Great Evil requires Great Virtue as an ingredient of its Evil.

[Silverhair]

There seem to be a lot of posters here who want to view Bush & Co. as entirely composed of stupid bunglers without any talent who couldn't pour water out of a boot with the directions on the heel. They seem to want to view them as devoid of any talent at all.

Such posters do not understand the nature of evil. Think of a mafia Godfather. Could he survive without a lot of street smarts, and the ability to plan, organize, and to inspire his followers. He needs leaderships skills, and the judgement to assemble a good staff.

In every case where there is strong evil, that evil has to have a lot on the ball. They can't be lazy and stupid, or they would fail. The card cheat has to pratice his arts until he can stack a deck while being watched with none the wiser. The safe cracker has to learn his trade to the level of excellence if he is to be a successful criminal. Even a hooker has to keep the merchandise in attractive shape. (Although when I was a trucker I saw some rather ugly & fat "lot lizards".) And a "high class" hooker has to do more than lay there - she has to be a convincing actress. Even the lookout in a gang of burgulars has to have the diligence to stand watch. If he doesn't, the gang is in danger of getting caught in the act.

Hitler WAS a dynamic speaker who understood his audience. Could he have held the German people the way he did if he wasn't?

In the thread comparing Dean to Reagan, a fair number of DUers got upset over that. Folks, Reagan had great camera presence and was a masterful public speaker. In fact, I would consider he & Mario Cuomo to be the two best speakers of any politician I have heard. Bush v2.0 may appear to be inarticulate, yet he connects with his audience.

It is NOT praising the enemy to recgonize where they are skilled.
It is NOT praising the enemy to recgonize that one of our guys may have the same level of the same skill. It is the application of the skill that makes the difference.

[legin]

1. Like it

your writing skills are pretty top knotch too. I notice things like that cause i write like what an orc does.

[Silverhair]

2. Thank you. I have been published.