How to Handle Yourself at a Candidate Forum

My wife and I attend many candidate forums and sometimes we want to scream. It's not that we disagree that much with what the candidates are saying, since in MoCo the answers on the issues are pretty much the same. But sometimes candidates seem to not know anything about how to act.

First and foremost, speak loudly. over and over, including at tonight's Board of Ed forum, some candidates speak so quietly that most people can't hear them. They might as well not be there.

Next, learn how to handle a microphone. You wouldn't believe how many candidates move their heads to look in different directions while keeping the microphone in the same place, away from their mouths. A related problem is candidates who move their hands when talking, including moving the microphone all over, everywhere except where their mouths are.

And how many candidates have you heard who seem to be bored, speaking in monotones. If they're excited about asking for our votes, why don't they demonstrate that by speaking excitedly to us?

Another issue involves body language. Some candidates seem to think that when they're not speaking no one can see them. They look all around, seem to be sleeping, putting their hands all over their faces. We can see all this and it doesn't make us want to have you as our enthusiastic representative.

And then there are the moderators. The first rule for moderators is STOP talking. Too often the moderators talk endlessly about how many seconds each candidates will have to speak. We don't care. Tell the candidates before the forum. And don't try to be funny or impose you opinions. We're there to hear the candidates. Say "Welcome to this candidate forum" and then immediately ask the candidates to give their opening statements. And keep track of who is to be called on, so you're not saying, "Who are we up to?" That just makes you look lazy.

Candidate forums can be interesting, but the candidates and moderators have to help make them so.
 

Lincoln's Cooper Union Speech

On this day, February 27, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in a New York City hall known as Cooper Union. (It still stands and looks pretty much as it did 156 years ago.) That may not sound like much, but most historians consider it the key event that led to his election as U.S. President.

Until the Cooper Union address, Lincoln was known, if known at all, as a minor Republican politician from Illinois who had very little success. The last time he had held elective office was 11 years earlier as an undistinguished one-term Congressman.

In the Cooper Union address, Lincoln showed his genius for research and speech-making. As Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer has written:

"...Abraham Lincoln did triumph in New York. He delivered a learned, witty, and exquisitely reasoned address that electrified his elite audience and, more important, reverberated in newspapers and pamphlets alike until it reached tens of thousands of Republican voters across the North. He had arrived at Cooper Union a politician with more defeats than victories, but he departed politically reborn...
At the Cooper Union, Lincoln became more than a regional curiosity. He became a national leader."

One Good Thing About Donald Trump

Despite his many, many faults -- let me add more "many's -- there is one thing for which we owe him thanks. He is the first  Republican to say (and many Democrats were afraid to say it too) clearly and loudly that the saying "George W. Bush kept us safe" is absolutely false.

Bush defenders say the attacks on America on 9/11/2001 were not Bush's fault, that no one could have predicted them and taken action to stop them. That is an absolute lie, as proven by the statements of Bush's own appointees. 

Condoleeza Rice, Bush's National Security Advisor in 2001, testified to Congress that about a month before the 9/11 attacks, President Bush received a memo titled, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." His response? "All right. You've covered your ass now." 

Then President Bush did absolutely nothing. He didn't ask our security agencies to redouble their efforts to stop Bin Laden. He didn't direct our military to go after Bin Laden immediately. He did nothing, and the attacks came.

After the attacks how did he "make us safe"? He pushed us into attacking Iraq, which had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. That war resulted in more than 4,000 American deaths, led to expansion of power for Iran with no benefits for the U.S., and Bush's policies in that war led to the creation of ISIS which threatens us so much now.


Did Bush "keep us safe"? No, he allowed us to be attacked and then took actions that cause us to be extremely unsafe today.

Testimony on Bill to Repeal and Replace the Maryland State Song

Today I testified in Annapolis at the State Senate Committee on Education, Health, and Environment, sitting next to State Senator Cheryl Kagan who is sponsoring SB 222. 

Senator Kagan did a terrific job explaining why we should repeal our current state song because it glorifies the Confederacy, and I tried to help her with the results of my research on all state songs. I pointed out that our state is the only one that has a song that calls our people cowards for failing to join the Confederacy, cheers for those who murdered U.S. soldiers, and has outlived it usefulness. 

Senators on the Maryland Senate Education, Health, and Environment Committee seemed to be sympathetic to getting rid of the state song in its current form. The only question was whether to merely change the words or completely eliminate the melody and lyrics of the state song and hold a contest for a new one. Hopefully, negotiations will continue and we'll have a good result.