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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (73685)	1/2/2007 5:38:19 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

It's too bad our current leader is dishonest and unable to communicate well...According to David Gergen President Ford was "a congenital truth-teller"...Our current president Bush is exactly the opposite...fyi... Decker Communications Announces Top Ten Communicators of 2006 prweb.com San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 2, 2007 -- Decker Communications, Inc. ( deckercommunications.com ), a leading communications training and executive coaching firm, announces its annual list of Top Ten Communicators. This year's list highlights notable individuals from business, politics, sports and entertainment -- and shows how their communications helped make or break them in 2006. The Ten Best 1. Senator Barack Obama -- he burst on the scene with one speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. And he has kept up his impact in the high risk, high profile arena of politics -- so much so he deserves to be the Top Communicator of 2006. He looks his interviewers and public in the eye, holds himself tall, yet remains informal and humble in stance in posture. Yes, he's a real candidate for the presidency. 2. Pastor Rick Warren -- truly one of the greatest communicators in print and person. Author of the mightiest best seller of all time (except for the Bible), and leader of one of the largest churches in the country, Rick Warren does it all through personal influence. He is always focused with strong Point Of View whether preaching, speaking or in personal appearances, but true to form never formalizes his conversational tone and manner, no matter how serious the subject. 3. Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- it's not just the results in becoming the first female Speaker of the House in the United States that makes Nancy so impressive, it's what she has had to do to overcome. Before running for office, she was not a natural public speaker. She worked at it, and worked at it hard. Pelosi is now outstanding in thinking on her feet, giving the best sound bite, and smiling as if it has always been natural to her. 4. Commissioner Israel Gaither -- newly elected National Commander of the Salvation Army in the U.S., Israel Gaither has absolute conviction and high level communication. The first African American Commander, Gaither is a superb preacher and speaker -- he would say it's the power of God and if you met him you would not argue. Nor would you argue about his skill as a communicator playing a strong role in his rise to leadership -- he commands an audience whether it is a small group of civic leaders, or thousands of the members of his Army. 5. Angelina Jolie -- finally, a movie star, and beautiful at that, who is now known as much by what she says and how she says it as being beautiful. Under klieg lights she appears natural, (and they say those lips are natural too.) It is a tribute to her cause, and her articulation of that cause for children and the impoverished, that she has become a public figure as a stateswoman rather than just a beauty. 6. Nido Qubein -- the only repeat from last year's Best List influenced so much in 2006 he must be included again. Nido Qubein will also someday be known by the one name "Nido," because he continues to communicate his vision of the world in a way that positively impacts tens of thousands - most recently as President of High Point University. He's one of those who could speak for one minute or one hour at a moment's notice, and change your life. 7. Guy Kawasaki -- businessman, blogger and brazen raconteur, Guy Kawasaki is the original Apple "evangelist" who keeps on writing books, financing companies with his venture capital, and speaking out in a wry, witty and winsome style to further his own fortunes and others. His irreverent and relevant communication style sends him on his way to sharing the same platform with his mentor and last year's Communicator of the Year Steve Jobs. 8. Tavis Smiley -- Some say he is in the image of Oprah, but here's a fresh face who has his own talk show, a best seller atop the NY Times best seller list, and is authentic to boot. Smiley is smiley, as well as serious, sincere and simpatico. Excellent in thinking on his feet, he is also thoughtful with a Point Of View. 9. Jim Cramer -- perhaps Jim Cramer is an odd one for the Ten Best list, since he is the outrageous host of Mad Money. His commitment to impact drives his success -- he lets it all hang out, and in so doing may alienate some, but in the process can convince and persuade the majority. He makes a difference, and if we are to communicate well, at some point we have to be out there. 10. Jon Stewart -- there are a lot of comedians out there who are funny -- which is a GREAT communication asset -- but don't have much beef to add to the human comedy. Jon Stewart is an exception. The Daily Show is a great forum for public converse as well as laughs, but the real reason Stewart lands here is the Academy Awards. Few off beat comics make it to host the Academy Awards, and Stewart did, and he did well. And for the Top Ten Worst Communicators of 2006...please visit 301url.com ----------------- <<...10. George Bush – Communications problems have not been addressed The President unfortunately returns as the only repeat on the Worst List – because of his influence, or lack thereof. Mired in the problems of Iraq, soundly defeated in the mid-term elections, President Bush more and more sounds like a voice crying in the wilderness of unpopularity, and not doing it very effectively at that. He continues to appear too much as a petulant child, pleading for his case with a high voice, and a look that continues to be the most parodied on television. And TV is the mass media that a president must use as a bully pulpit if he is to be effective. And George Bush just is not. Last year I said that he could cut his problems in half if he was effective in his speaking. He hasn’t changed. As a communicator, he’s no John Kennedy, and the numbers reflect it...>>

