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host · 12-19-2007, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fastom

I can't believe anybody thinks Bush is smarter than a 5th grader. Watch the many videos of him speaking. He truly doesn't have a clue what the hell he's talking about. That is a very bad quality in a mayor nevermind a "Decider" for the whole country.

I agree with HalX on the first post and add there should be a "None of the above" choice. Ron Paul seems to be the lesser evil if we can believe his campaign platform will even be remotely close to his presidency.

Bush is smart enough to give everyone he encounters a nickname, and constantly use self deprecating remarks and a familiar and "approachable" demeanor to get what he went after....two terms as Texas governer and two terms in the white house:

Quote:

http://www.etalkinghead.com/archives...006-04-27.html

....How then, should we understand Mr. Bush's proclivity for nicknaming? I believe the key lies in a scene from the 1962 movie, Hatari, directed by Howard Hawks. Basically, the film revolves around John Wayne (Sean Mercer) and his entourage, who trap wild animals in Africa and sell them to zoos. After one of the characters introduces himself with a preposterously long and pompous French name, Wayne looks at him with a mixture of irony and contempt, and says, Chips will do. Substitute W for the Duke in the role of Sean Mercer, and you will get the picture.

Nicknames serve an important function of dominion for all of us, of course: they define and delimit another's powers and status. Nicknames put people in their place. In the case of Mr. Bush�s Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, this is apparently an exalted place�she has earned the nickname, Guru. Others, such as Maureen Dowd, are not so fortunate. Naming of any sort serves an important ritualized function in human culture: it is the first step in gaining control over a potentially dangerous or malevolent entity. A frightening category 4 hurricane is nicknamed, Katrina. Osama bin Laden is christened, The Evil One by the President of the United States. In a world filled with complex and terrifying forces, it should not surprise us that an anxious American president would look for ways to reduce potential adversaries to manageable sound bites. The danger lies in imagining that this actually reduces the danger and in supposing that nicknames do no harm.

Quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0070222-5.html

........because doesn't it make sense to be able to say to our farmers, grow what you can grow so we become less dependent on oil. I like the idea of a President being able to say, wow, the crop report is in, we're growing more corn than ever before, which means we're importing less oil from overseas. It's an exciting time to think about that our farmers not only are going to grow what we need to eat, but it's going to grow what we need to run our automobiles.

And that's coming. That's what we're here to discuss today. I know it sounds like a pipe dream to some -- you know, there goes the optimistic President talking again. But you're going to hear from some experts here. I'm just a history major. (Laughter.) And I'm with Ph.D.s. (Laughter.) Let me remind you who the President is. (Laughter and applause.)

But the Ph.D.s are providing the brain power necessary to help plants like this develop technologies that will enable us to convert wood chips into fuels that are running automobiles..........

Born and college educated in New Haven, Connecticut, prepared at <a href="http://www.andover.edu/about_andover/notable_alums.htm">Phillips Andover Academy</a> , and finally a Harvard MBA graduate, Bush achieved proficiency as a military fighter jet pilot..... he transformed himself from a New England born, at least 12 years Mass. and Conn. educated young man from an affluent WASP northeast family and a background that included a grandfather, Conn. US senator Prescott Bush, into a "good ole boy", with heavy Texas drawl and an affability that made him, even with it known that he stopped drinking, someone who many voters yearned to share a few beers with.

If you think that Bush's transformation was accidental, he stayed away from Yale's campus for 33 years, and that he is not an "actor" or a cunning political "animal" with a skill level at least as great as Ronald Reagan's was, you don't know the man, or his talents. He disarms his adversaries, and then beats them. I see his phoniness, as I could see Reagan's, and I regard both men as equally unattractive. Many didn't see it in one or both of them, and both of these "chameleon" politicians, made Bush '41 look stiff, Patrician, and aloof, like...John Kerry and Al Gore appeared to be.....

Quote:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0010521-2.html
May 21, 2001

Remarks by the President in Commencement Address Yale University New Haven, Connecticut

....I'm particularly pleased to be here with my friend, the former of Mexico. Senor Presidente, usted es un verdadero lider, y un gran amigo. (Applause.)

I congratulate all the parents who are here. It's a glorious day when your child graduates from college. It's a great day for you; it's a great day for your wallet. (Laughter.)

