I agree! I have quite enjoyed the SNL skit of the vice presidential debate. The skit was so well done that Italian news showed a piece of it! Italians are quite gung-ho about McCain, except here in Bologna the Red. This place has been governed by communists for a loooong time. Anyway, Mary, I hope you've seen that skit. It's worth two chuckles and a guffaw.
"they're also forced, from time to time, to answer questions, and their answers often resemble the rambling nonsense, obfuscation, and grammatical insanity that many of us would produce when put on the spot.
Yet surely, more than most of us, politicians need to be able to think on their feet, to have a brain that works quickly and rationally under pressure."
And yet, sometimes (key word: sometimes) I think that smart and qualified people aren't always great talkers. Politics demands fancy speech, which a lot of times allows them to make something look good or okay when it isn't. So I guess once in a while I'm okay with an awkward sentence - especially if it was made before having time to think completely through the issue. For me, sincerity and honesty trump grammar.
But yes, I think if you're going into politics, making sense when you speak is a huge plus. And you being a rhetoric person and all, I can see why this caught your attention. :)
And SNL has been amazing lately. My favorite is still the Palin/Clinton one.
I'm experiencing a deep failure to understand how the title relates, unless it's a brutal sarcastic dig. I'm gonna say it's 'cause I'm autistic. . .? Wait, unless it's all you could have hoped for in stuff to diagram? For your diagramming hobby?
If it is a brutal sarcastic dig, I weigh in that I am much in favor.
1. 28 Dresses Later a high-adrenaline zombie-bridesmaid thriller. When one dress too many turns the minds of the perpetual bridesmaid, they roam post-apocalyptic London, tearing to shreds everyone with well-manicured nails and biting them with their recently-whitened teeth. 2. I wake up, groggy, bed-headed, pajamaed. Lying next to me, fully dressed on top of the bed is Gregory Mankiw, the economist. "You're Greg Mankiw," I intelligently remark. He springs out of bed and stands up. "Would you like to discuss consumer surplus and tariffs?" "Why are you here?" I ask. "Don't you remember the Make-a-Wish Foundation?" 3. I was going to throw my tiara, but it turns out to be made of popcorn. "What a cheap groom I have," I think. He's already changed into jeans by the time his extensive family starts playing a traditional game of "here kitty, kitty," around the equally extensive reception grounds. I have no idea why we...
During the weeks leading up to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, there was a lot of discussion about changing social attitudes. A law that had been generous at its time for allowing gay soldiers to serve their country was now oppressive because soldiers weren’t as intolerant as once they were; many soldiers in the same barracks as openly gay men have teachers, aunts, friends who are also gay. The law could progress to match social attitudes. There’s another place where Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is still thriving, though: surrounding religion in public universities. One prominent class-discussion scholar calls the discussion of religion in academia “the last great taboo” and one of my professors described admitting her religious persuasion as “coming out of the closet.” Why are we so anxious about the idea that academics can be religious? There’s a persuasive view in academia, like there once was about gays in the military, that all religious people fit an undesireable ste...
"The problem is, I feel there's so little you can teach, really, and I didn't want to be discouraging to [the students]. Because the truth of the matter is, ou either have it or you don't. If you don't have it, you can study all your life and it won't mean anything. You won't become a better filmmaker for it. And if you do have it, then you will quickly learn to use the few tools you need. Most of what you need, as a director, is psychological help, anyhow. Balance, discipline, things like that. [...] Many talents artists are destroyed by their neuroses, their doubts, and their angst, or they let too many exterior things distract them. That's where the danger lies, and these are the elements that a writer or filmmaker should try to master first. "[The students asked him how he came up with the ideas in Annie Hall] and all I could asnwer to them was "Well, it was my instinct to do it this way." And that, I think, is the most important less...
Comments
"they're also forced, from time to time, to answer questions, and their answers often resemble the rambling nonsense, obfuscation, and grammatical insanity that many of us would produce when put on the spot.
Yet surely, more than most of us, politicians need to be able to think on their feet, to have a brain that works quickly and rationally under pressure."
And yet, sometimes (key word: sometimes) I think that smart and qualified people aren't always great talkers. Politics demands fancy speech, which a lot of times allows them to make something look good or okay when it isn't. So I guess once in a while I'm okay with an awkward sentence - especially if it was made before having time to think completely through the issue. For me, sincerity and honesty trump grammar.
But yes, I think if you're going into politics, making sense when you speak is a huge plus. And you being a rhetoric person and all, I can see why this caught your attention. :)
And SNL has been amazing lately. My favorite is still the Palin/Clinton one.
If it is a brutal sarcastic dig, I weigh in that I am much in favor.
Sarah Palin honestly frightens me.
Interesting article, though. :)