Originally Posted By cape cod joe George may leave much to be desired with his "thinking on his feet" ability but in a pre-planned speech arena, like last night, he is one of the best. I particularly liked his comments on energy. How he can maintain his humor under such personal attacks of late is beyond me? Mod--------maybe under WE?
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m Yeah, anything involving politics belongs in WE. Not trying to harp on you, but discussions like this can get heated.
Originally Posted By trailsend I agree ~ please let's don't do this here. We have fun here ~ we all have our opinions ~ but let's keep it over ----> there!!!!!!! Loveyameanit!
Originally Posted By cape cod joe This speech rivaled his great speech at the church in N.Y. after 911! I still haven't had time to see reviews as I slept in this morning, but IMHO, it touched all the bases, hence my home run analogy. I particularly liked the oil thing, when everyone thinks we're prostitutes to the Middle East to get their oil. He certainly disproved that. Of course it is always satisfying to see the "nuts" prove themselves by acting as such e.g. Ms. Sheehan as she was arrested for trying to pull a stunt. Where was Belafonte?
Originally Posted By FaMulan Yah, a dribbler. More of the same blah blah blah blah blah that I hear every year from every president I can remember. A lot of hot air that may or may not produce anything.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe Very fair and balanced Mulan and I agree as we've all heard it ALL before but at least dreams inspire action and then POSSIBLY reality as Walt Disney proved.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA I've never been impressed with President Bush's speaking ability -- planned or not planned. As for him being 'one of the best' -- cape cod joe, you might want to check out some of President Reagan's speeches, or even President Clinton. Those two knew how to bring people together -- how to inspire.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder "George may leave much to be desired with his "thinking on his feet" ability but in a pre-planned speech arena, like last night, he is one of the best." I much prefer a President who can think on his feet as opposed to one who "excels" at simply reading a tailor made speech. Call me crazy, but if that's this President's strong suit, shouldn't we just have an actor up there instead? Oh wait.......
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder And, if this is excelling, I wonder how "excellent" Bush would seem to some if he didn't stumble over words he must have already read several times? Frankly, I'm with Jim here, Bush is a horrible public speaker, off the cuff or reading a script. That's a big part of his problem. I don't see any sincerity there at all. With Reagan, while you wondered at times about his policies, at least you could give him credit for sincerity. Clinton is a well known policy wonk. His personal judgment gaffes aside, his inherent intellect and his ability to convince you of that is beyond reproach. Left to his own devices, six years into this presidenct Bush still leaves the impression he doesn't know about half of what he's saying. Someone ask him again to explain Medicaid.
Originally Posted By cape cod joe You took the words out of my mouth with the last comment Pass. To Jim-------------They were great communicators, NO question, but I'm not thrilled by Reagan, as with Pass' comment, IMHO, he was just an actor playing President. And Clinton was an unequivocal liar, as all clear thinking people know. That's the ONE hurdle, that's tough to jump, as with Hillary, the indigenous dishonesty.
Originally Posted By bboisvert <<Left to his own devices, six years into this presidenct Bush still leaves the impression he doesn't know about half of what he's saying.>> One of my favorite "thinking on his feet" moments... " Speaking at the Unity: Journalists of Color convention in Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, (2004), President Bush, responding to a question about what tribal sovereignty meant in the 21st century, said: “Tribal sovereignty means just that; it’s sovereign. You’re a – you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity.†<a href="http://www.indiancountrynews.com/fullstory.cfm?ID=75" target="_blank">http://www.indiancountrynews.c om/fullstory.cfm?ID=75</a>
Originally Posted By cape cod joe I think that George is very sincere, and like most politicians, whether he means it or not!
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder This all reminds me of a Looney Tunes moment. "I'd like to a- ap- apo- a- ah say I'm sorry."
Originally Posted By bboisvert <<I think that George is very sincere, and like most politicians, whether he means it or not!>> "It's part of the job of the president to shake hands . . . with people and smile. And I do," G. W. Bush on the subject of being photographed with Jack Abramoff. Fake sincerity, just part of the job. And it's not just reserved for lobbyists who were also on his transition team! He uses it on regular citizens too. And it works!
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Bush hit a home run. Unfortunately, everyone else is playing football.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom 1) Especially when you consider that the first half of his speech was talking about Iraq, Africa and just about everywhere else in the world. I thought the speech was suppose to be about "our" state of the union, not foreign policy. I think these are all worth discussions but not appropriate for a "State of the Union Address". 2) In his speech he said that we are obligated to help the poor and the elderly. OK, My President, where in the US Constitution does it say that "WE" are responcible for assisting the poor and elderly. If the Federal Government believes that it is responcible for helping the poor and elderly than what about everyone else? There is a thing called equal protection under the law. I want my protection. 3) So he proposes a Foreign Worker program and says it is not amnesty. Well Mr President it is amnesty. 4) His vision of tax reform is to make the current tax cuts permanant. So much for his commission on Tax reform. How about implementing the Fair Tax? 5) He is going to appoint a Commission to look at the Baby Boomers and retirement. Talk about being late to the party. EVERYONE has been talking about Social Security reform for the past year and now the President is going to create a secret special commission on baby boomer retirement reform and entitlements.
Originally Posted By gadzuux Bush decries our nation's "addiction to oil" - that's pretty rich. It's like a heroin dealer saying "you really should kick this stuff". Every action of this administration has been to FEED our addiction - drilling on public lands, and of course inviting the oil industry execs into the white house for a closed-door meeting on formation of the energy policy. It worked - take a look at oil industry profits. Bush had the crust to defend the warrantless wire-tapping with a comment that "9/11 might have been averted" if they were wiretapping prior to the event. Why didn't they? They certainly would have received a court approved wiretap had they only asked. But as we know now, they ignored al qaeda. Bush also invoked 9/11 in his continued justifications for our war in iraq. Again. For anyone who might criticize this blatant lie, he tells us that "hindsight is not wisdom". Maybe not, but foresight is - something that's in short supply within his white house. About that deficit. The GOP side of the house gave him a rousing huzzah when he spoke of reducing the deficit. THEIR deficit - the deficit that's higher than all other administrations in US history - combined! Hear hear. And oh by the way, let's make those tax cuts permanent. He crowed about his efforts to rebuild the gulf coast after katrina. Of course there was no mention of how the response was criminally bungled, or that he's actually cut the appropriations for his "marshall plan". He paid lip service to the importance of education in keeping america competitive in the global economy. But he failed to mention that he cut over $7 billion from the student loan program. He acknowledged sandra day o'connor and coretta scott king for their contributions to social justice, then in the same breath introduced the two new supreme court justices, who will do everything in their power to undo the work of o'connor and king. Osama bin laden? He was in there too. According to bush, if we're not careful, bin laden may take over iraq. Yet in a way, he already has. Iraq is now a hotbed of al qaeda operatives and terrorist activity. And the new 'democratic' government is a hardline muslim theocracy that will crush their opposition as soon as we leave. And we WILL leave. Mission accomplished. So those that thought that the president's speech was a "home run" need to look beyond the platitudes and rhetoric, and realize that bush (once again) is failing to take responsibility for his own actions. He's hoping that you won't notice, and apparantly you don't. He told you what you want to hear, and that's all you heard.