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (73685)	1/2/2007 6:21:57 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 89467

Bush is now blaming the Generals for Iraq... huffingtonpost.com

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (73685)	1/9/2007 7:05:09 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Who Is Planning Our Next War? ______________________________________________________________ by Patrick J. Buchanan As George Bush reflects on his legacy, an urgent question must be pressing in upon him each day. Will I leave here as the man who launched failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that cost thousands of U.S. dead, to no avail? Or can I yet enter history as the Churchillian statesman who used U.S. power to save America and Israel from the mortal threat of atomic weapons in the hands of the Iranian mullahs? Which legacy would Bush prefer? Or Cheney? As Americans await Bush's address announcing a "surge" of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops to Iraq, we may be missing the larger picture. The War Party is turning its attention from Iraq – to Iran. Nor is it simply an analysis of the character of George Bush that causes one to so conclude. Tehran is now two weeks into a 60-day deadline to answer a Security Council resolution directing it to cease enriching uranium. While the sanctions are mild, the resolution passed unanimously and gives Bush the U.N. cover he used to wage war on Iraq. If Iran defies the United Nations, Bush will demand further sanctions. Up the escalator we go. Moreover, a second U.S. carrier battle group is heading for the Gulf. More interesting, the new CentCom commander, replacing Gen. John Abizaid, is no soldier, but Adm. William J. Fallon, commander in chief of U.S. forces in the Pacific. What Fallon does not know about securing streets, he does know about taking out targets from the air and keeping sea lanes open in a time of war. Bush may be sending signals, but the Israelis are preparing for war. The London Sunday Times reports that Israeli pilots have been making the 2,000-mile run to Gibraltar to train for strikes with bunker-busting nuclear bombs on Iran's heavy water plant at Arak, the uranium hexaflouride facility at Isfahan and the centrifuge cascade at Natanz. Israel angrily denies the report. But, on Dec. 30, retired Gen. Oded Tira, who headed up all Israeli artillery units, burst into print with this admonition: "As an American air strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help (Bush) pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and U.S. newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure." "Bush lacks the political power to attack Iran," writes Tira. Thus, Israel and its U.S. lobbying arm "must turn to Hillary Clinton and other potential presidential candidates in the Democratic Party so that they publicly support immediate action by Bush against Iran." "The Americans must act," Tira concludes. "If they don't, we'll do it ourselves ... (and) we must immediately start preparing for an Iranian response to an attack." According to UPI editor-at-large Arnaud De Borchgrave, Tira's line tracks the New Year's Day message of Likud superhawk "Bibi" Netanyahu, the former prime minister. Said Netanyahu, Israel "must immediately launch an intense, international public relations front first and foremost on the U.S. The goal being to encourage President Bush to live up to specific pledges he would not allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons. We must make clear to the (U.S.) government, the Congress and the American public that a nuclear Iran is a threat to the U.S. and the entire world, not only Israel." Israel's war, says Bibi, must be sold as America's war. We are thus forewarned. A propaganda campaign, using Israeli agents and their neocon auxiliaries and sympathizers, who stampeded us into war in Iraq, is being prepared to stampede us into war on Iran. We are to be convinced that Iran, with no air force or navy to speak of, an economy not 2 percent of ours, which has not started a single war since the revolution, 27 years ago, is about to give to terrorists, to use on us, a nuclear bomb it may be 10 years away from even being able to build. Will Congress be duped again into giving Bush a blank check for war? Or will this new Congress summon the courage to take the war option out of Bush's hands, to decide itself, for the nation, when, where and whether America should ever go to war against Iran? Every presidential candidate should be asked: Does President Bush have the authority to attack Iran without specific congressional authorization? And would you support giving him that authority? Needed today are courageous men and women of both parties who will introduce and pass a congressional resolution stating, "In the absence of a direct Iranian attack on U.S. forces or personnel, or an imminent threat of such an attack, President Bush has no authority to launch a pre-emptive strike or a preventive war on Iran." If we are going to war, let us do it constitutionally, for once, and not leave it up solely to George W. Bush and Brother Cheney. COPYRIGHT CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. Find this article at: antiwar.com

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (73685)	1/9/2007 1:43:01 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Oliver North says Bush plan 'eerily like Vietnam escalation' rawstory.com Published: Tuesday January 9, 2007 Appearing on The O'Reilly Factor, retired Lt. Colonel Oliver North, who hosts Fox News Channel's War Stories, said that he doesn't support President Bush's plan to for 20,000 additional ground troops in Iraq. In this clip, O'Reilly quips that the conservative military analyst, best known for his key role in the Iran-Contra affair, is aligning himself with Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi when he claims that Bush's "surge" plan "sounds eerily like Lyndon Johnson’s plan to save Vietnam in the 60s by gradual escalation as a way not to lose."