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By Shaggy Dog Posted in Archived — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Rick Moran posted a very interesting blog about the best political speeches in American History, which generated much discussion.

http://www.redstate.com/blogs/rick_moran/2008/jan/19/the_top_ten_politic...

I thought it would be worth exploring the flip side of the coin- the ten worst speechs or political statements (since worst speeches are inherently tuned out and therefore less memorable). I also included one non-American one on my list, for reasons that will be obvious.

My list of 10 worst speeches and political statements is as follows:

10) HRC’s “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” lamentation:

"Well, I don't know if I've been that dramatic. That would sound like a good line from a movie. But I do believe that this is a battle. I mean, look at the very people who are involved in this — they have popped up in other settings. This is — the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president."

Not so much offensive as manufactured self-serving nonsense that perfectly exemplified the Clinton years, especially when it turned out the charge she was refuting (Bill-Monica) turned out to be completely true.

9) John Kerry’s absurd proclamation that he:

“actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it,"

Not much need to elaborate on this idiocy. This single sentence may have sunk his campaign

8) I hate to include a moveon.org talking point on the list, but I have to concede that when Pres. Bush said:

“Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job”

It was turned out to be an incredibly dumb thing to say, and a microcosm of the PR disaster that he allowed hurricane Katrina to become for his administration.

7) Jimmy Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” Speech (aka the Malaise Speech, although he apparently never said the word Malaise). A highlight:

"The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.

We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.

The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America."

Bravo Mr. Carter- tell America we suck and we’re a bunch of losers and then try to figure out why you got crushed by Reagan.

6) Probably the single dumbest speech I ever witnessed was Walter Mondale’s 1984 acceptance speech, in which he said:

"Mr. Reagan will raise taxes and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did”

Kind of cancels out the brilliance of his previous “where the beef” witticism.

5) Number five goes to the only other guy to lose as badly as Mondale did, George McGovern, for his 1972 acceptance speech at 3AM in Miami. It’s known as the “Come Home America” speech. Relevant snippet:

"From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation; come home, America."

McGovern’s vision for a capitulating, self-loathing America continues to define modern day liberalism.

4) One of the most despicable episodes of character assassination I can recall is Sen. Ted Kennedy’s screed against Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, in which he described:

"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens.'

Pure and simple, Kennedy is an absolute P.O.S.

3) For number three, I will go with Sen. Dick Durbin and his comparison of US soldiers to Nazis, soviets and pol pot. You could easily do a top 10 worst statements just on the Iraq war, but I limited myself to one, and I thought this was the most widely known and most offensive statement:

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings,"

2) It’s hard to come up with a more idiotic statement than what Neville Chamberlain said after meeting with Hitler:

“We, the German Führer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for two countries and for Europe.

"We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.

"We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe.

"My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time."

1) Number one has to go to Gov. George Wallace from his 1962 inaugural speech in which he declared:

“I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

There is simply no way to defend that.

I’m sure I missed plenty, let me know your take.