Posted on 12/18/2005 3:29:18 PM PST by 2111USMC
9:00 PM EST
8:00 PM CST
etc, etc ........
Some days, probably most day, I think you're right - the ugly will end up on the Democrats. Then I realize that we have a Michael Moore democrat in the neighborhood and one distant family member and I worry that the Democrats are ALL turning into moonbats.
When I read about George W. Bush in Washington Post series of articles before 2000, and read his book A Charge to Keep, it dawned on me that the man had the potential for greatness.
He was a better person that most people back when he was in prep school and college. He made sure those on the sidelines were included in the fun. He took around a sympathy card for all to sign when a foreign student's mother died.
I have wondered if it was his sister Robin's death, which affected him deeply, that awoke his natural tendency to empathy. That event also put a wide age gap between him and the next child, so he really was big brother for his younger siblings and in some way also, The Catcher in the Rye...our Catcher in the Rye.
6-28, 8-24, 9-13, 10-4, 10-5, 10-6, 10-13, 10-25, 10-28, 11-11, 11-14, 11-19, 11-30, 12-7, 12-12, 12-14, 12-17, 12-19.
President Bush has given 18 speechs/press conferences in the last 6 months. How many more per month should he give?
As one who, in a former life, professionally wrote speeches, articles and brochures for political candidates and incumbents, I'm not averse to critiquing same. I was fully prepared for someone to pop up to describe such analytical critiques as "bashing". By extension, and from your weary remarks, anyone who rates or analyzes presidential speeches is not worth your time or energy to bother your head with.
Has it occured to you that those who are pleased or disappointed with presidential speeches are the ones who are most passionate that he succeeds? That they are the ones most crushed when he strains for an elephant and delivers a mouse? That they are NOT mind-numbed robots who lazily rate EVERY speech a barn-burner because we support and respect the man and the office so much?
I reiterate.....for a wartime leader's speech, with the exception of a mildly-scintillating phrase or two, last night's effort did not equal a single paragraph of a Winston Churchill or FDR wartime talk.
Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that although every American citizen is at war (not just the troops) this fact is always bewilderingly played down.......like everything is still pretty normal and our lives pretty much the same as before. It's hard to write inspirational speeches about a vicious war we're engaged in under these strange constraints. The enemy wasn't even mentioned by name last night, for crying out loud.
I did not bash our President, only the PR incompetents and tone-deaf speech-writers and set producers working for and around him. I love GW dearly and pray for him mightily. But this doesn't keep me from honest appraisals of his lame speeches as well as his good ones.
Although it's a minor point, I'm compelled to add that if you don't think style counts on television, then you aren't old enough to have viewed the televised Nixon-Kennedy debates.
Leni
Why is it breaking new on FOX that Bush is giving a press conference this morning???
http://www.foxnews.com/
I just heard on the raido about the presser. Do you know what time?
10:30am eastern
Running through the thread...
I am so sorry to grab the crown and run, but MY husband is the most patient! )
A wonderful movie.
Cary Grant and Myrna Loy......... just darling together.
When I married my dear wife 32 years ago........... she looked like Myrna Loy............... and was just as classy, crafty, and sweet. I still bring her coffee in bed in the early morning.
God bless good movies, good people, and this good country.
And God bless you, Peach .............. but, you are one of those good people!
****
:-)
p.s. --- Melvyn Douglas was perfect as their long-standing and understanding lawyer.
He's in charge. He said what he wanted to say, in the manner in which he wanted it to be said.
If you have problems with it, he's the one you differ with. And who he is isn't going to change with different PR people.
I agree with those who say that he was speaking to middle of the road folks and conservative dems who have lost support for the war, and 'bucking them up' so to speak...........and I think he did a good job in doing so.
The speech was very well articulated, and clearly meant. It told the truth, and gave information that a whole lot of people didn't have because of the media filter.
If you want the President to get on national TV and hit the Dems any harder, you're going to be perpetually disappointed. JMHO.
May I? I don't necessarily disagree with MinuteGal's analysis, I can certainly see why she has formed her opinion. On the other hand (I could have grabbed his hands last night myself!), I agree with yours that there is a rhyme and reason behind his delivery.
Here is where I think ya'll share, unawares, common ground.
MG mentioned boiled potatoes and that caught my attention. Yes, they're boring, but! My father had a peculiar habit of having quantities of potatoes on hand for a reason. They were a staple, good, nutrious food. I always chuckled when, say, a blizzard was on the way, because I knew I could count on seeing him roll in the driveway, lugging a 50# bag of potatoes. It drove my mother nuts! But the feeling of comfort and security provided by the huge pot of potato soup was priceless
...and as soon as he started cooking, she got very quiet LOL!
I'm sitting here wondering if Pop cued W on this one. It's Christmas, the country is riled up enough as it is, and W quietly... calmly dragged a 50# bag of potatoes into the kitchen and started a pot of soup.
I can't wait to see what he puts on next!
I'll wager it's some form of stick to our ribs sausage (pork: ) gravy. LOL!
I agree that President Bush was speaking to rational Dems and members of the mushy middle. But his conservative base was listening, also. Were we incorrect in hoping he'd identify the enemy, how we're mopping them up, how cut-and-run talk at home demoralizes our troops in Iraq, how seditious leaks and divulging military secrets place our country in mortal danger, etc. instead of talking all around these points?
Sorry, his speech last night was barely memorable, and IMO many viewers like myself in the country were waiting for something better than they got. I can tell how run-of-the-mill the speech was by the plethora of posts here scrambling in every which way to make the speech and its stale points into something it was not.
My opinion ramains......this was not a brilliant speech, nor was it an awfully bad one. It was just blah. However, this is all a speechifying debate and open to disagreement depending on emotional resposes to contents of the speech itself. It could go on forever. In the long run, and no matter how articulated, the President's moral positions will always win out over those of his amoral and traitorous enemies. I remain, as ever, an ardent Bushbot FRiend,
Leni
I can't remember ever hearing or reading a memorable speech or patriotic exhortation by a wartime political or military leader anywhere in the world that consisted of boiled potatoes.
Well, maybe the next speech.....or the next one.
Leni
...and in the eyes of the traiterous democrats!
I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, too, FV. Thanks for all that you do and for who you are. :-)
One of my all time favorite movies and yes, Myrna Loy was one of the classiest women around. They don't make her kind anymore. Thank you for your kindness and nice of you to treat your wife with such respect and love.
LOL. We are ALL of us lucky to be married to such patient men who tolerate our freeping instead of cooking :-)
During the 2000 election debacle, my husband was talking with his buddies after golf and they were all complaining that their wives were glued to the tv and weren't cooking.
He told them that I was cooking but it was taking much longer than usual to get dinner on the table. He was so appreciative that I was at least attempting to put food on the table, he went right out and bought me a small television for the kitchen. So I have Al Gore to thank for that at least!!!
I'm looking for more toughness in today's press conference. It's the appropriate place for it, IMO.
And here we go.........
I'm thinking the red meat is coming up in the next half hour.......
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