Bill Maher - Democrat's talking points

[Panorama]

From 11/3/06 HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher -- his final New Rule before the November 7th election, he gives suggestions on what the Democrats talking points should be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkiAMhGMBz0
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"Photography with a Vision"
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[glokstadt]

When Bill nails it, he nails it! I miss him on ABC, too bad they dicked him around like they did, but then again large corporations are not democracies. Note to self, subscribe to HBO and dump Starz package!


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[stella]

That was great. Wouldn't it be refreshing to actually hear a politician give direct answers like that? The quip about taxes was so true, why not stand up and say so?

I imagine it's because politicians feel that the average american has no real idea what a trillion dollar+ national debt really means and they would never get elected.. Even I have to admit I have no idea where that much money came from. My understanding is that we owe China and Japan a truckload of dollars but I don't how that came about. In a way we force our politicians to lie to us because we can't take the truth.

[KYYX4ever]

heh, funny and true. But the day of the blunt-spoken "tell it like it is" politician is done, at least for now. The PC culture is way too sensitive, every special interest group cries foul, and the spin doctors are already stretched to their limit the way it is now. If you're a politician nowadays, it's become accepted and even fashionable to backpedal, to appeal to absolutely everyone (so no one will hate you), to spout mush to appeal to sentimentality, to explain yourself to death, and to craft and perfect your soundbite. We are staring at these guys, scratching our heads and asking "what did he/ she just say ?" Seriously. For the past few months, I've been making even more of an effort to listen to the White House Spin Machine and their argumentation/rhetoric methods, and I can't understand anything !
Maher's humor above thus shows us how easy it is to mock the speaker who puts forth straight, plain talk.

Remember all that curricula in school--both high school and college--reading, examining, and analyzing all those historical speeches and documents (Patrick Henry, Abe Lincoln, Churchhill, etc.) ? It used to be a highly prized trait to employ excellent rhetoric in public speaking (and writing). That was real power and clout. Has this era passed ?

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by KYYX4ever[/i]
<br>It used to be a highly prized trait to employ excellent rhetoric in public speaking (and writing). That was real power and clout. Has this era passed ?
[/quote]
I'll bemoan the loss of that with you. The study of rhetoric seems to pretty much end with works and speeches made in the late 60s. There's only one guy exhibiting anything like it today - Barack Obama. But it's pretty early to tell how much substance he has behind the style.

Maher though, he's too smug and proud of himself to be effective with anyone but the converted. He's a comedian. End of story.

[eight6]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
...He's a comedian...
[/quote]

I'm not even sure of that.


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I was smellin' alright, and lookin' alright.

[KYYX4ever]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Blir[/i]
<br> The study of rhetoric seems to pretty much end with works and speeches made in the late 60s. There's only one guy exhibiting anything like it today - Barack Obama. But it's pretty early to tell how much substance he has behind the style.
[/quote]

yes, I know what you are saying. I don't know much about Obama yet, but I have noticed that some are quietly trumpeting him ([i]Time[/i] magazine aside). I can't help but wonder if part of it is simply that we are hungering for a politician who can speak well and clearly to the masses.

[glokstadt]

[quote][i]Originally posted by KYYX4ever[/i]
<br>... Has this era passed? ...

[/quote]

I think so, the almighty soundbite of 2 to 5 seconds reverberates through our TV sets--not only by poloticians, it's in movies, tv sitcoms, etc. The Gov. of our state of california is famous for them before he ever got into politics.


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[SomebodySomewhere]

I hear he's a real hit at Halloween parties...

http://perezhilton.com/topics/australia ... 061029.php

[Darkwave]

November 20, 2006 Issue
2006 The American Conservative

http://www.amconmag.com/2006/2006_11_20/feature.html

GOP Must Go


Next week Americans will vote for candidates who have spent much of their campaigns addressing state and local issues. But no future historian will linger over the ideas put forth for improving schools or directing funds to highway projects.

The meaning of this election will be interpreted in one of two ways: the American people endorsed the Bush presidency or they did what they could to repudiate it. Such an interpretation will be simplistic, even unfairly so. Nevertheless, the fact that will matter is the raw number of Republicans and Democrats elected to the House and Senate.

