Rhetoric In the Land of Doublespeak

He-Said-She-Said But Not Really: The Trouble With Speechwriting in Presidential Politics

by New York Zion

A few weeks ago, I was watching Governor Palin give her speech at the Republican National Convention. I thought the speech was shallow, crass and disturbing in the way that political speeches broadcasted by corporate media typically are, irrespective of partisan affiliation. But I was even more dismayed when I learned from the news correspondent that Palin did not write her own speech; she “delivered” the speech but is not primarily responsible in crafting it. She is not alone, however. Like most nationally prominent politicians, she now recites a speech drafted by others, who, while intending to sound like her, interweave carefully engineered, focus group tested rhetoric designed to express perfect phrasing, syntax, style and content for their messages.
Of course there is undeniable value in the processes of collaboration and editorial assistance. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an exceptional scholar and orator, received assistance with his speeches. It is the mark of any good leader to call upon the assistance and expertise of those at his/her side in order to further the group’s mission. There is a difference between receiving assistance with the crafting of one’s speech, however, and having others write it for you. Bradley Patterson Jr, in his book The White House Staff, notes that “the speechwriting director operates on a rule of exclusivity; for all the president’s spoken words, the speechwriters are the guardians of his style, his syntax, and his accuracy.” More troubling is the historic lack if not complete absence of communication between White House wordsmiths and the commander-in-chief, who will often review his speech for the first time just minutes before delivering it.
I believe that speechwriting as is practiced in the pantheon of modern politics, instead of bridging the gap between leadership and populous, effectively distances the orator from his/her intended audience and raises suspicions regarding the credibility and authenticity of candidates and elected officials. For example, Ms. Palin once made a reference to God in her speech. But was this remark made from sincere spiritual conviction or was it the shrewdness of Palin’s speechwriter(s) who endeavored to ensure that Palin did not alienate the southern evangelical contingent? With the outsourcing of words effected by the contemporary practice of political speechwriting, one just can’t tell.
The fact that our leaders do not off the tip of their pens, let alone tongues, articulate their heartfelt concerns in a way that is comprehensible to the general public is troubling. Is it really too much to ask that our president be adept at communicating his/her own thoughts and agenda in both oral and written form? There is intrinsic value in being able to communicate as directly as possible one’s own thoughts and intentions. In a genuine democracy, the people have a right to experience the truth of a candidate, a truth that should be communicated directly and not transmitted vicariously through the strategic engineering of speechwriters. We must be able to clearly perceive the genuineness, humanity and unique individuality of the personality in authority over us if our collective will is to confer upon them legitimate power. For transparency’s sake, we must, therefore, demand that those who aspire to lead us speak and write for themselves.
And so, I offer my final thoughts to the runners of this presidential race: Do us all a favor and sit this one out if you feel the need to have others craft your speeches. Get help if you need to. Have someone look it over. But please, draft your own. This country needs a real leader who does not need to be reminded of how important certain people and issues are to him/her. You need to stand on your own and prove to us that you know how to say what you mean. Otherwise, your persona is more that of an actor than head of state.

Jah Rises - Risen - Death Can Not Conquer I LOVE

We have gathered around the Table of the Lord to recall the love that God has shown us through the passion, death and resurrection of his Son. If we are unwilling to listen with the ears of our hearts to the words He speaks to us, let us at least look with the eyes of faith upon the one our sins have pierced. In a sermon, Leo the Great wrote, “How marvelous the power of the cross; how great beyond all telling the glory of the passion: here is the judgment-seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ crucified… let us then acknowledge what Saint Paul, the teacher of the nations, acknowledged so exultantly: This is a saying worthy of trust, worthy of complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. God’s compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful, and, though the divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, he took to himself, through his birth as one of us, something he could offer on our behalf… By dying he submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. “

Allow me to close with a few lines from Robert Browning’s Paracelsus:

I am a wanderer: I remember well

One journey, how I feared the track was missed,

So long the city I desired to reach

Lay hid; when suddenly its spires afar

Flashed through the circling clouds; you may conceive

My transport…

But I had seen the city and one such glance

No darkness could obscure…

TOO USED TO DEATH

14/03/2006
Too Used to Death
By Yona Bargur

Raad al-Batash, 8, Mahmoud al-Batash, 15, and a third boy, Ahmed a-Susi, were killed in an air force strike in the Gaza Strip on March 6 that had targeted two wanted Islamic Jihad members. The mother of one of the boys and another seven passers-by were injured in the attack.

