Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sarah Palin Needs Some Serious Help, At Least A Speech Coach

Since Sarah Palin arrived on the national political scene, when John McCain selected her as his VP running mate, my wife and I have often observed to one another two things concerning her speech. First, Palin's speech pattern, cadence, and especially her shrillness are quite off-putting. If she has any intentions of running for political office, higher than governor of Alaska, she will need to secure the services of a speech coach that will have the ability to help her correct these flaws. Second, closely tied to her speech pattern and cadence is Palin's penchant to choose words that make her sound like a immature teenage girl. Some have called it "folksy." In my estimation, it is more offensive than folksy. You've heard the words, two of which are, Dang it! Heckuva lot! The tone she strikes with her word choices is rather malapert or saucy, unbecoming any politician, especially a woman, and especially a woman who communicates her "conservative" message.

On Wednesday evening Greta Van Susteren interviewed Sarah Palin.

VAN SUSTEREN: I’m very well, but there are a lot of Americans aren’t. They need jobs. What are we going to do about jobs? Do you have an idea that‘s any way different from what the president said last night because we’re looking for all options?

PALIN: Well, speaking of last night, that was a tough speech to have to sit through and kind of try to stomach because the president is so off base in his ideas on how it is that he believes the government is going to create jobs. Obviously, government growth won’t create any jobs. It’s the private sector that can create the jobs.
And his theme last night in the Speaker of the House was the “WTF,” you know, “Winning the Future.” And I thought, “OK, that acronym, spot on.“ There were a lot of ”WTF” moments throughout that speech, namely, when he made the statement, Greta, that he believed that we can’t allow ourselves to, I guess, eventually become buried under a mountain of debt. That right there tells you he is so disconnected from reality! The problem is, we are buried under a mountain of debt, and jobs cannot be created by the private sector. We cannot grow and thrive and prosper as a nation when we are buried under this $14 trillion debt [Emphasis added].
She wasn't finished. Later in the interview Palin returned to her saucy and potty-mouthed teenager talk.
VAN SUSTEREN: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is still with us. And Governor, last night there was a lot of discussion about the Sputnik moment that the president talked about. Do you agree with him? Do you — and is this our moment?

PALIN: That was another one of those WTF moments, when he so often repeated this Sputnik moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. And he needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist USSR and their victory in that race to space, yes, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.
The fact that Palin used the acronym and not the actual three words hardly renders her more presidential.

For videos see here.

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