Comments on Just Words

I'm sorry, they could be quoting poetry and giving great speeches, and all I and four-fifths of America will be saying is "314 days and a wakeup".

We've had it.

Why do they even bother putting that moron on the news - I've started watching it on DVR (comcast) just so I can fast forward whenever the WH comes on or I get so angry I want to break the TV ... and I've got a loooooong fuse ...

Wow. Skip uhe Valium and the Prozac and go directly to Halcyon. Do not pass go, do not collect $100.

And here I thought that the reason Christopher wasn't posting was because of his enormously large penis!

I want an incoherent President with whom I can have a beer.

i always thought hillary's "words don't matter" argument was poorly planned because she was using words to make it.

Yeah, I'd have mimed that one too.

After 8 years of a president who seems barely literate, any of the three likely candidates would be a relief, but of course Obama has a gift of oratory I've not seen in a politician in my lifetime.

For years I've wanted some political news show to keep track of the logical fallacies used in speeches and pundit BS. A running tabulation of how many times Bush has used the false dilemma fallacy (and an explanation of fallacies) would go a long way in increasing the public's skepticism.

There's a direct line between the "plausible deniability" of George I in Iran/Contra (Wherein the precedent was established of insulating the President from key details of illegal operations to preserve his immunity from legal consequences) to the "Depends what the definition of 'is' is" of Clinton (wherein the precedent of cultivating linguistic ambiguity was established as a means of preserving plausible deniability) to the flagrant and apparently calculated opacity of G.W.'s language mangling.

His conspicuous inability to speak in coherent sentences assures that A.)his ignorance of basic facts is always extremely plausible and B.)the meaning of his words cannot be turned against him later, because the didn't mean anything in the first place.

Being, or at least appearing to be, a gibbering idiot has turned out to make him completely immune to consequence. He's so stupid he's brilliant!

Bush's speechwriting hacks have so poisoned our language that when I heard that the Dalai Lama was coming to Seattle on behalf of "Seeds of Compassion," I assumed the organization was some faith-based group in cahoots with the White House. Have you ever tried to picture Bush's "Armies of Compassion?" Fortunately, Seeds of Compassion is actually a wonderful organization with zero connection to Bush.

Actually, this thing is going exactly as planned. The numbers for Ohio and Texas are exactly as the predictions that were leaked from obama's camp in february predicted. Obama's on track to win!

I don't know that the narrative of the Democratic primary is entirely beyond expectation. I think the fact that it plays like a movie speaks to the fact that different groups in the media, to the best of their abilities, are trying to shape the narrative. I'm not saying the media has a right/left bias, they have a bias all their own, seperate from political ideology, but inter-twined with it.

The back and forth "momentum" held by Obama then Clinton then Obama then Clinton and soon, again Obama is a media construct.

In its attempt to describe the narrative, the media shapes it. With this knowledge they shape it as they wish.

Nice post - I was thinking similar thoughts this morning about how incredibly invigorated and, well, surprised I was to hear Obama's speech at the D's convention in '04. A politician who could inspire with words??? It was amazing. Philosophers, novelists, artists, activists - these are the people we expect to be inspired by - but a politician? Amazing. And what a contrast to the emptiness of Bush, who has set such a very low standard.

I too enjoy two Democratic politicians who actually say meaningful things, even if (or maybe because) they are somewhat at odds.

But am I the only one who thinks that McCain looks like he is going to explode at any moment? He looks like he's inflated to 50 psi.

I think it`s great theater - and the Albee analogy is terrific - because the energies behind it are so broad-based and have been building up for such a long time. Back in December, when I was for Hillary (though having read Obama`s book thought wistfully last year, oh, if only someone like that COULD be president - won´t happen, though`) I didn´t know how tired I was of the Tony Blair middle, of the predestined failure of the moderate left in America, of self-aggrandizing baby boomers who think they set the house on fire but really just kicked some dings into the furniture, of the rhetoric, yes rhetoric of hopelessness and muddle and partial surrender as a prerequisite to any thought or speech. Obama is revolutionary because he reveals that the majority of Americans are progressive, are nothing like the hate-spewers of the media Right, do care and do have faith in the ideals the U.S. was based on. And they know bullshit when they hear it, which is why only a fraction of them usually make it to the polls. I wouldn´t want the comparison to make its way around for the wrong reasons, but Obama is Nader with a posse (and Nader`s great failure is to not realize there is hardly anyone marching with him, especially after 2004).

Yes, Obama COULD be more experienced. He`s never been a P.O.W.. But other than that neither of the other candidates have shit on him. He understands what needs to stop, and by stopping it that itself is a new beginning. I have been watching this from outside the country the last four months and running into Obama volunteers - from other countries, half-American, immigrant - all over Mexico. It seems to me this is a great transition that allows people from a wide gamut of attitudes and lifestyles to agree on the basics that are the only kind of agreements that this flawed country (the US) were founded on. THAT makes me think Obama will win.

Oh, I´m on the Slog, I forgot that I have to say something nasty: FUCK Geraldine Ferraro.

"Which is why Hillary Clinton—who is smart and capable and would make a great president—..."

YOU ARE WRONG. SHE IS A MONSTER.

Bush: I m in ur face makin you prez.
McCain: What?
Bush: U r so old, u be stupinz.
McCain: Huh?
Bush: I can has cheezburger!

Thanks for the post, Mr. Frizzelle. I've always wondered if Bush's speech writers really don't know what they're doing or if can write but have to refrain from using words with more than a few syllables because Bush can't deliver them with any confidence.

Obama's ineffable nebulosity revitalizes the whut, now?

Yeah, the speech isn't very good. Did you really need six paragraphs to say that? Didn't they teach you in journalist school about getting to the point?

@19: Didn't they teach you in intarwebs school that blogging isn't journalism?

@14 FTW. nice one, grant.

Extremely well done, Christopher. Slog could use more of this.