IMAGINE IF W really was speaking to US on Jan 20, 2005....!?!

[marions ghost]

Here are some excerpts from the inhogural speech. All these lofty words about Freedom and Liberty (even as we sense that ours are in danger) --wow-- don't take this literally but I imagined--WHAT IF these statements actually applied to US? What if Our President were speaking to the disenfranchised of THIS country? To the jobless and hungry. To those trashed and ignored by the media. To those exploited by corrupt businesses. To the children left behind. What if he were speaking to all the huddled masses yearning to breathe free in THIS country.
And WHO was our president talking to when he said these words on January 20: "...we have essential work at home -- the unfinished work of American freedom." SO is the prez gonna remember these words when we try to get our freedoms back?

How about the line:
"when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" -- they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled."
So are we meant to fulfill our ancient hopes, George?
Will Liberty come to those who love it, as u say?

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http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/bush.transcript/

"Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave."
---
"Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen and defended by citizens and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own."
---
We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation -- the moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.
---
Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.
---
Democratic reformers facing repression, prison or exile can know: America sees you for who you are -- the future leaders of your free country. America has need of idealism and courage because we have essential work at home -- the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.
---
We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages, when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty, when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" -- they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled.
---
History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction set by liberty and the author of liberty. When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still."

[Carolab]

1. Bush was just reading a speech someone else wrote for him.

Probably Karen Hughes.

[marions ghost]

2. oh yes of course

I realize he is a mouthpiece, but look at the words they put in his mouth. All this lofty rhetoric about freedoms, and references to past struggles for it in THIS country...I just thought it was ironic that "he" (of course I mean "they") give a speech that if anyone from our side were giving would sound very positive. What I'm getting at is that the WORDS would sound good...but from another speaker.
So depending on your perspective, you can interpret this as being about Iraq, or being about America. The words are neutral--he never mentions Iraq. One-size-fits-all speech.

[Carolab]

3. That's because he always means the opposite of what he says. n/t

[marions ghost]

5. Yes, saying nothing you can argue with...

And not meaning a word of it.

Virtue words: These are words in the value system of the target audience which tend to produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, etc. are virtue words.

Glittering generalities: Glittering generalities are intense, emotionally appealing words so closely associated with highly valued concepts and beliefs that they carry conviction without supporting information or reason. They appeal to such emotions as love of country, home; desire for peace, freedom, glory, honor, etc. They ask for approval without examination of the reason. Though the words and phrases are vague and suggest different things to different people their connotation is always favorable.

From Wikipedia

[Carolab]

Dupe. n/t

[Carolab]

4. Dupe. n/t

[Carolab]

6. Here's who wrote the speech.

As they drafted the speech this month, White House political aide Karl Rove and chief speechwriter Michael Gerson held a two-hour seminar with a panel of foreign policy scholars, including several leading neocons — newspaper columnist Charles Krauthammer, Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins University and Victor Davis Hanson of Stanford's Hoover Institution — according to a person who was present.

[marions ghost]

9. Thanks for info--those neo-cons

crafted a very bizarre one-size-fits-all speech and I'm still trying to figure it out. Depending on your perspective you can take it any number of ways. I found some corroboration re. my instant sensation of "tilt"...

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0121-02.htm

”This really falls on a very divided nation,” said Marina Ottaway, a democracy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), an influential think tank here.

”The speech was really tailored for hard-core Bush supporters, but for those who have become very skeptical, including many people who voted for Bush, the speech will be very difficult to follow. It declares the success of our policies at a time when there are an increasingly large number of people who see Iraq as a mistake.”
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All the "soaring rhetoric" should move us, but it's as if the words are falling on deaf ears.

[pacalo]

7. And he probably doesn't know what half of it means himself.

Unless he had his tutors up half the night before explaining it to him.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. I think he threw in the "racism" lines out of guilt for his racist

actions suppressing minority voters in Ohio. Well, probably not guilt but "throw everyone off the scent"