Peter Robinson: A Conservative President?
Aw, gee. He’s our guy, I like him, and his performance since 9/11 has proven brave, steadfast, and completely admirable. But this speech? It was well-written - in places actually beautiful - and well-delivered. (I dissent from Jonah Goldberg and others who fault Bush for his delivery on the ground that they’re forgetting to multiply his score by the degree of difficulty. Just try standing outdoors, in freezing weather, using a sound system that echoes, and then delivering a speech to an audience that consists of more or less the entire planet. Denny Hastert couldn’t even administer the oath of office to the vice president without misspeaking. Bush delivered his entire text without a flaw.) But the speech was in almost no way that of a conservative. To the contrary. It amounted to a thoroughgoing exaltation of the state.Bush has just announced that we must remake the entire third world in order to feel safe in our own homes, and he has done so without sounding a single note of reluctance or hesitation. This overturns the nation’s fundamental stance toward foreign policy since its inception.
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On domestic policy, a "broader definition of liberty?" Citing as useful precedents the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G. I. Bill? Compare what Bush said today with the inaugural address of Lyndon Baines Johnson and the first inaugural address of Ronald Reagan and you'll find that Bush sounds much, much more like LBJ. He as much as announced that from now on the GOP will be a party of big government.
In the text of Bush's speech, there are 16 references to "liberty," 34 references to "free" or "freedom," 6 references to "tyranny." Here's Bush in his own words:
...no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave.
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This was a gorgeous speech. I agree with so much of it, it's insane. The problem with my agreeance on it is that it is all bullshit. What Bush says versus what Bush is is huge, the gap is tremendous. I like Bush because I know what He's gonna do, I hate him because I hate what he does. We got ourselves a "No Bullshit" kinda president, I respect that. On the other hand the spin masters that write political speeches are well versed in the methodology to pull our heart strings and nationalistic pride. They sit back and think up ways to say things things that don't mean anything but sound really meaningful.
That's what we got a heavy dose of yesterday. A whole bunch of Bullshit that sounded like something.
Posted by: somasoul on January 21, 2005 01:40 PMI think Bush's speech writer lifted the master-slave line from Lincoln.
Posted by: Sam on January 21, 2005 06:06 PM