Spoken Gems

In my opinion, George W. Bush’s farewell address to the nation is not a great speech, but if you’re involved in public speaking, it might teach you something anyway: What kind of speech would you deliver in his situation?

Found at CSPANJunkie.org. Please pay him a visit and consider a small donation for the great and important work he’s doing.

Justin Frank, clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at George Washington University Medical Center, analyzes the mind of George W. Bush.

This insightful talk is about 20 minutes long, followed by Q&A.

I suffered through the following speeches at the RNC and I can tell you: "Oops, no gems here…". But to be at least a little bit balanced, here’s the list, so you can judge for yourself. If you don’t know with which to start, try the speeches from Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson or especially Rudi Giuliani (to see the Republican smear machine at it’s best).

• Renee Amoore
• Michele Bachmann
• Anne Beiler
• Marsha Blackburn
• Sam Brownback
• Laura Bush & George W. Bush
• David Cappiello
• Maria Cino
• Brian Clay
• Tom Cole
• Norm Coleman
• Carolyn Dunn
• John Ensign
• Tommy Espinoza
• Mary Fallin
• Carly Fiorina
• Luis Fortuno
• Bill Frist
• Joe Gibbs
• Lindsey Graham
• Bill Gross
• Rudy Giuliani
  My recommmendation, if you really choose to watch this, is to imagine that this is "The Colbert Report".
• Ashley Gunn
  
• Jon Huntsman
• Joe Lieberman
• Linda Lingle
• Jay Love
• Abel Maldonado
• Rosario Marin
• Mel Martinez
• Carol Mutter
• Ruth Novodor
• Sarah Palin
• Erik Paulsen
• Tim Pawlenty
• Tom Ridge
• Elena Rios
• Mitt Romney
• Aaron Shock
• Leslie Smith
• Michael Steele
• Charlie Summers
• Christy Swanson
• Fred Thompson
• Joe Watkins
• Meg Whitman
• Michael Williams

And tomorrow: A convention were I’ll most likely find a gem…

I’ve thought for a long time whether I should post a rant from Keith Olbermann. I know he is a controversial person (just like his Fox News counterpart), but for me his rants are the only one in the media which come even close to the famous Network speech.

The Rolling Stone compiled a list of their Top Five Rants of Olbermann.

The website leadingtowar.com offers the film "Leading to war" for free. You can either download or watch it online with subtitles in 19 different languages.

It is not a single speech but a collection of short excerpts from speeches by the Bush administration that chronicles the arguments and the path to war against Iraq.