Bob Rae's Convention Speech
If Bob was not a seasoned politician and renowned speaker, I would have thought his speech was pretty good. But he is a seasoned politician and renowned speaker, and against that standard I think he bombed.
...He spent a lot of time talking about politicking. We already know this race isn't about ideas, but I didn't realize until now that the back room business and power brokering could actually be admitted to be the most important factor.
...He did mention that we will run on the strength of the team. My good friend MacDuff was talking about this earlier today; we agreed that the idea was a winner and I was surprised to hear it coming from Bob, but good on him.
...He came right out and said he thought he was the best. Well, he quoted someone else telling him he was the best, but same-same. Bob snatched the 'most arrogant' award from Iggy's hands before the latter even had a chance to accept it.
...He spoke about the importance of putting vision into action, but only spoke of vision and never action.
...He spoke about students going to school hungry for knowledge, not hungry for food. I'm sorry, but there's one candidate in this race that owns the hunger issue, and it's not Bob.
...He spoke about having learned the lessons of fiscal responsibility, which given his current situation made me laugh out loud.
..he referred to Quebec issues, qu'il "connait bien." Correct me if I'm wrong, but in French doesn't that connote the meaning of "well enough," and not "well"?
...he ended by quoting Laurier, which in my opinion is a just an amateurish way to end this kind of speech.
Conclusion: Bob gave a vague, feel good speech, which would have done him well if he were the front-runner. He's not, and now I'm thinking he will never be.
...He spent a lot of time talking about politicking. We already know this race isn't about ideas, but I didn't realize until now that the back room business and power brokering could actually be admitted to be the most important factor.
...He did mention that we will run on the strength of the team. My good friend MacDuff was talking about this earlier today; we agreed that the idea was a winner and I was surprised to hear it coming from Bob, but good on him.
...He came right out and said he thought he was the best. Well, he quoted someone else telling him he was the best, but same-same. Bob snatched the 'most arrogant' award from Iggy's hands before the latter even had a chance to accept it.
...He spoke about the importance of putting vision into action, but only spoke of vision and never action.
...He spoke about students going to school hungry for knowledge, not hungry for food. I'm sorry, but there's one candidate in this race that owns the hunger issue, and it's not Bob.
...He spoke about having learned the lessons of fiscal responsibility, which given his current situation made me laugh out loud.
..he referred to Quebec issues, qu'il "connait bien." Correct me if I'm wrong, but in French doesn't that connote the meaning of "well enough," and not "well"?
...he ended by quoting Laurier, which in my opinion is a just an amateurish way to end this kind of speech.
Conclusion: Bob gave a vague, feel good speech, which would have done him well if he were the front-runner. He's not, and now I'm thinking he will never be.
posted by Gavin Magrath at 12/01/2006 09:30:00 PM
3 Comments:
Rae picked up Volpe. They make a great couple.
But Volpe's people are going elsewhere. Ignatieff has already picked up Volpe's campaign manager.
"Assez bien" would have meant "well enough".
Penny - true. But there is a distinction between these two phrases:
"Je connais."
"Je bien connais."
And I think the second one does connote the meaning "assez bien" even though the word isn't there.
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