.
My question is what got into Dick Morris?
could he be ummmm objective? wow!!! :)
Dick Morris will say anything to get in the headlines.
I couldn't believe it coming from a Clintoonite.
Dick Morris is not a Clintoonite. He is a hired gun. Tell him you want to win an election, he'll tell you what to say and do.
She's downright vicious in her criticism of the speech.
Yes, some people have mentioned that she's been kind of marginalized for awhile now. I won't say I was ever a big fan of hers (well, since her Reagan days), but I thought she was okay; however, this article makes her look spiteful and petty.
I thought she was downright delicate in, as she put it, "reluctantly" disliking the speech. It's pretty amazing on a day when I would have bet good money she'd publish a moony, fawning gush-o-rama essay lauding every aspect. I don't remember ever seeing her this skeptical of this administration. I guess she didn't vote for Wilson. (I know, she's not THAT old.)
Morris "gets it". Peggy clearly does not.
I owe allegiance to very few people. Among them I count G.W.B. and Rush. My main alliance is with America and conservative interests. When people cross those beliefs they claim to be supportive of, they are removed from my list witout hesitancy. Peggy has allowed petty jealousy to affect her. This wasn't simple disagreement, it was vicious. Shame on her.
Noonan fancies herself the best speechwriter of all time. She wanted to write for Pres. Bush so badly she could taste it, but Bush prefers Karen Hughes and others to Peggy. Maybe he likes straight talk rather than nuance. In any case, Noonan's petty reaction to a fine inaugural address is just sour grapes. Now, we know which side she's been on all the while--her own. Poor little girl needs to grow up.
I like reading Peggy Noonan, but even still, she has always made clear that the only speechwriting she likes is speechwriting that emulates her approach.
Like you, I wish her a speedy recovery.
Noonan fancies herself the best speechwriter of all time. She wanted to write for Pres. Bush so badly she could taste it, but Bush prefers Karen Hughes and others to Peggy. Maybe he likes straight talk rather than nuance. In any case, Noonan's petty reaction to a fine inaugural address is just sour grapes. Now, we know which side she's been on all the while--her own. Poor little girl needs to grow up.
I don't think she really thinks that she is the best, but there is a certain style and approach that she likes and she shows how much she appreciates those who do the same. I don't think it's exactly the same as thinking that she is the best?
But as G.Mason indicated, I wish her a speedy recovery.
Man, do I like the way you express yourself--clearly.
An old girlfriend never speaks affectionately of those who replaced her. Were it physiologically possible . . . I would say Miss Peggy was suffering a severe bout of the teenie-weenie complex.
OUTSTANDING speech about the reality of LIFE Peggy, and man's greatest concept...FREEDOM.
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