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Mandatory Events In July
Famous dirtbag political hack Roger Stone is going to be a July 25 guest speaker at the offices of 5WPR, run by famous dirtbag flack Ronn Torrossian. Never again will you have the opportunity to see so many esteemed -acks in a single room! Click through for the RSVP information. Everyone is expected to attend. [Really, anybody want to go report on this one for us? Email me.]
media
gender issues
Nick Kristof's Sexy Sex Speech
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who is much better at heroically rescuing orphans from warzones than he is at writing a regular political column, has a very great and original idea. He thinks that Barack Obama, who is now the Democratic nominee for president, should write and deliver a speech about gender, much like he did about race, that one time. What a great and original suggestion! We loved the idea when some HuffPo lady suggested it back in April, when Slate ladies suggested it for Hillary in March, when Ellen Goodman suggested it in May, and we love it now. Unlike all those ladies who suggested it, though, Kristof has manly suggestions for a manly speech on gender issues. More »
speak up, college
Ten of Our Favorite Commencement Speeches
Earlier today, in honor of the season (and Larry Tribe's "thank your parents for boning" NYU speech, at left), I shared my favorite commencement speech and asked for yours. We got some responses, people citing writers like Kurt Vonnegut, comedians like Jon Stewart, and captains of industry like Steve Jobs. What makes a good speech? There doesn't seem to be any one rubric. A successful speech can be a serious person being funny, a comedian with gravitas, a writer getting loopy, a businessman thinking deep. I guess the only essential "rules" for success are obvious: don't be boring, be insightful, and be as honest as possible. Hey! That sounds like graduation advice. After the jump, find ten, in no particular order, of our (and your) favorite commencement speeches. More »
publicity stunts
Another Obama Speech, Another Doofus Acting Crazy Behind Him
We've all heard Barack Obama's Message of Hope a thousand times, and probably already voted this primary season, so let's all just keep an eye out for the most insane supporter standing behind the Democratic presidential candidate whenever he gives a victory or concession speech. A couple of weeks ago it was three hyperactive tools in Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts. In February it was a woman in some kind of emotional rhapsody. Now, in the background of Obama's North Carolina victory speech, it's this wahoo in a pastel blue shirt, in the upper left corner, behind CNN's "Raleigh, NC" logo. Oddly, he's surrounded entirely by women and other white people in pastels, except for a lone black face. Watch him go crazy over shouts out to minor dignitaries and every other thing Obama says in the video after the jump. Also dig Obama's new southern accent. More »
anniversaries
41 Years Ago Today: MLK Vs. Vietnam
Not only is today the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination; as both news stories and commenters have pointed out, it's the 41st anniversary of his historic speech opposing the Vietnam War. That speech was groundbreaking in the truest sense; there was bitter division within the civil rights movement over whether King should take on the war at all. Many felt it would distract from his core goal of racial equality. "And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened," King said. "For such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live." Below, you can listen to his entire speech. It's long. But there's nobody alive in modern day America who can make such a plea with equivalent effect, despite our need for one now. And that's the end of the serious items for the week. More »
barack obama
Media Still Baffled By Non-Pandering Race Speech
Can we just say, the day after, that we're still totally impressed with Barack Obama's speech yesterday? Jon Stewart, after a whole routine about it that fell 90% flat, suddenly summed it up quite nicely: "and so," he said, "on a Tuesday at 11 a.m., a Presidential candidate actually spoke to Americans about race as though we were adults." That is actually unprecedented—since the 1960s, at the least. It was so odd, in fact, that it melted the brains of the people whose job it is to trivialize everything about the campaign. Times columnist Maureen Dowd filed a column last night that only barely resembles anything she's written in a decade. More »
yes we can
Why the Best Speech Ever Won't Change a Damn Thing
The chattering classes continue to review Barack Obama's 45-minute speech today on race. The TV pundits' instant response was overwhelmingly positive, but it was almost certain to be. The current campaign narrative sort of required that response: they beat up on him for a week, then presented him the opportunity to redeem himself. Because Barack Obama is a brilliant writer, he did a good part of their work for him. Of course, the speech was, in this narrative, supposed to make everyone forget that he has a "nutty pastor." What Obama was trying to do with it was a little different, but that doesn't matter. As you can see in the Slate headline roundup above, people are still talking about the nutty pastor. So, the conventional wisdom, at the moment: it was an awe-inspiring, wonderful, magical speech, but it won't "work." More »
let's talk about race
Obama's Race Speech!
Democratic Presidential candidate and man who Americans recently realized might be black Barack Obama had to deliver a speech today about his blackness, because the media discovered that his favorite preacher occasionally says controversial things. Obama, who is probably the best writer to run for president of the last century at least, gave a very good speech that was also far too long for cable news people to actually digest, but they are all trying, and it really impressed Candy Crowley and Joe Scarborough. Pat Buchanan, not so much. More »
Scandal!
Barack Obama's upcoming super-important campaign speech about race begins with plagiarism. The opening line, according to Drudge: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." Sharp-minded observers may recognize that from a little document called the Constitution.
Barack Obama's upcoming super-important campaign speech about race begins with plagiarism. The opening line, according to Drudge: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union." Sharp-minded observers may recognize that from a little document called the Constitution.
hope
Plagiarism Scandal Taints Dem Debate
Did you watch the Clinton/Obama debate last night? We didn't! But apparently it went like this: Hillary was all "Obama is a plagiarist hope you can Xerox lol" and the crowd sorta booed but the media decided it was the best zinger ever and Obama was ok but no zingers at all! And Hillary had a rousing and inspiring closing speech that she totally plagiarized from "Lonesome" John Edwards as the following YouTube clip clearly shows. More »
Media: Stay Away From Karl Rove's Prep School Speech
The press has been barred from covering Karl Rove's speech today at Choate, the chichi Connecticut prep school. Sort of like Rove was barred a few weeks ago from delivering the school's spring graduation address. "This is a special program, a school event, and we typically don't invite the media to a school event," a spokeswoman said. "It's our standard way of doing things." Well then!
The press has been barred from covering Karl Rove's speech today at Choate, the chichi Connecticut prep school. Sort of like Rove was barred a few weeks ago from delivering the school's spring graduation address. "This is a special program, a school event, and we typically don't invite the media to a school event," a spokeswoman said. "It's our standard way of doing things." Well then!
