(no subject)

[gothwalk]

An interesting interview between Jeremy Paxman and Tony Blair. No idea who Paxman is, but he asks some good questions, as do members of the audience.

Another thing that just occurred to me... I watched a recording of Colin Powell's statement to the UN Security Council last Wednesday, and saw Jack Straw speaking just after him. I've seen people saying - seen peripherally, that is - that Powell's speech was "powerful" and "moving". Um, folks. The man read it from a sheet of paper in front of him, pausing every three words and looking up. It was like a poor performance in a small debating society. Jack Straw didn't say anything substantially different (in fact, it reminded me of the puppet scene from Chicago, but never mind that), but he said it a lot better.

Do people anywhere really think Powell's a good speaker?

Comments

[secretprayer.livejournal.com]

I was living in the States back when Powell was headlining news because he was contemplating running for President on the Conservative ticket -- he had huge approval ratings and even Democrats and Libertarians admired him, so coverage of him was really glowing and packed with (mostly accurate, I suspect) compliments. But even in the midst of those praise-sessions I can't remember ever reading/hearing that he was a great orator.

I get the impression he is usually praised for being decent, principled, intelligent, all those things, rather than rhetorically brilliant.

(His generally principled angle on things seemed to be shown yet again in the Iraq crisis in how he, at first, seemed reluctant to be quite as into Manichean Dualism as Bush. What he is doing now spouting Bush's party line absolutely bewilders me.)

[loupblanc.livejournal.com]

I saw part of this show on thursday and it was quite amusing to see Tony Blair trying to put arguments forward, half stuttering as if wondering "b-b-but why don't they understand?" Sometimes I wonder what Churchill would have done. Blair has no charisma at all...

ooh

[cheerfulcynic.livejournal.com]

Was that the one where Tony nearly had apoplexy when a member of the audience addressed him as Mr. Vice President?

I wish I'd seen it...

[secretprayer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that interview! Relentless, it was! Really good.

[secretprayer.livejournal.com]

Paxman-as-Merciless-Interviewer really rocks. I am impressed/surprised Blair was willing to risk it, actually.

Re: ooh

[secretprayer.livejournal.com]

Apparently "Mr Vice President and Honorable Member for Texas North." (!!!!)

Blair apparently replied "I take it you're not in favour then...."

[dryad-wombat.livejournal.com]

Churchill would have certainly delivered far more stirring oratory, but I very much doubt he'd have been any more tender and pacifist-inclined. The more I read of Churchill's letters and biographies, the more I really understand why so many members of the British govt - before 1939 - regarded him as dangerously enthusiastic about war.

(Trivial tangent: Churchill was even brutal towards the goldfish in his ornamental pond! he would only feed them so much and the quick goldfish got all the food, the rest didn't get any -- when an interviewer was aghast by his goldfish treatment, Churchill cheerfully replied it was all about survival of the fittest.)

I can't imagine Churchill would have been toting "No to War" placards next Saturday.

[loupblanc.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying Churchill would have been anti-war, au contraire. What I'm saying is that he probably would have been a lot more convincing to the population as per why we should go to war (not that I agree mind you)

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I doubt that anyone believes Powell to be a great orator, but am consistently amazed by the success of the spin doctors with the Republicans. (The same ones, I suppose, put really negative spins on Clinton and other Dems.) For example, when Bush the Elder was Prez, he did a TV interview where someone asked him a question he didn't want to answer and pushed. Bush had what can only be described as a hissy fit. Then the media were all saying how strong, and outraged with righteous indignation he was. Nope. Hissy fit. Or possibly toddler tantrum. But nothing at all warrior-esque, as the media was saying.

[dryad-wombat.livejournal.com]

Ah, I agree. He was a master of the declamatory martial bit. It would be intriguing to read a Churchill_esque defense of the idea of war with Iraq.

Come to think of it, after September 11th, one of the Churchill web sites tried to get Churchill to speak FOR America -- they reclaimed his speeches for the War on Terrorism . They edited the specifics of date and place, and posted it on their page as a manifesto for what America would do in response to the Towers tragedy.
:/