My outcry is not directed at the commander of the air force, or the chief of staff, or even the defense minister, and certainly not the acting prime minister - all of them proponents of the targeting killings, which frequently go somewhat astray and hit innocent Palestinian passers-by. And thereafter, they softly utter an apology in the name of the surprise that the residents dared to walk around their neighborhoods and go shopping there.

My outcry is directed at my people, parents, sons and daughters, to the leaders of the parties - and also to the leaders of the Zionist left-wing - who are not pained by the pointless killing (as if there were purposeful killing) of boys and girls, in whose eyes fear is visible and for whom the alternative to the hell and killing and roadblocks is "Paradise Now."

Our political agenda should have changed, but talented journalists are investing their time and energy in uncovering new-old nests of corruption, and politicians and MKs are busy investigating the bandage on MK Effi Eitam's head and the cast on the arm of MK Aryeh Eldad. Dead children do not even make them blink before the television cameras. The demand to raise the minimum wage is a just and fitting demand, but inferior in comparison to the lives of children in Gaza that have been cut short. And even the announcement of so worthy and just an organization as Peace Now, to mark one year since the release of Attorney Talia Sassoon's report on illegal outposts, should have made way for an obituary for the children killed during IDF operations over the last few months.

Even the man who maintains we should be "strong against Hamas" should be able to find a little compassion in his heart for the children whose lives hang by a thread, or more accurately, by a shell fragment or by the gun sights of IDF snipers - for example, Udai Tantawi, 13, who was killed in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, and Mundal Abu Alia, 13, who was killed near his village adjacent to Ramallah, on the way to Kokhav Hashahar.

And do not say it is a necessary thing that can be denounced, for the sake of the state's security and for the sake of preserving the lives of our own children.

There is no necessity to kill the enemy's children in order to save our own children. There is no atonement and forgiveness granted because it is claimed that there was no intent - this, in contrast to their despicable terrorism. Our right to defend ourselves does not give us the right to take actions that do not meet the test of human and Jewish morality.

My outcry is that of a father trying to survive the last 10 years, since the fall of our son, and who does not find respite and does not find tranquillity in revenge operations, and cannot live in an environment that sanctifies killing and more killing, ours and theirs.

My outcry is not even a form of protest: it comes to tell the Jewish people how saddened I am to be part of the national killing machine; how much it hurts me to live with absence of my son and the presence of continued mutual bloodshed; how much I am not afraid to shed tears over the loss of children whose only sin is that they were from the second or third generation of a people that lives under continued occupation, without any hope of change; how disappointed I am with all of us, who are not climbing over the barricades in order to act as human shields for the children of Gaza, Nablus and Al-Bureij.

Cry beloved country for your fallen sons and for your people who have become used to death, and accept with equanimity the death of Raad al-Batash and Mahmoud al-Batash and other boys and girls under the age of 19, over 700 of their and our children, who were killed in the past five years.

The author is the father of Ziv, of blessed memory, and a member of the Bereaved Families Forum for Peace, Reconciliation and Tolerance.

The Peaceable Realm of the Kingdom of God

CPT Release: We Mourn the Loss of Tom Fox

10 March 2006

In grief we tremble before God who wraps us with compassion. The death of our beloved colleague and friend pierces us with pain. Tom Fox’s body was found in Baghdad yesterday.
Christian Peacemaker Teams extends our deep and heartfelt condolences to the family and community of Tom Fox, with whom we have traveled so closely in these days of crisis.
We mourn the loss of Tom Fox who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone.
We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember. Each of our teammates has responded to Jesus’ prophetic call to live out a nonviolent alternative to the cycle of violence and revenge.
In response to Tom’s passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done. In Tom’s own words:

"We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.”