Most important, congratulations to the class of 2001. (Applause.) To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say, well done. <h3>And to the C students -- (applause) -- I say, you, too, can be President of the United States.</h3> (Laughter and applause.) A Yale degree is worth a lot, as I often remind Dick Cheney -- (laughter) -- who studied here, but left a little early. So now we know -- if you graduate from Yale, you become President. If you drop out, you get to be Vice President. (Laughter.)

I appreciate so very much the chance to say a few words on this occasion. I know Yale has a tradition of having no commencement speaker. I also know that you've carved out a single exception. Most people think that to speak at Yale's commencement, you have to be President. But over the years, the specifications have become far more demanding. Now you have to be a Yale graduate, you have to be President, and you have had to have lost the Yale vote to Ralph Nader. (Applause.)

This is my first time back here in quite a while. I'm sure that each of you will make your own journey back at least a few times in your life. If you're like me, you won't remember everything you did here. (Laughter.) That can be a good thing. (Laughter.) But there will be some people, and some moments, you will never forget. ....

.....Our course selections were different, as we followed our own path to academic discovery. Dick was an English major, and loved the classics. I loved history, and pursued a diversified course of study. I like to think of it as the academic road less traveled. (Laughter.)

For example, I took a class that studied Japanese Haiku. Haiku, for the uninitiated, is a 15th century form of poetry, each poem having 17 syllables. Haiku is fully understood only by the Zen masters. As I recall, one of my academic advisers was worried about my selection of such a specialized course. He said I should focus on English. (Laughter.) I still hear that quite often. (Laughter.) But my critics don't realize I don't make verbal gaffes. I'm speaking in the perfect forms and rhythms of ancient Haiku. (Applause.)

I did take English here, and I took a class called "The History and Practice of American Oratory," taught by Rollin G. Osterweis. (Applause.) And, President Levin, I want to give credit where credit is due. I want the entire world to know this -- everything I know about the spoken word, I learned right here at Yale. (Laughter.)

As a student, I tried to keep a low profile. It worked. Last year the New York Times interviewed John Morton Blum because the record showed I had taken one of his courses. Casting his mind's eye over the parade of young faces down through the years, Professor Blum said, and I quote, "I don't have the foggiest recollection of him." (Laughter.) .....

..... I'm not sure I remembered to thank them the last time I was here, but now that I have a second chance, I thank the professors of Yale University. (Applause.)

That's how I've come to feel about the Yale experience -- grateful. I studied hard, I played hard, and I made a lot of lifelong friends. What stays with you from college is the part of your education you hardly ever notice at the time. It's the expectations and examples around you, the ideals you believe in, and the friends you make.

In my time, they spoke of the "Yale man." I was really never sure what that was. But I do think that I'm a better man because of Yale. All universities, at their best, teach that degrees and honors are far from the full measure of life. Nor is that measure taken in wealth or in titles. What matters most are the standards you live by, the consideration you show others, and the way you use the gifts you are given.

Now you leave Yale behind, carrying the written proof of your success here, at a college older than America. When I left here, I didn't have much in the way of a life plan. I knew some people who thought they did. But it turned out that we were all in for ups and downs, most of them unexpected. Life takes its own turns, makes its own demands, writes its own story. And along the way, we start to realize we are not the author.

We begin to understand that life is ours to live, but not to waste, and that the greatest rewards are found in the commitments we make with our whole hearts -- to the people we love and to the causes that earn our sacrifice. I hope that each of you will know these rewards. I hope you will find them in your own way and your own time.

For some, that might mean some time in public service. And if you hear that calling, I hope you answer. Each of you has unique gifts and you were given them for a reason. Use them and share them. Public service is one way -- an honorable way -- to mark your life with meaning.

Today I visit not only my alma mater, but the city of my birth. My life began just a few blocks from here, but I was raised in West Texas. From there, Yale always seemed a world away, maybe a part of my future. Now it's part of my past, and Yale for me is a source of great pride.

I hope that there will come a time for you to return to Yale to say that, and feel as I do today. And I hope you won't wait as long. Congratulations and God bless. (Applause.)

Will Obama take this advice? Did John Kerry in 2004?

Quote:

http://blogs.unionleader.com/andrew-cline/?p=987
....Obama already suffers from coming across as too professorial and upper crust. These types of campaign surrogates will only solidify that image. What he needs are some good, old-fashioned union guys, a NASCAR driver or maybe a country singer. A male country singer.

He’s got to show that he understands regular folks and can communicate with them. Plus, it would help to bring in a bigger draw. ...