That’s because those are exclusionary terms; you can’t say someone is “stupid and scheming,” for instance.
That said, considering that Mr. Bush himself has boasted(!) the fact that he doesn’t follow the news and relies primarily/exclusively on his Cabinet for information, “stupid” becomes less of an insult and more a mere iteration of the facts…
In what language is Bush a good speaker? He’s okay some of the time when he sticks to the script, but the rest of the time he sounds lost and confused to me.
Now that is silly, I do remember many examples that show Bush to be:
10 times more the waffler, many times wooden (with a deer in the headlights expression), and looking at the kind of people he prefers (Chalabi), 10 times more crazy.
The “evil” and “stupid” elements are just gimmies. 
I agree with your assessment of his mental facilities but this conversation just drives my point further home. We’re no better than the other side at being impartial in our views. It’s only human nature.
Some people can be spontaneous in their speaking but he’s not one of them… when he sticks to his script, he’s a pretty good speaker but when left to his own devices, he comes less than stellar, to put it midly
I realize it’s a skill not everybody has. I just don’t think he’s that good when sticking to a script.
What I meant by the bit about spontaneity was that with the right material, he’s a decent speaker but without it, he’s almost painful to listen to.
In other words, he’s not a natural but can be walked through it with passing results.
I have to admit that was an awesome speech, though I’ll never understand people who vote for people based upon their ‘woodeness’, or their looks. Why not vote for someone based upon how intelligent they are and therefore how unlikely they are to royally bleep up the country like Bush is doing? It has always been painfully obvious that Bush is a puppet, with little or no mind of his own to speak of…why on earth would you put the puppet in charge?
Excellent points. Thank you for raising them. Having a President who is a strong public speaker is, I believe, essential if we are have any hope of returning to greatness as a nation.
What? – WHAT???
George W. Bush is the worst public speaker I’ve ever heard in any kind of political office. Mike Dukakis and Gore '00 were electric, mesmerizing speakers compared to Bush!
Now, I readily admit I deeply despise the despicable, lying, weaselly weakling Dubya and all he stands for. To my mind he’s a contemptible traitor to all that’s just, honest, and decent – all that’s best – about America. But I hated Reagan, too, yet there was a great orator! Reagan could inspire even people who hated his guts.
But every time the incompetent, weaselly word-mangler Dumb Dubya speaks I cringe in miserable shame for America. The wretched, semi-literate miscreant can’t even pronounce the word “nuclear”! And how can you possibly be unaware of his endless malapropisms and outright idiocies?
In one speech he said he wanted his presidency to yield “a more literate country and a hopefuller country.”
He said: “I understand small business growth. I was one.”
And…
“I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.”
“This is still a dangerous world. It’s a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mental losses.”
“Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”
“I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them.”
"We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.’’
“I don’t think we need to be subliminable about the differences between our views on prescription drugs.”
“My job is to, like, think beyond the immediate.”
“This is historic times.”
“God loves you, and I love you. And you can count on both of us as a powerful message that people who wonder about their future can hear.”
“I love to bring people into the Oval Office—right around the corner from here—and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person.”
More Muslims have died at the hands of killers than—I say more Muslims—a lot of Muslims have died—I don’t know the exact count—at Istanbul. Look at these different places around the world where there’s been tremendous death and destruction because killers kill"
“My views are one that speaks to freedom.”
“In my judgment, when the United States says there will be serious consequences, and if there isn’t serious consequences, it creates adverse consequences.”
“I was a prisoner too, but for bad reasons.”
“One of the most meaningful things that’s happened to me since I’ve been the governor—the president—governor—president. Oops. Ex-governor…”
“See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.”
“The illiteracy level of our children are appalling.”
“That’s just the nature of democracy. Sometimes pure politics enters into the rhetoric.”
“I’m also not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.”
“I’m the master of low expectations.”
I deny that any intellectual honest person can seriously doubt that George W. Bush is the stupidest, most inept president and public speaker in our entire history!
