"A president doesn't have to be a good public speaker."

[gulliver]

"He just needs to be a good leader..." I heard that one from a moderate Repub a few days ago.

It's a beautiful piece of spin. It offers a false choice ("Wouldn't it be better to have both?"), and an unsupported insinuation (Bush is a "good leader.") If you are the kind of person who just wants to be agreeable, you might be inclined to agree with this statement and then make the mistake of applying it to Bush.

But Bush is not that bad a public speaker. His problem is when he speaks what he (supposedly) thinks without having it written down for him. Bush's "foot in mouth" disease is not a mere public speaking problem. He is simply a man who doesn't know the reasoning behind his own policies well enough to promote and defend them. That is why he fears news conferences -- as evidenced by how few of them he holds.

Bush is a good leader though -- in the way a lead sled dog is a good leader. Bush is firm and decisive in leading in whatever direction his fellow neocons want him to go. He's great, because all they have to do is give him his lines and he shouts them out like they've been his life's passion. It looks decisive, but what it really is is the enthusiasm of a cheerleader -- which incidentally Bush was in school when real leaders were athletes and scholars.

[Parche]

1. speaker

He is neither a good speaker or a good leader
He fails miserably on both


Kerry runs circles around him in speech and leadership

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[peacetalksforall]

2. He's a pro at snearing, smirking, swaggering, slamming, and

cheating, lying, and theiving, forgetting, and choking.

[ibegurpard]

3. I agree

But what does that have to do with Bush?

[DinahMoeHum]

5. . . .and the current squatter in the WH is NEITHER. . .

:evilfrown:

[NoPasaran]

6. Sounds like

he's in the process of talking himself into voting for Kerry!