[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Words That Don't Work

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Words That Don't Work
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1221111665.shtml


   I'm about halfway through Dr. Frank Luntz's "Words That Work" which is
   now out in paperback. The subtitle says it all:

     It's not what you say.
     It's what people hear.

   This seems obvious enough to most of us, even if our inner adolescent
   still decries the seeming unfairness.
   So there stands Senator Obama, still trying to dig his way out of his
   "lipstick on a pig" remark that seemed targeted at Governor Palin.
   Does he apologize, sorry for carelessly offending? No. Does he make
   the usual liberal pseudo-apology, sorry if we were offended? No. He
   doesn't apologize at all. He doesn't even correct David Letterman's
   audience who clearly took it as a shot at Palin, twice. He tells us
   it's our problem, that we allowed the McCain campaign and the media
   (!) to goad us into mis-interpretion and over-reaction.
   Like Jesus explaining a parable, Obama says Governor Palin wasn't the
   pig, she was the lipstick.

     "Keep in mind, technically, had I meant it this way, [Palin] would
     be the lipstick. The failed policies of John McCain would be the
     pig, just following the logic of this illogical situation."
       -- Barack Obama on The David Letterman Show 10-Sep-2008

   Did you follow that? That would have been his explanation, only he had
   a better one, that

     "Just calling [ideas] change, calling them different doesn't make
     it better, hence lipstick on a pig."   [ibid]

   But that explanation only came out after he first tried to dismiss it
   as manufactured hype, that if anything, he is the victim. At no point,
   even now, does he admit that maybe he might be even partially to
   blame. Instead, he (again) demands that we give him every possible
   benefit of any doubt, including absolution of any thought of a
   personal attack on Gov. Palin. To that I say: mucaca!.
   Barack Obama ... when he's ... not ... reading from a, ah ... a
   TelePrompter, ... he ... he measures ... every, ah, word. Those
   annoying pauses allow him to listen to himself almost word by word,
   catching most mistakes, correcting them immediately. He knows exactly
   what he's saying. He didn't correct himself in this case at all.
   Worse, he followed it with another metaphor about rotting fish. How
   could a such a gifted politician and accomplished thinker not realize
   what could happen and pick any of a hundred other canards? Whatever
   the explanation, none of this is Presidential.
   Compare this with Senator Joe Biden's latest gaffe, asking a local
   dignitary to stand up before realizing he was in a wheelchair.

     Chuck Graham, State Senator is here. Stand up Chuck, let'm see you.
     Oh - God love you, what am I talking about? I tell you what, you're
     making everyone else stand up, though, pal. I tell you what, stand
     up for Chuck!

   Biden has been fairly well ridiculed for this, but I think it was an
   honest mistake and a great recovery. The crowd forgave, applauded
   their approval, and yes, stood up for Chuck. It was a gaffe for all of
   two seconds, ending as a human, endearing moment.
   Obama earlier reminded us that words mean things, quoting some well
   known phrases like "I have a dream." What he doesn't seem to
   understand is that while delivery is immportant, it is how they are
   received that makes such phrases part of history. Great words don't
   require the speaker to tell us what they meant.