Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Wynton C. Hall's Speechwriter Anecdote: Here's Hoping His Source Made It Up

Writing in the Examiner, Wynton C. Hall shares an anecdote that, if true, reveals a breathtaking level of incompetence at the White House, not just in what it says about the staffer in question, but about the hiring process there:

...why can’t this White House get its oratorical act together? One explanation might lie with Bush’s current speechwriters. At a recent social gathering, I spoke to one woman who told me a story that would send a shiver up a speechwriter’s spine.

While chatting with one of Bush’s newly installed speechwriters, the woman said she mentioned how much she loved President Ronald Reagan’s “Pointe du Hoc” speech, delivered on cliffs overlooking Normandy Beach. The young new presidential wordsmith looked at the woman with a quizzical look. The presidential speech writer confessed to being unfamiliar with the speech but was looking forward to reading it.

Indulge me.

Open Letter to Young New Presidential Wordsmith:

Dear Young (may I call you "Young"?),

What fantastic circumstances placed you at the very top of the speechwriting profession while leaving you ignorant of what is most sublime of the profession itself? "I wasn't born then" can be no excuse for mediocrity. Where you born when Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural, or the Gettysburg Address? When Patrick Henry spoke before the Virginia House of Burgesses? The day after the date which shall life in infamy? When Marc Antony ulogized Caesar?

Young, I beg you, learn your craft. If you haven't read or watched those speeches (or what history records of them) and many, many others; if the words "blood, toil, tears and sweat," sound like the name of a rock group to you, take a leave of absence. Learn the history and art of your profession. Learn how Reagan used the imagery of D-Day in his Pointe du Hoc and Omaha Beach speeches on June 6, 1984 to inspire the allies of that day to persevere in the battle of freedom versus Soviet tyranny. Help our President also evoke our shared history, values and aspirations, as we fight the crusade before us now.

With sincerity,

Amy Ridenour

P.S. The text of the Point du Hoc speech is here; the text of the Omaha Beach speech is here. It's better to watch them as well; the Omaha Beach speech is here; I haven't been able to find a video of the Point du Hoc speech online.

Wynton Hall makes several other points. I agree especially about Bush 41 and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The American people are still owed a big party (something modeled on this, perhaps?) to celebrate the end of the Cold War. Is the Cold War the only major conflict ever concluded without a commemoration party? Possibly. At the very least, we should have an annual day of commemoration (I nominate November 9), preferably without time off work. We best honor our successes by building upon them.
_____

Labels: Conservatives, Europe, History

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:47 AMEmail this Social bookmark this

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

How Do You Say 'El Spank-O!' In Swiss?

From David Hogberg:

The ballot initiative that would have brought a single-payer health insurance system to Switzerland lost -- by 71-29%.

Ouch.

And that is why the political left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) will completely ignore this story.

P.S. Yes, we know there is no language called “Swiss.” David is joking.
_____

Labels: Europe, Government Health Care, Health Care

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 12:12 AMEmail this Social bookmark this

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Sir Humphrey Appleby's Climate Change Pact

With the Europeans and carbon reduction, it's always the planning; never the doing.

The European governments have adopted an even more stringent global warming agreement than the Kyoto Treaty, even as the EU fails to meet its Kyoto targets.

It's like a plot in the BBC's old "Yes Minister" series; one in which super-bureaucrat Sir Humphrey Appleby counsels his government department's minister to cover up a failing plan by announcing a new one that will be even harder to fulfill.

Possibly this new climate pact should be dubbed the "Appleby Agreement."

I almost never quote Wikipedia (due to its outlandish inaccuracies), but at 2:30 AM Eastern on March 10, 2007 AD, it had a perfect description of the European Union relationship with the Kyoto Treaty: "The EU has consistently been one of the major nominal supporters of the Kyoto Protocol..."

That's right, nominal, as in, "being such in name only; so-called; putative: a nominal treaty; the nominal head of the country."

The Washington Post admitted the same thing, but put it more politely:

European governments have been a major promoter [emphasis added] of the Kyoto pact...

The European Union talks up Kyoto, but isn't meeting its Kyoto targets. Its plan was that America would, but we outfoxed them by never ratifying it in the first place. (Never say the Clinton Administration didn't do anything right.)

(The Washington Post continued the sentence in the box quote, saying "...[the Kyoto Treaty] attempts to counter trends that are warming the Earth's climate." Whoa! Care to prove that, Posties? [Pause to imagine the news coverage: Trends, Not Sun or CO2, Warm Climate - Washington Post.] No, seriously, the Post shouldn't write theory as fact in a news story. The Evil Hand of Humanity + Cow Emissions Are Ending the World As We Know It Theory is still a theory.)

But back to Brussels bureaucrats. Sir Humphrey Appleby hit the nail on the head: "Politicians... need activity. It is their substitute for achievement."

Not that European leaders admit that their real motive in crafting a new climate pact is to hide their failure to adhere to the last one.

No, they stick to promotions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was confident "the plan could save the world."

French President Jacques Chirac was even more self-congratulatory: "This is part of the great moments of European history."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "We have what I think is a historic summit."

Yes, Ministers.

_____

Labels: Climate, Europe

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 3:26 AMEmail this Social bookmark this

Swiss To Vote On Single-Payer

From David Hogberg:

On Sunday, voters in Switzerland will go to the polls to decide the future of their health care system. The measure, put on the ballot by the political left (of course), would establish a single health insurer. It would replace the private system that they have now, which is arguably more free market than the one we have in the U.S.

I don't know the first thing about Swiss politics, so I have no idea what the chances are of its passage, although the article suggests that its chances are not good. What I do know is that if it does succeed, the political left here will use it as an example numero uno of the superiority of a single-payer health care system.

Here's hoping it loses.

_____

Labels: Europe, Government Health Care, Health Care

Posted by Amy Ridenour at 1:56 AMEmail this Social bookmark this