Uh what? The two biggest complaints about Bush are that he is stupid and that he tricked everyone into war by lying to them.
Doh! :smack:
Okay, I admit I’m not too bright either. Make that “intellectually honest”.
Look, I never liked Dean. I was never his supporter. But this “scream” business people keep mocking is mostly unfair bullshit. He hadn’t slept for who knows how long, and he was hoarse as hell. He saw his volunteers and supporters were depressed by his loss and he wanted to raise their spirits, so he went – quite naturally – into cheerleader mode. What was such a big deal?
Sure, it grated. I watched it live and it annoyed me. But I always disliked shouters and cheerleaders.
It’s ridiculous how people over-reacted.
Considering people in the room at the time didn’t even hear the scream, it was definitely a major overreaction.
You’re missing the point. It’s not just partisan blather. The criticisms of Bush have some basis in fact. The Repub criticisms of Gore and Dean are pure partisan spin. Especially Dean. It was one of the most successful spin campaigns ever created – destroying a candidate because he got enthused in a speech – but spin it was.
OK, looks like I have to defend my opinion of Bush as a good speaker. He does take verbal missteps practically at the drop of a hat, and doesn’t think quickly on his feet. As Aesiron mentioned, he needs to stick to a script - in an unscripted situation, he often looks lost. I’m by no means saying that he is a top-notch public speaker, not in the group I mentioned above.
BUT… When he uses his strengths, he does good. He has a “just folks” demeanor that plays very well. He shows emotion, either maudlin or firm, extremely well. His voice sounds alive. His style goes over well with a lot of people, and Kerry will discount that at his peril.
Great speech. I especially liked the part where he called on Bush to Repudiate Rush Limbaugh for idiotic remarks on the prison torture scandle.
I don’t know why Democrats don’t use Rush more often as a weapon against the Republicans.
It was not the people that over-reacted, it was the democrats that over-reacted and jumped ship. If Dean’s “scream” was all it took for his supporters to abandon him, then he really had no policies worthy of support to begin with. No, all Dean had was a perception that he could defeat Bush, and that is all that mattered to the Democrats. See, politcs has degenerated to little more than entertainment for the masses. Today, the average “voter”, and this is especially true of Democrats, holds the same allegiance to his or her political party, that one usually reserves for his of her favorite sports team. They could care less of who is quarterbacking or the game-plan, just so long as they win the game. Of course, this is how the ruling elite have planned to corral the voting herd.
At the 1992 Democratic National Convention, then governor Bill Clinton gave praise to one of his mentors, Carroll Quigley, a professor of history at Georgetown University and advocate for world government. In his 1966 book, entitled “Tragedy and Hope”, Professor Quigley outlined an important part of the plan.
Quigley writes:
“The two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can ‘throw the rascals out’ at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy… But either party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will have none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies.”
Think about it, had Howard Dean only done a Ric “Nature-Boy” Flair, “WOOoooo”, instead, he would still be the pride of the Democratic Party.
All I can say is, Bravo Al Gore! Tell it like it really is and don’t let up. The Bush house of cards is falling in the wind. Bush has shamed this country long enough. What a brilliant speech!
For heaven’s sake, why dwell on the word “scream”. The point I was making, and which Sam picked up on, is that the same qualities being praised about Gore’s speach are the ones that got Dean in trouble and eventually led to his fall from grace. Sure, it makes the partisan core feel real good, but it alienates the folks who are undecided.
Yup. But it was really the media that got spun. They played that scream over and over and gave the Repub’s all the air time they wanted to make hay about it.
Then the Dem’s, lacking real conviction that Dean could beat Bush, fell into the media created sinkhole and bailed on Dean too. It was all over for him then.
We’ll probably see some more detail about this in some future story, just like the NY Times said yesterday that they got spun (mislead) by the Bushies on Iraq.
Sometimes it’s nice to daydream about how well the US might be doing today were Gore President.
But then I snap back to reality… and scream.