[Tax-chick]

Gelernter is a great writer!

[Maigret]

Thanks for posting, Gelernter is always a good read!

[snarks_when_bored]

William F. Buckley ripped the speech writer a new one, too:

What is Bush saying?

[bitt]

very interesting, and this guy knows our President. someone ping Karen Hughes.

[iconoclast]

I've always admired Gelernter.

I'm embarrassed for him here.

[Dan Middleton]

>>There was one flat-out unacceptable moment. Evidently the "edifice of character" is "sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount," and . . . "the words of the Koran"? Come off it! Which words? Name one! Is there a single sentence, phrase, idea in the Koran that has made any difference to this nation whatsoever? I'm not knocking the Koran; pluralism is wonderful. The problem is that at this moment, no listener in the whole world could possibly have believed that the president was serious.<<

That was the worst moment of the speech. I was so pleased when he started with Sinai and the Sermono n the Mount, then he got to that business about the Koran and I just cringed.

[goldstategop]

Who cares? As for grading it, I liked the theme. You can quibble with the wording like David Gelertner did here but that's beside the point. Its the ideas, not the words people will be remembering thirty years from now.

[Yaelle]

Beautiful, Mr. Gelernter. Why aren't you up there with the speechwriters crafting these?

I agree with every point he made except the hand over the heart reference. I took it to mean that we all responded as one, with a "hand on the heart" in the shock and grief of a surviving loved one just hearing the news. Not an expression of patriotism. So that one worked for me.

I never thought about it before but those shadows, those crumpled gum wrappers, DO slow it down for me. I agree with Mr. Gelernter: I'd like our great speeches to be perfect too.

Though I did love the content.

[Paperdoll]

Oh, that Dvid Gelernter had written that speech!

Absolutely spine tingling! The world would be marveling!

[rose]

Pres. Bush's speech will go down in history amongst the greatest. I got it, and so does most of America. It was awesome.
My final test and confirmation of what I was thinking was my husband. I taped it and replayed it for my husband, who was unable to be at home to watch. He is a very educated in history. He has read tons. He is a realist and pragmatic person. When the speech was over he stated, it was awesome and would be remembered in history, just as Pres. Lincoln's Gettysburg address.
People and the news ridiculed that speech at the time too.
He said President Bush has seized the pivotal moment of this point in time. He will be remembered for this and given credit for such.

[Publius6961]

Man! Do I wish that I had the benefit of this article Thursday afternoon when I was the subject of a Freeper lynching, here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1324749/posts

And being a fool for punishment, I had to repeat it Friday.
*sigh*