Next Tuesday, Sept. 8, speaking at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. President Obama will address the youth of America during a live television broadcast urging them to stay in school. Some school districts, bowing to parent pressure, have decided not to show the speech during school. [more inside]
posted by Secret Life of Gravy on Sep 4, 2009 - 588 comments

"Of great concern to me, during those same four days in Denver, they rarely mentioned the attacks of September 11, 2001."
posted by swift on Sep 5, 2008 - 151 comments

I think its time that we joined a serious debate about how to reconcile faith with our modern pluralistic society. Obama on religion and politics. (SLnonYTP)
posted by allkindsoftime on Feb 10, 2008 - 142 comments

We Are Not Freaks --from Silber's Power of Narrative--and applicable to all who fall outside the norms.
posted by amberglow on Feb 17, 2007 - 31 comments

If last night's speech didn't satisfy your thirst for politicians in front of audiences, head over the the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics, where the video archives of every taped JFK Jr. Forum are now available for free. Hours of fun reflecting on past mistakes with Robert McNamara, worrying about WMDs with William Perry, thinking about peace with Shimon Peres or giggling with Jon Stewart. Delve into the past, watching John Perry Barlow talking about the internet and elections in 1996, or compare Bill Clinton before and after. George W. Bush hasn't spoken there, but both his parents have, as well as a 2008 hopeful or two. (all embedded realvideo).
posted by allan on Feb 1, 2006 - 6 comments

Internets: Serious Business! These last few months have seen an increase in the attacks on the participatory culture of the web. The mainstream establishments, both political and corporate, have been looking with a cautious eye towards this new developing place. So far we've established that blogs can get you fired, keep you from getting a job, give pedophiles a place to ruminate on snatching your children, threaten journalistic integrity *snicker*, endanger the marketing , product planning, and product life cycles for automobile manufacturers, can infect your computer with virii, and have all sorts of negative consequences. The internets (both of them) can cause your children to be charmed, seduced, and addicted by readily available porn, and can also provide access to extremist radical and fundamentalist groups, prompting Congress to discuss more restrictive legislation (NSFW), but only for the porn. It has even been claimed that the web has given "Al Qaeda wings". P2P is blamed as causing record loses by the music industry, despite their investments in local station marketing payola. The FEC has held public hearings attended by both hemispheres of the blogosphere (amazingly in near-agreement) discussing the regulation of political speech online. The figureheads of a certain political party fear that their affiliated slice of the blogosphere may be too far-left. Newspapers and TV are leading the charge, with the internet standing in for pharmaceutical scares, yo-yo diets, and missing white women. The question is, how will the libertarian-minded digerati respond to this very real attack on the essence of web culture?
posted by rzklkng on Jul 29, 2005 - 34 comments

Address by Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Gay Marriage. Taking the bull by the horns, Mr. Martin speaks to the House of Commons regarding Bill C-38, The Civil Marriage Act:

"This question does not demand rhetoric. It demands clarity. There are only two legitimate answers – yes or no. Not the demagoguery we have heard, not the dodging, the flawed reasoning, the false options. Just yes or no."

One of the finest speeches from a Canadian politician in memory, and an important read for Canadians and Americans alike.
posted by Jairus on Feb 17, 2005 - 168 comments

Q: Is George Bush being quietly coached while he's speaking in public? There's a weird moment during the debate (one of many) when George Bush says "let me finish" but wasn't being interrrupted. Indymedia has a post on it too, including an mp3 of the moment. So, is Bush being coached, even during the debates, and more to the point, how did he lose when he was being fed what to say?
posted by amberglow on Oct 2, 2004 - 130 comments

Remarks by Al Gore. Long, but worth it.
posted by mosch on May 26, 2004 - 93 comments

Dean is out of cash. Somehow he blew through $40 million and still managed to leave the first Super Tuesday without a first or second place finish, anywhere. No mistake about his Meet the Press interview, though, which was felt as an incredibly strong and persuasive performance. It's obvious that Dean overestimated his grass-roots support, which has currently dried up, but the amount of publicity he has generated is surely a huge advantage. Two options come to mind: blow out the Washington Insiders (as he alluded to in his latest interview), or become more of a traditional candidate.
posted by BlueTrain on Feb 4, 2004 - 72 comments

What George W.'s speech could have been but wasn't - from adbusters.org
posted by stevengarrity on Dec 2, 2001 - 23 comments

White House Reprimands Bill Maher... Remarking on Bill Maher's recent (and ill-timed) comments, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said "Americans ... need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.''

Mr Fleischer: there's never a time for a comment like that from the White House.
posted by silusGROK on Sep 26, 2001 - 69 comments