Back on an earlier post Bud asked:
Did anyone see the Alvin Greene speech? I missed it but the accounts I’ve read suggest it was pretty disturbing.
This prompted me to go find the video for you. I first watched The State‘s version, which had a slightly better angle, but which did not offer the imbedding option (which is short-sighted, if you ask me, but hey, sometimes newspapers are short-sighted; ahem). So you’re getting the CNN version, and you’re grateful for it, aren’t you?
And yes, Bud. It is indeed disturbing.
Related Posts
The soul of the Democratic Party… that’s what I saw. More government, more government, more government.
Anyone who casts a vote for Greene should be ashamed of himself.
Why–he’s not that bad–just not slick–Demint, in the other hand is a darling of The Onion and Jon Stewart.
There will be a credible third party candidate–like Tom Clements for the Greens.
embed embed embed
@ Burl–he’s using his own “Brad Worthen[sic]” style sheet, much as The New Yorker uses “vender” and “insure” while the rest of us spell it “vendor” and “ensure”
AP fact-checked him, and he had some of his facts wrong (not that that seems to matter much these days). It was pretty bad form to reference his own “justice in the judicial system” problems.
How many voters will confuse Greene with Green?
Sari, Burl. I’ll tri to do better. I actually thought as I typed that, “Which one does Burl keep telling me is wrong?” but couldn’t remember. It’s just not easy to remember like Fliegerabwehrkanone. I lack a mnemonic for it.
About Mr. Greene’s performance… I was thinking as I watched, I’ve met a number of candidates — particularly for local offices — who seemed just as limited, just as socially awkward. (This is of course based on hundreds, if not thousands, of candidate interviews.) And of course, lots of politicos are poor speakers.
I think it’s just his bad luck to have WON the nomination the way he did, and therefore be subjected to this sort of scrutiny. I wouldn’t be Alvin Greene for anything.
You guys are so hung up on your distaste for DeMint that you can’t even be objective about Greene’s performance. He obviously didn’t write his speech and he obviously hadn’t practiced reading it. He is supposedly a USC graduate who is running for U.S. Senator. He is innocently ignorant. Those who want to sugarcoat his flaws are willfully ignorant.
Pretty bad. Awkward barely scratches the surface. Yet I can imagine someone with a comparable background to Greene with just a bit more command of the podium who could come across very well compared to the super slick and highly nauseating DeMint. Getting kicked out of the army and of course his arrest issue don’t help. But of course we’re talking about a man who is likely to lose by 50 points come November.
Doug, I think he actually did write his speech. No speech writer with any self-respect would have included that obviously self-serving nonsense about pre-trial intervention. My take on Greene is that he’s a bit smarter than he comes across in public speaking venues. I’ll give him some bit of credit for making it this far but I won’t vote for him. I’ll probably leave that contest alone come November.
@Brad–the commonly misspelled words that have to do with actively doing something are ensure, embed, effect–all “e”–you’re spelling with an accent, as my dad calls it.
@Doug–How are you so sure he didn’t write it?–he has a degree in Poli Sci, and while he is hardly a slick speaker, the speech didn’t drip with slick, either.
@Kathryn
Normally if you write something, you can read it. His delivery was that of someone who was handed a piece of paper and told “read this”.
He’s not making USC look very good if he’s an example of a Poli Sci graduate. Maybe we should ask Alvin to release his transcripts.
Part of me wants to see Greene just fade into the background. But another part of me would like to see DeMint accept a debate with him. Can you imagine an hour spent discussing foreign policy, energy policy, taxation, etc. with Mr. Greene?
I really have trouble believing this subject is even being seriously discussed. However, Mr. Greene seems to me to be less embarrassing to the Democratic Party than John Edwards, the VP candidate six years ago.