Posted on 10/02/2004 6:39:16 PM PDT by quidnunc
My old debate and public speaking teacher, the late Rollin Osterweis, would have judged this year's first presidential debate perhaps with an edge to President Bush. Osterweis taught both Bush and John Kerry at Yale; he was a stickler about content and delivery. Thursday night Bush won on the former, Kerry on the latter.
Professor Osterweis used a number of rhetorical maxims. One was: introduction, three main points, peroration, and conclusion. Another was: Tell the listener what you're going to tell him, say it, and tell him what you've said. Because Bush was true to those maxims, he got slightly the better of things.
Kerry was all style: better inflection, better rhythm, better tone — maybe generally better lines. But it is hard to beat Bush's, "The only thing my opponent has been consistent about is his inconsistency. The line is memorable and goes to the matter of substance: Kerry could not prevail on substance because he possesses so little. There is not a whole lot of there there.
On delivery, Bush frequently was more halting, more tentative, but his audience is the U.S. electorate — and the vast multitude of the electorate, the common man, has a Labrador's nose for the phony and the fake. It prefers straight talk, and senses the snake oil in the slick. Bush was locked-on. Kerry was at once too often over the head of his audience and all over the map.
And for good reason.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
Electorate is fickle, they couldn't (somehow) smell the slick on Willie....twice.
BTW, Rush was large in 92 and vast in 96. I first listened to Rush in Boston in '90 and I wasn't the first at that time.
And the article above said the electorate had a nose for fakery, I just don't buy it. Too many don't.
Not without Perot The Spoiler...
Why hasn't professor Osric Rupert Finklestern made his opinions known?
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