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Politicians as speakers - Best/Worst?

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Surly

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It would be safe to assume that senior politicians come from a background of public speaking with perhaps some participation in debating or presenting information prior to any rise to fame.

JuLIAR was a lawyer
Rudd won an award for public speaking as a teenager
Abbott was a former journalist and press secretary
Howard was another early lawyer.

Why is it that they all interview extremely poorly, even apart from the obvious politician's trick of never answering the quesiton asked but answering the imagined question to give the spin you want?

I cringe every time I see Juliar or Abbott interviewed and wanted to break the television watching Juliar being interviewed by Oakes.

Who comes to mind as a particularly good or badly presenting senior Aussie politician?

cheers
Surly
 
Gough Whitlam legendary. Fred Daly from that era. Close on their heels Peter Costello. Keating very good as well. Bob Hawke was right up there. Rudd soporific. Gillard from time to time, when she relaxes and doesn't succumb to the scripted school lecture. Christopher Pyne is an excellent speaker.
 
Best = keating
Worst = Jooliar

I would have liked to see how Costello would have fared as opposition leader vs Rudd and Jooliar.

CANNOT stand anthony Albanese
 
The best speaker I've ever seen none of you would ever of heard of, it was in a smokey cigar room of a central London restaurant at a meeting of Orange Bookers... I wanted to don a balaclava and abseil into 10 Downing Street and personally slit Gordon Brown's throat that very instant. :p:
 
wayneL said:
The best speaker I've ever seen none of you would ever of heard of, it was in a smokey cigar room of a central London restaurant at a meeting of Orange Bookers... I wanted to don a balaclava and abseil into 10 Downing Street and personally slit Gordon Brown's throat that very instant. :p:
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Mind you, every time I heard Gordon Brown speak I wanted to don a balaclava and abseil into 10 Downing Street and personally slit his throat that very instant.

Maybe he was the best speaker? :confused::confused:
 
So you were at a Liberal Democrat function and they convinced you to nearly become a Ninja?
 
Logique said:
Gough Whitlam legendary. Fred Daly from that era. Close on their heels Peter Costello. Keating very good as well. Bob Hawke was right up there. Rudd soporific. Gillard from time to time, when she relaxes and doesn't succumb to the scripted school lecture. Christopher Pyne is an excellent speaker.
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I wasn't here in the Whitlam era. Not sure that Keating is actually a good speaker, it's more his sharp and cutting wit, though this seems to have gone off a bit.
Agree about Christopher Pyne: he's very articulate, doesn't stumble and speaks with conviction.
Scott Morrison is the same - really capable.


medicowallet said:
B
I would have liked to see how Costello would have fared as opposition leader vs Rudd and Jooliar.

CANNOT stand anthony Albanese
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Costello would have been very good imo. He had the same capacity for a sharp phrase as Keating.
So agree about Albanese - his nasal whine is hideous and the content of his remarks vacuuous.
 
Joe Ludwig is a git, arrogant and condescending. Especially in interviews that don't go his way.
 
Pre-leadership days, I recall Tony Abbott being censured by the Speaker in Question Time for moving that "..this snivelling grub [Albanese] be no longer heard..".

I have nothing against Albanese, other than that he is of the NSW Left.
 
Gringotts Bank said:
Mi5 would scan for phrases like that Wayne... even if done in jest, as i'm sure it was.
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Actually, it would be GCHQ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCHQ. I lived not 200m from their headquarters in Cheltenham and was active on the Internet and in politics there.

I'm sure I'm already known to them... and I'm sure they have worked out that I'm no threat to inhabitants of 10 Downing Street from my cave on the east coast of NZ. ;)
 
Now that a few more names have been thrown in I would put Joe Hockey as the most "normal" of the politicians I have seen interviewed. I heard him speak a few times when he was selling the Financial Services reforms. He was also comfortable actually answering questions with real answers not the spin and dribble we have seen of late.

Bob Hawke was a passionate speaker and even if you didn't believe the message at least you believed he did.

Keating was incisive and witty but I am not sure he was believable or created trust.

Have We had anyone give a speech here that would rate anywhere near JFK's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech?

cheers
Surly
 
Surly said:
...Have We had anyone give a speech here that would rate anywhere near JFK's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech? cheers, Surly
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"..not because it is easy, but because it is hard..". Agreed, a great speech.
 
Knobby22 said:
I always thought Amanda Vanstone was a great speaker.
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She certainly spoke with conviction, some would say just stubbornness.
Best thing about Amanda was that she really loved dogs.
(sorry:))
 
So Cynical these just confirm my thoughts. I am sure Keating would of handled hecklers brilliantly were he to have been a stand up comedian. I don't see in these or remember him being particularly creative or inspiring beyond putting the opposition down.

cheers
Surly
 
Surly said:
So Cynical these just confirm my thoughts. I am sure Keating would of handled hecklers brilliantly were he to have been a stand up comedian. I don't see in these or remember him being particularly creative or inspiring beyond putting the opposition down.

cheers
Surly
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Oh com on...Keating did it with brilliance and flair, wit and intelligence.

"This is the one that brings home the Bacon"

"This is the recession Australia had to Have"

"This is one for the true believers"

What did Howard ever say...or 1 vote Tony?
 
So_Cynical said:
Oh com on...Keating did it with brilliance and flair, wit and intelligence.

"This is the one that brings home the Bacon"

"This is the recession Australia had to Have"

"This is one for the true believers"

What did Howard ever say...or 1 vote Tony?
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Keating was witty and incisive as already agreed. I will also concede he mastered glib catch phrases that made good headlines. The recession we had to have would of had very little personal effect on one PK.

I am not interested in the politics of it, rather their skills as orator. I don't believe Abbott is a good speaker either. Howard wasn't great but certainly better than Abbott or Gillard. Question time is a joke and a boys club. I prefer to see their skills in public or in the hands of a skilled interviewer.

cheers
Surly
 
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