Cheney's Compelling, Human Speech Was Better Than Obama's Boring Legal Seminar
By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street Blog
Here's a speechwriter's idea of a good time: Don't watch the video of yesterday's speeches by the President and former Vice President on national security. Instead, read both speeches—free from any audience, the staged backdrop, even the sound of their voices.
It's kind of like the 1960 Presidential debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Those who watched on TV thought Kennedy won. Those who listened on radio thought Nixon did.
Chances are, if you watch the video of yesterday's speeches, you'll think President Obama won. But if you read the transcripts online, you might think Vice President Cheney won, as I did.
Without all the visual distractions of the video, you can only compare texts when you read it. Obama goes on and on about the different classifications of detainees, and the whole seems like a constitutional law seminar. Cheney's speech tells a compelling story, is more concise and colorful, and makes a solid case for why we haven't had a second attack.
Both are long, but when you read them straight through, President Obama's speech is lecturing, boring, and reads like a legal brief written by lawyers. One woman I spoke with thought it had a "bullying" tone to it; I thought he implied that people who disagreed with his position on the war on terror have no values, which simply isn't the case. Former Vice President Cheney's speech, on the other hand was well written, and eviscerates Obama's approach to torture, Guantanamo Bay, the 'truth commission' and the overall war on terror so far. You get the feeling of what it really would be like to be evacuated to the White House bunker, and watch attacks against Americans on television.
It really made Cheney, for the first time in memory, actually seem human. At least on paper.
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Tags: debates | speeches | Barack Obama | Dick Cheney | torture | national security
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Reader Comments
Cheney Believes do unto others as they do unto you.
Cheney Believes do unto others as they do unto you.
I believe do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Torture is never acceptable and does not work because the enemy expects it because that is what they would do because they are not as mentally strong as those that do not believe in torture. Thats right torture is desperation or like a school bully torture like fear has no plan it just acts.
most of the time the person being tortured is going to say what you want them to say which is far from the truth. they would say anything to stop the torture but the truth.
having power over people weakens your common sense and invites mistakes
under estimating people invites failure.
treating prisoners like humans causes confusion and other emotions and then maybe the prisoner will see it your way,
Do the unexpected treat prisoners like humans
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml
Don D. Brock
Is it any wonder . . .
Chris of WA says:
'Oh, NOW I see that Mary Kate is a former speechwriter for "Dubya." '
FFS. The bio blurb says she was a speech writer for George H.W. Bush - that's Bush Sr., president from 1988 - 1992.
Even all the way over here in Australia I know the difference. There really should be a test or something to restrict the grossly uninformed like you from voting.
Nice.
"I feel like I'm in one of those science fiction movies where there's a good universe overlapping a bad universe, and I got stuck in the universe with the wrong George W. Bush."
Classic!
Bravo!
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Mary should read that and try for once to think!
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