Why such a badly written speech?

[spinbaby]

Why was Shrub’s speech so incoherent? It’s easy to just say, duh, look at who’s delivering it. But this is more than just delivery, the speech itself, when you read it, is just so much nonsense. This man has professional speech writers--the speech should make sense and it should have some kind of point. But when I read the transcript today, I was struck by how unfocused and disorganized it was.

When you pick it apart, this is what the big speech boils down to:
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9/11, terra, terra, terra. Terra at the U.N. and in lots of different countries. No neutral ground--If you’re not for us, you’re against us. Iraq and Afghanistan deserved what they got because they sponsored terra. It was okay we invaded Iraq because lots of other countries thought it was okay and we’re bringing democracy. The U.N. is vaccinating and feeding Iraqis and we’re doing our part by killing and interrogating Iraqis. We’re building schools, hospitals, and lots of other stuff, too The U.N. should help more in Iraq so other Arab countries don’t get terra ideas. And as long as we’re on the subject of terra, we really should all get together to fight nucular proliferation. We should all do humanitarian things, too--like fight AIDS, feed people, and put an end to sex slaves. We’re trying to put an end to sex, so why isn’t the U.N. doing anything about sex? Evil, evil, challenges, commitment, ideals, moral law, peace, courage.
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We have to ask why the thing was so incoherent. Shrub has certainly delivered incoherent speeches before, but they’re generally speeches made at fund-raising events where all that’s required is a random string of talking points.

But this was an important speech made with a specific goal in mind. And it was presumably written by the best speech writers money can buy. Regardless of who delivered it, the SPEECH ITSELF should have been well written and focused. But it was vague, as if assembled by a committee.


Link to the transcript:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030923-4.html

[cthrumatrix]

1. It's hard "dressing a pig in a pink dress".....it's ugly

[curse10]

2. just finished reading it

wasn't this speech suppposed to justify why we went to war when we haven't found WMD's... but then he says...

"The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction. It used those weapons in acts of mass murder, and refused to account for them when confronted by the world. The Security Council was right to be alarmed. The Security Council was right to demand that Iraq destroy its illegal weapons and prove that it had done so. The Security Council was right to vow serious consequences if Iraq refused to comply. And because there were consequences, because a coalition of nations acted to defend the peace, and the credibility of the United Nations, Iraq is free, and today we are joined by representatives of a liberated country"

I'm confused! :crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy::crazy:

[chaumont58]

3. Maybe Bush wrote it himself

Sublimnable!

[displacedtexan]

8. right.

like the word 'inherent' is part of his vocabulary.

[chaumont58]

22. Isn't that like when somebody dies and leaves you money?

Best way to make money.

[Junkdrawer]

4. Maybe, just maybe, someone doesn't WANT the UN in Iraq...

but wants to make it look like they asked the UN real pretty like.

[Plaid Adder]

5. I would pity Bush's speechwriters

if I didn't hold them responsible for inflicting him on the world.

Think about what those poor bastards have to work with:

1) A President who cannot be trusted to properly pronounce words with more than two syllables.

2) A foreign policy that is such a mess of contradictions, hypocrisy, poor planning and bad ideas that nobody on God's earth could make it seem coherent.

3) A constant stream of situations in which Bush has to do the impossible by accomplishing two mutually contradictory things simultaneously, such as admitting to the U.N. that we fucked up and need help, and not admitting to the U.N. that we fucked up and need help.

Language is a wonderful tool but there are limits. As Scotty says, you canna break the laws of physics. The pig is too big and too ugly and they are out of lipstick.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Ivory_Tower]

6. Maybe you answered your own question

"We have to ask why the thing was so incoherent. Shrub has certainly delivered incoherent speeches before, but they’re generally speeches made at fund-raising events where all that’s required is a random string of talking points."

Maybe they viewed this as just another fund-raiser. Come in, make an incoherent speech, and watch the contributions from the UN come rolling in.

Or maybe they just don't care.

[peacetalksforall]

7. Wonder what he would have said if we hadn't been listening...

In the feel sorry for him league...

Here's another problem for his handlers...

They had to not disappoint everyone who has taken up hating France.

They had to go easy on the countries they bribed.

They couldn't back off the cliff while spinning.

[teryang]

9. Ever read congress's Iraq war resolution?

That's a piece of work also.

