Ten Years After September 11, 2001

Ten years ago today, our country and my family received a terrible blow.  We were attacked.  Our countrymen were murdered.  We were shaken. 9/11 is an important historical event that has defined much of the last ten years, but it was also a family tragedy for me, as my Uncle Donnie Regan gave his life [...]

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Where’s the Speech?

In addition to the fact that our “allies” look like something from Mad Max–and some consist of al Qaeda–I am struck that we’ve not heard an Oval Office address.  I cannot recall a military action in my lifetime without some run up, a domestic debate, some sign off through resolution or otherwise by the Congress, [...]

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Paul Krugman’s Blood Libel

Sarah Palin got in some hot water this week for suggesting the left’s rseponse to the Loughner shooting was a “blood libel.”  Way back in the day, when Jews and Christians lived apart from one another in Europe, this was a popular myth of Jewish mendacity:  that they engaged in ritual murder of Christians for [...]

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Obama’s Post-Election Rhetoric

I’ve thought for a long time that Obama’s rhetoric has some serious problems.  Earlier in the campaign, he was cajoling his supporters to work for him.   He has insulted middle America, suggesting it is fearful or racist at different times.  In dealing with Congress, he has been imperious and unwilling to adjust his tone and policies [...]

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Obama, the “Major Generalist”

I find Mark Steyn’s writing occasionally quite good, and I thought his recent column on Barack Obama’s Gulf Oil Spill speech pointed out a major flaw in his rhetoric:  his persistent, professorial attempts to move from the particulars of a problem to more general themes: In the race speech, invited to address specific points about [...]

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Obama’s “Common Sense”

Obama has repeatedly reached for one of the lowest and most insulting rhetorical tricks in the book:  begging the question. In his inaugural address, for instance, he labeled all criticis of government spending as “cynics” who “fail to understand . . . that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that [...]

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Bush’s Rhetorical Failure

Bush’s defense of his more controversial stands in the war on terror has been Clintonian. First, he denies that something is taking place. Then, when that something–in this case, the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” is exposed–he simply denies without explanation a reasonable characterization by critics: these techniques constitute torture. Now, I do not support [...]

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A “Nuanced” Approach to Prohibition

Noah Sweat in the Mississippi legislature giving perhaps the most skilled “political” speech in history: My friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any [...]

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Reagan’s Evil Empire Speech

Notice how much more coherent, articulate, and balanced his rhetoric is compared to our current crop of “conservatives.” In particular, notice that he recognizes our country’s earlier failings without rejecting these failings as something that wipe away all moral legitimacy to our past, as Bush and Rice have done repeatedly, comparing the savage atrocities of [...]

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