Even as we grieve the loss of our beloved colleague, we stand in the light of his strong witness to the power of love and the courage of nonviolence. That light reveals the way out of fear and grief and war.

Through these days of crisis, Christian Peacemaker Teams has been surrounded and upheld by a great outpouring of compassion: messages of support, acts of mercy, prayers, and public actions offered by the most senior religious councils and by school children, by political leaders and by those organizing for justice and human rights, by friends in distant nations and by strangers near at hand. These words and actions sustain us. While one of our teammates is lost to us, the strength of this outpouring is not lost to God’s movement for just peace among all peoples.

At the forefront of that support are strong and courageous actions from Muslim brothers and sisters throughout the world for which we are profoundly grateful. Their graciousness inspires us to continue working for the day when Christians speak up as boldly for the human rights of thousands Iraqis still detained illegally by the United States and United Kingdom.
Such an outpouring of action for justice and peace would be a fitting memorial for Tom. Let us all join our voices on behalf of those who continue to suffer under occupation, whose loved ones have been killed or are missing. In so doing, we may hasten the day when both those who are wrongly detained and those who bear arms will return safely to their homes. In such a peace we will find solace for our grief.

Despite the tragedy of this day, we remain committed to put into practice these words of Jim Loney:

“With the waging of war, we will not comply. With the help of God’s grace, we will struggle for justice. With God’s abiding kindness, we will love even our enemies.”

We continue in hope for Jim, Harmeet and Norman’s safe return home safe.

Contact: Dr. Doug Pritchard, CPT Co-Director 416-423-5525 (Canada) and Rev. Carol Rose, CPT Co-Director Kryss Chupp, 773-277-0253 (USA)

Rest in Peace

"The best gift you can give a grieving person is your unconditional love and support. Don’t use clichés to comfort them. No words can heal a mourner’s grief. Just be present and show you truly care,” advises literature from the MISS Foundation (an organization which specifically helps families deal with the loss of a child.)

Asem, blessed passage. In the spirit of Zajel, fly away home.

JUSTICE FOR ALL or INJUSTICE FOR SOME?

US Campaign Helps Launch National Campaign against Anti-Palestinian Legislation
Take Action against HR4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON HR4681, THE PALESTINIAN ANTI-TERRORISM ACT OF 2006

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has learned that the House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday, Feb. 15 on S.Con.Res.79, which the Senate passed by unanimous consent on Feb. 1.

This concurrent resolution states that "no United States assistance should be provided directly to the Palestinian Authority if any representative political party holding a majority of parliamentary seats within the Palestinian Authority maintains a position calling for the destruction of Israel."

This resolution is of little importance and amounts to political grandstanding since the United States already prohibits direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in any case. Some Members of Congress, however, have gone much further than this and have used the result of the Palestinian legislative election as a pretext to advance their extreme anti-Palestinian agenda.

Of the several anti-Palestinian resolutions introduced by Members of Congress in the aftermath of the legislative election, the most far-reaching is H.R.4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006, introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on February 1. The central provision of this resolution would prohibit the United States from providing direct assistance to the PA unless the President certifies that it has fulfilled a long list of subjective and ambiguous conditions. Current law already prohibits the United States from providing direct assistance to the PA unless the President signs a national security waiver, and in fact the United States provides no direct assistance to the PA.

However, this resolution goes far beyond reiterating the current US ban on direct assistance to the PA; it also calls for many troubling provisions that would punish and isolate the Palestinian people for exercising their right to vote, including:

* Restricting humanitarian aid. Through its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel has de-developed the Palestinian economy by destroying infrastructure and agricultural lands; by inhibiting the development of internal trade through walls, checkpoints, roadblocks, closures, and curfews; and by preventing external trade through border closings. US humanitarian assistance, overseen by USAID and implemented by certified non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), is not only essential to preventing the complete collapse of the Palestinian economy under these difficult conditions imposed by Israel; it is also morally necessary since the United States supports these Israeli policies through $3 billion of direct military and economic assistance every year. Even though it contains a waiver for certain humanitarian aid categories, this resolution threatens US assistance to NGO’s in Palestinian territories by putting it in the same category as aid to the PA.

