How can this be Bush?

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It may be he just freezes up in front of the camera and has a phobia there.

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He had no trouble speaking in front of large groups or cameras in the past.I've seen this video of him during the Texas governor's race in a televised debate with Ann Richards, then contrasted with a presidential debate and press conference performance 10 years later.He is not only coherent 10 years ago but is downright articulate. He is able to string long sentences together into entire paragraphs that convey fairly complex ideas. He is energetic and confident and dynamic. He also clearly has memorized a great deal of information and he never refers to notes. IOW, he appears to have his shit togetherIt's really quite strikingly different to how utterly awful a public speaker he is, and has been for his entire presidential career.Those who know about such things suspect he has some brain damage that is common in people who drink heavily for many years. The condition that he seems to show symptoms is called presenile dementia.Edited by schrafinator, : No reason given.Edited by schrafinator, : fixed spelling

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It's amazing that a guy with such poor communication skills could not be beaten by the dems.

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Me too. Voters in America sure are dumb.

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I credit to the fact most of the nation just rejects higher taxes and liberalism in general.

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No.It's that the Republican base always votes, and they hate fags.The Republicans rather brilliantly made that the main election issue.Also, most Americans are very middle of the road and moderate.But the Republican voters tend to be single issue voters.Generally, abortion or fags.Edited by schrafinator, : No reason given.

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Crash, my experience with you is that no amount of evidence can sway you at all.

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Yeah, but all of those fence sitters need to see your evidence, rand.That's why I provide my links to sources in my posts to you.I would never dream that you would actually address the evidence directly or consider it honestly, but there are lurkers who might.

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Just how many politicians are real leaders these days?

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I don't have an exact count but I would say that, of all the offices in the land, the president, at least, should be a great leader. Or at least give the impression or illusion of being a great leader.Clinton, for example, appeared to be a very good leader even if he wasn't the best president.Reagan, too.Howard Dean is a very good leader, and Kerry is also despite his lack of charisma. Arlen Specter comes to mind, as does Nancy Pelosi and Christine Todd Whitman.Going outside our own country, Hugo Chavez seems to be an amazing leader, as does Vladamir Putin.

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Good link Schraf.

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Have you ever spoke in front of large crowds?

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Pretty large, yes.

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To the entire nation? There is a difference.

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Yes. And a presidential candidate that cannot speak coherently, stumbles miserably over every other word, cannot construct a complex sentence nor even a simple one without a struggle, and flounders when asked to speak carefully is a very pathetic presidential candidate.

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Every word that comes out of Bush's mouth now gets analyzed to death, and that could possibly make a person nervous to speak.

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Sure, especially when you can't speak coherently.

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I speak in front of congregations, and sometimes I am nervous, and sometimes I am not. The nervousness blocks the thoughts from getting to my mouth sometimes.

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Forgive me, but this is the president. Don't you think that one of the skills required for the job should be the ability to speak in public?

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I think also it has to do with how confident you are on the subject you are speaking. Maybe some of his speeches that are scripted by others won't come out as clear, as something that he firmly believes in, and is well educated in.

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He's the president.He should be well-versed in every single thing he is speaking about.Otherwise, how on earth is he supposed to make decisions?

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Then there must be something else that makes him a good candidate, because he was in fact elected.

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He was only elected once.But anyway, he wasn't really elected because of himself.He was voted for in large part because his party whipped up the Republican base's fear and hatred of fags.

Crash, have you read Farnken's latest, The Truth (With Jokes)?He says that Bush and the Republicans won the last election with a three-pronged strategery:"Fears, smears, and queers".It's both awful and funny at the same time, isn't it?

I am sure they would much rather have a Reagan-style figurehead; charming, funny, reassuring, and inspiring.