OK…I stand berated.
Stamping out ignorance does not include grammer.
I’d say it was Bush’s finest moment so far, though I still don’t think much of him as an orator. He could use a new speechwriter, too, one that can make him sound like himself. He comes across much better to me when he’s speaking extemporaneously, provided he doesn’t go into a Quayle moment.
BTW, did anyone notice how often the Supreme Court stayed seated during the standing ovations? There were a few times they joined in, but most of the standing o’s were done with the Court just sitting, and frequently not even applauding. Anyone got any ideas why?
That was one of the best speeches I’ve heard from a President in a long, long time. There are better orators around, but sometimes the material, the speaker, and the subject come together and out of it comes something a little bigger than the sum of those parts. This was one of those speeches. Clinton could have spoken the words better, perhaps, but it wouldn’t have sounded as sincere.
George Bush has a tendency to grow into the position he takes. I think we’ve seen a lot of that in the last week. The man I watched give that speech tonight bore almost no resemblance to the guy who bumbled his way through his first couple of public speeches as president.
On Politically Correct last night they talked a little of men who achieved very little until coming to power, and then having events beyond their control force them to grow into great leaders. JFK, Harry Truman, and Henry V were their examples. Bush may not occupy those rarified heights, at least not yet, but tonight was a pretty good sign that he is capable of rising to meet the challenge.
His best speach so far IMO. Not Churchillian, he’s no orator. But it was a solid speach and a credible delivery.
I was especially heartened by the clear distinction between the Muslim faith and Terrorism. That distinction will be critical if we are to have the support of the most useful allies.
I REALLY hate to admit this, but Shrub gave a good speech. Damn! Just when I was so comfortable and well into my element, disliking him so much. Wonder who his speech writer is? Do you think he’ll let us down next time he speaks extemporaneously? What do we know about this Terrorism Czar from Pennsylvania?
Now that I’ve admitted to this lapse of personal integrity, please do not think it a call for anyone to send me religious messages (unless they are of the anti-Fallwell/Robertson/Phelps variety), anything having to do with angels or pass-it-to-a-friend-or-you’ll-break-the-chain-type messages. This may be a temporary aberration and I hope not to suffer it for too long.
One thing I’d like to ask him to do though: please remember Canada! The Brits are our great allies, but Canada is the country that accepted flights bound for the US on the 11th, depsite the fact that at that time no one knew what might be on those planes. Canada has always been there for us, had many of their citizens killed at the WTC, and are the greatest neighbors we could possibly ask for. My Alberta-born Dad is probably rolling over in his grave…
As a speech I didn’t think much of it though it was perhaps one of his best performances to date. He comes accross as insincere to me when he gets into the touchy feely bits but they are difficult notes for anyone to hit hit without appearing contrived or over rehearsed.
On substance, as one with sincere doubts about his capacity, I was reassured that there seemed to be a clear sense of the complexities and pitfalls that will be faced.
I thought the fallen officer’s badge was a nice touch.
I think he done good.
(did anybody else notice that Hillary looked particularly pissed this evening?)
I thought it his best speech ever. Thank you Mr President.
Really? I thought that the orator was Ms. Lewinsky! 
No debate here. The man was impressive. I especially liked that he reached out to people of different faiths and made a distinction between the Taliban and the people of Afghanistan, saying “The United States respects the people of Afghanistan”.
He didn’t promise swift and severe retaliation, and he didn’t promise easy and quick resolution. I was kind of worried he might. But he told it like it was – that it was going to take time and the patience of the American people. The fact that he was keeping a level head made me feel better about having him in charge during this crisis.
Return with us now to those glorious days of yesteryear, and the method by which Bush attained the Presidency. Politically (in the broad sense of the word), five of them can’t afford to ever be seen publicly applauding Bush, and the other four are either still too mad at them or don’t want to embarrass the Court itself by publicly showing up the five.
**
I think somebody in the caucus should let the junior Senator from New York know that in a speech that’s critical to sending a unified message to the world, particularly the enemies of the U.S., she might want to remove the typical, partisan, “I just sniffed a turd” look from her face, and dispense with the slow motion, spiritless, “I’m clapping but I don’t really want to” clap.
Save it for the State of the Union, ma’am.
I think the speech had two things that bothered me. Though this is just a first impression.
- he seemed to change the focus of a War on Terrorism to a War on international Terrorism. This may seem like nothing but it lets a few terrorist organizations off the hook and allows them to continue to harm innocents so long as they are not American Citizens.
- He raised the flag up and gave Afghanistan demands they could not possibly completely comply with. It honestly sounded like this is to become a ground war and possible occupation… that is scary.
SHRUB!!!
BWHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA
I’m ok now.
<snort…giggle> <shrub…heeheeeheee>
“OK…I stand berated.
Stamping out ignorance does not include grammer.”
Nor, apparently, does it include proper spelling.
(a) Justice Breyer was the most persuasive and pissed off of the dissenters in Bush v. Gore. He was there, and he wasn’t exactly sitting on his hands.
(b) More than 6,000 American citizens were killed in this attack, and a jetliner was crashed just down the street from their place of work. Do you seriously think Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, and Ginsburg were thinking “Fuck this crisis, I’m not showing up if that pretender is talking?”
Maybe she felt snubbed somehow by President Bush? When he was walking into the Chamber shaking hands etc. he hugged Sen. Schummer, looked at Hillary, and kept walking down the aisle. Maybe it was my imagination, or bad camera angles (I watched on ABC).
But everyone’s had a really bad nine days, so who’s to say?
And what Milo said
Beat me to it. It’s grammar. I love it when that happens. 
I do believe Scylla was just funnin’, Reeder.
He’s trying to build a coalition. There are a lot of countries that are worried that the U.S. could use the ‘terrorism’ excuse to interfere with internal strife. Should the U.S. step in and squash the IRA? If a country has its own equivalent of the Unabomber, would they want U.S. troops coming in and stomping all over?
Besides, there’s a practical argument here. If you are going after ALL terrorists, how can you ever declare that the ‘war’ is over? You need to define the enemy in some way, and ‘Terrorist Organizations of Global Reach’ is as good a line as any to draw. The fight against terrorism is permanent, but at some point the invasion forces have to stand down, and you can’t leave five aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf forever.