* Designating Palestinian territory as a “terrorist sanctuary”. Under the terms of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, this designation would trigger restrictions on US exports to Palestinian territories, effectively gutting the free trade agreement between the United States and the West Bank and Gaza Strip and further crippling the Palestinian economy.

* Prohibiting official Palestinian diplomacy or representation in the United States. Restricting Palestinian diplomacy in the United States would be counter-productive to efforts to promote dialogue and a just peace, further eroding the claim of the United States to be an “honest broker”. This resolution would deny visas to PA representatives; restrict the movement of Palestinian diplomats at the UN; and shut down the PLO information office in Washington.

* Targeting the UN for supporting Palestinian human rights. The Palestinians have been denied their human rights through Israeli dispossession and military occupation. The United Nations has voted by overwhelming majorities to create bodies like the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to advocate for the realization of unmet Palestinian human rights. This resolution seeks to defund these bodies by calling on the United States to withhold UN dues in proportion to the percentage of the UN budget that funds these bodies.

* Denying Palestinians the ability to receive assistance through international financial institutions. The World Bank has been working with the PA to rehabilitate the Gaza Strip since Israel’s unilateral “disengagement” from it in 2005. Funds are needed urgently to rebuild thousands of homes that Israel destroyed there. The reconstruction of the Gaza Strip could be in jeopardy if this bill is passed. It contains a provision instructing the United States, which has a controlling vote at the World Bank, to vote against such funding.

The United States says that it is committed to promoting democracy. If that is indeed the case, it is inappropriate for Members of Congress to advance legislation that would punish and isolate people through draconian economic and diplomatic measures when the result of an election is not to the liking of the United States.

That is why the following organizations—the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American Friends Service Committee, the Council for the National Interest, Global Exchange, Jewish Voice for Peace, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Partners for Peace, Pax Christi USA, Peace Action Wisconsin, Progressive Democrats of America, Tikkun, and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation—are joining together in a coordinated national campaign to oppose H.R.4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006.

SHADY CAT's

The US Campaign applauds the Church of England’s divestment vote on Caterpillar

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation applauds the Church of England’s overwhelming vote in favor of divesting its £2.2 million shares from bulldozer manufacturer Caterpillar. The vote, supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, sends a clear message to Caterpillar that profiting from human rights violations is not compatible with socially responsible business practice. The General Synod of the Church of England voted yesterday evening (February 6, 2006) “to disinvest from companies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc, until they change their policies". The Church Commissioners now need to enforce the Synod’s decision.Caterpillar has been singled out by the United Nations for complicity in human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In the past 5 years, Caterpillar has enabled the destruction of 4,170 Palestinian homes and the uprooting of more than one million olive trees. Caterpillar is also being used to build the Annexation Wall deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in its July 2004 Advisory Opinion. The parents of Rachel Corrie, 23-year old American peace activist who was crushed and murdered by an Israeli soldier driving a Caterpillar bulldozer, filed suit against Caterpillar in Washington District Court in March 2005 for wrongful death among other claims for relief. The case is currently pending appeal in the Ninth Circuit. Rachel Corrie’s murder will be commemorated in demonstrations nationally on March 16, 2006. In August 2005, the US Campaign adopted the CAT Campaign as a national priority. The goal of the CAT Campaign is to pressure Caterpillar, Inc. to cease its bulldozer sales to Israel until Israel comports with International humanitarian and human rights law. The US Campaign seeks to do so by coordinating a national grassroots, institutional, and legislative strategy. Mark Lance, Co-Chair of the US Campaign Steering Committee comments,

“As Israel implements an apartheid-like structure across Palestine, in blatant
violation of international law and with little regard for the human rights of
Palestinians, the US government continues to block meaningful international
pressure. In such a situation, only the committed actions of citizens and civil
society can move us toward justice. It is therefore heartening to see a major
religious institution take a brave step for justice by confronting oppression
with the powerful non-violent tool of divestment. This is a model to be followed
by all individuals and institutions of conscience."