[WesWing2004]

10. because they are MORONS, good pix

[BackDoorMan]

15. Hahaha, let's get the UN involved bailing us out.

So what if we told them to fuck off and invaded anyway.

Get the UN to help foot the bill bring in soldiers and then we can blame the UN when things go wrong!

Rove, your a genius. Hahaha!

[aquart]

17. This isn't Rove. This is George M.O. all the way.

George has always fucked up and been bailed out, each bailout making him richer and more important than before. At the rate he's been failing upward, why shouldn't he expect to be God by the end of the decade?

He has NEVER been allowed to experience a negative consequence from a bad action. He has ALWAYS been rewarded for it.

Guess what he thinks is gonna happen now?

[Oracle]

18. Your right, and he probably will.

[frank frankly]

21. "falling upward"!

Wow--that really says it well. He really expects it, he deserves it!

We are witnessing such a display of sociology and psychology as to defy description, although we must strive to describe it, to quantify it, to defeat and then transcend it.

But President Stupid really is a case study in the terrible folly and injustice of inheritance-based promotions.

[KoKo]

11. Not only THIS SPEECH......but the one two weeks ago...whose writing?

Is it because Karen Hughes left..or is she still there and can't "grow" with the time.....but I had the same questions as you! WHOSE WRITING this CRAP!

Certainly NOT the MAGNIFICENT KARL ROVE......Who can Do NO Wrong! So who is the DORK who is writing his gibberish......

Actually the speeches AREN'T BEING WRITTEN ......they are old speeches "cobbled together" so that Chimp's cognative memory can understand and read the "teleprompter" but ......the speeches are bad.....and it does make one wonder......with all his powerful PNAC Support......how does he end up looking like a fool?

[Starpass]

12. From what has been said here tonight about this speech

(I haven't seen it), I kept asking myself this same thing. Good christ, this was a very, very key speech for him. It was not only to get troops and money from the UN, but it was a big thing for him to help boost his numbers. It appears like it was written by a drunken half-wit---and we know he doesn't write his own speeches so that debunks the drunken half-wit part. I'm speechless (excuse the pun). What was this about because presenting him as slightly unbalanced doesn't help his sinking polls. Why would anyone have him give that speech??? And I'm desperate to know what the "analysts" have said because I want to see if these fuckers are going to try to spin this into something magnificient like they did his pathetic debate speeches in 2000!! If they do, then we know the propaganda has begun.

[watercolors]

13. did anyone notice his hands

how extremely nervous he was, he kept rubbing his thumbs along his fingers. It was quite noticable that he was most uncomfortable. I think the strain of trying to look like he is the president is taking its toll on him. I feel he might just throw one big tantrum soon.

[grasswire]

14. Andrea Mitchell said....

...that the speech was written by the hard liners -- the neo-cons.

And Howard Fineman said the speech was aimed at Americans, not at members of the UN delegation or an international audience. He said it was meant to stop the poll erosion, not to really elicit any help from the UN, because the WH doesn't really WANT any other countries in.

So we have to consider the speech on many subtle levels. If they didn't want it to convince the UN to help, then perhaps it was wildly successful.

And to the domestic audience, it looks as if he tried.

[maha]

16. I rewrote it already to make it better.

Here's the improved version:

http://www.mahablog.com/2003.09.21_arch.html#1064335595734

Seriously, for such an important moment in his administration you'd think the speechwriters would've come up with something better. It was so inane. Limp, soggy, uninspiring, uncompelling, and not even focused on the real issue. The side trip on sex slaves was downright weird. But the $87 million speech wasn't very good, either.

If Shrub's going to save his presidency (not that I want him to) he's going to have to stop letting the neocon ideologues to write his speeches. Instead, he needs some out and out sociopaths.

[Sailorforclark]

19. Some of his better writers are bolting

Frum for instance

[Deja Q]

20. Two-faced liar he is

Fair and free elections...

constitution...

Putting our differences aside to help

Dithering on about how a country after such an upheaval needs help.

I was screaming at the tv set when they showed a clip of * making his patehtic case.

And Kofi agreeing with the * as well. :grr:

The UN has a prime chance to step up to the plate and make * feel really small and belittled like he damn well deserves to be.

The UN must step forward or it will be irrelevant.

Bush should be fucking grateful that ANYBODY will help. And they're helping the Iraq citizens, something which is furthest from *'s mind. If you can call it a "mind", I think it's a big empty hollow space with a loud echo effect.