Dan Rather came to speak at my school today/ Tsunami Discussion

[Mass_Liberal]

Well, surprisingly, he's crap at public speaking! He was talking abut Tsunami relief, and the content of what he said was good, but he got so sidetracked. He physically could not stop himself from saying with each statement, "Which is to say..." or "if you will", and after every single statement he said, "I don't speak for everybody but my opinion is....". Its like his role as a newsman forcibly restrained him from stating an opinion of his own without a lengthy disclaimer at the end.


Anyhoo, he made the point that effective relief towards victims of the Tsunami goes through private organizations. He refused to give names, of course, but I think he meant organizations like Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and stuff. But he made the good point that the problem that governments that contribute to Tsunami relief face a lack of surety that their money will get spent in the actual relief effort. After all, several of the countries effected, like Indonesia and India have corruption problems. Rather said, quite reasonably I think, that he is worried that so much money will get skimmed off the top by corrupt bureaucrats that very little will get to those in need.

He then told some heartbreaking stories of his experience in the area, and after that got sidetracked about how animals can sense natural disasters, but that's not important.


Just thought I'd tell ya bout it.


Dave.

[bloodyjack]

1. Kicking an interesting post

[Lavender Brown]

2. Very interesting

Thanks for sharing. I think he's a good journalist but I'm not surprised to hear he's not all that articulate, given his history of "Ratherisms." :D

[Mass_Liberal]

3. ?

What's a ratherism?

[Lavender Brown]

4. Oh

The funny things he tends to say when he's talking spontaneously instead of being scripted... there have been some doozies.

Edit:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/b/a/128009.htm