It should surprise few readers that we think a vote that is seen—in America and the world at large—as a decisive “No” vote on the Bush presidency is the best outcome. We need not dwell on George W. Bush’s failed effort to jam a poorly disguised amnesty for illegal aliens through Congress or the assaults on the Constitution carried out under the pretext of fighting terrorism or his administration’s endorsement of torture. Faced on Sept. 11, 2001 with a great challenge, President Bush made little effort to understand who had attacked us and why—thus ignoring the prerequisite for crafting an effective response. He seemingly did not want to find out, and he had staffed his national-security team with people who either did not want to know or were committed to a prefabricated answer.

As a consequence, he rushed America into a war against Iraq, a war we are now losing and cannot win, one that has done far more to strengthen Islamist terrorists than anything they could possibly have done for themselves. Bush’s decision to seize Iraq will almost surely leave behind a broken state divided into warring ethnic enclaves, with hundreds of thousands killed and maimed and thousands more thirsting for revenge against the country that crossed the ocean to attack them. The invasion failed at every level: if securing Israel was part of the administration’s calculation—as the record suggests it was for several of his top aides—the result is also clear: the strengthening of Iran’s hand in the Persian Gulf, with a reach up to Israel’s northern border, and the elimination of the most powerful Arab state that might stem Iranian regional hegemony.

The war will continue as long as Bush is in office, for no other reason than the feckless president can’t face the embarrassment of admitting defeat. The chain of events is not complete: Bush, having learned little from his mistakes, may yet seek to embroil America in new wars against Iran and Syria.

Meanwhile, America’s image in the world, its capacity to persuade others that its interests are common interests, is lower than it has been in memory. All over the world people look at Bush and yearn for this country—which once symbolized hope and justice—to be humbled. The professionals in the Bush administration (and there are some) realize the damage his presidency has done to American prestige and diplomacy. But there is not much they can do.

There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country’s reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. If we are fortunate, we can produce a result that is seen—in Washington, in Peoria, and in world capitals from Prague to Kuala Lumpur—as a repudiation of George W. Bush and the war of aggression he launched against Iraq.

We have no illusions that a Democratic majority would be able to reverse Bush’s policies, even if they had a plan to. We are aware that on a host of issues the Democrats are further from TAC’s positions than the Republicans are. The House members who blocked the Bush amnesty initiative are overwhelmingly Republican. But immigration has not played out in an entirely partisan manner this electoral season: in many races the Democrat has been more conservative than the open-borders, Big Business Republican. A Democratic House and Senate is, in our view, a risk immigration reformers should be willing to take. We can’t conceive of a newly elected Democrat in a swing district who would immediately alienate his constituency by voting for amnesty. We simply don’t believe a Democratic majority would give the Republicans such an easy route to return to power. Indeed, we anticipate that Democratic office holders will follow the polls on immigration just as Republicans have, and all the popular momentum is towards greater border enforcement.

On Nov. 7, the world will be watching as we go to the polls, seeking to ascertain whether the American people have the wisdom to try to correct a disastrous course. Posterity will note too if their collective decision is one that captured the attention of historians—that of a people voting, again and again, to endorse a leader taking a country in a catastrophic direction. The choice is in our hands.

[marie3]

I LOVE BILL MAHER!!!

That's all I have to say about that. [:D]

[Frau_Blucher]

[quote][i]Originally posted by Darkwave[/i]
<br>Faced on Sept. 11, 2001 with a great challenge, President Bush made little effort to understand who had attacked us and why—thus ignoring the prerequisite for crafting an effective response. He seemingly did not want to find out, and he had staffed his national-security team with people who either did not want to know or were committed to a prefabricated answer.[/quote]
Wow, that's beautiful man.

[glokstadt]

A friend of mine just e-mailed me this today from Bill Maher:

"In case you missed HBO's Late Night with Bill Maher, here was his open letter to the President:

Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you.

Mission accomplished.

Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. Like you did with your military service and the oil company and the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or space man?

Now I know what you're saying: there's so many other things that you as President could involve yourself in. Please don't. I know, I know. There's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela. Eliminating the sales tax on yachts. Turning the space program over to the church. And Social Security to Fannie Mae. Giving embryos the right to vote.

On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two trade centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans. Maybe you're just not lucky. I'm not saying you don't love this country. So, yes, God does speak to you. What he is saying is: 'Take a hint.'"


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[glokstadt]

FYI...

Bill will be on CNN's Larry King Live tonight!

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[glokstadt]

Bill's Rockin' the House on Larry King! Go Bill!!!! [^]

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