This reaction to the speech sums it up well:

[bluestateguy]

"The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States."

Oh, silly me, that's the reaction of the Chicago Times to the Gettysburg Address.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_address#Contemporary_sources_and_reaction

[treestar]

1. That's for real?

OH man! 1860s pundit FAIL!

:rofl:

Olberman's great great granddaddy? :rofl:

[JuniperLea]

2. Well played!

:thumbsup:

[CTyankee]

3. I was wondering if there had been any research done on presidential addresses

in our past history. I had read that the Gettysburg Address had not been well received by people who thought it was too short but this just goes to show that ya never know what history's verdict will be...

I hope you will forward that quote to all the morning shows, including MSNBC's...

[damntexdem]

10. Yeah, most were 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.

Sorry, but I hadda say it. ;-)

[Spazito]

4. Well done, well done indeed!

:thumbsup:

[Oregone]

5. To be fair, the Chicago Times was primarily owned by the Herrinton family whose...

13 year old son, Dillard, was falsely blamed by a young Lincoln for chopping down a certain cherry tree.

You can look it up

[xultar]

6. BRA-FUCKING-VO KICK ASS POST!!!

You fucking rock.

[tridim]

7. I'm willing to bet JFK's Moon speech was trashed too

What really bothers me about last night is that EVERY SINGLE PUNDIT was guilty, even the good ones. They should be ashamed, and IMO they should apologize to their viewers for getting it so wrong.

[xultar]

8. Keith and Rachel went off the fucking deep holding hands.

I was shocked.

[damntexdem]

11. Well, after a moon speech, one should turn the other cheek.

;-)

(That's also my advice on a speech on 'Left Behind.')

[pinboy3niner]

16. I'm Right Behind you :) nt

[damntexdem]

9. As to Obama's speech last night, I was underwhelmed.

But it did play well on a human level, vis a vis those suffering on the Gulf.

But a rec for the Gettysburg post -- wish I could give it four score and seven.

[Mushroom]

12. I read it when I lose heart

Gettysburg Address

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

[GeorgeGist]

13. And you point would be?

Zero; except for the sillies who don't recognize a non sequitur until it's pointed out to them.

[Berry Cool]

14. The Gettysburg Address was ripped to shreds by Democratic-run newspapers

who, as knee-jerk organs for the party, could not possibly praise a speech given by a Republican.

That's a far cry from a couple of real journalists speaking their minds.

[RoyGBiv]

17. It was panned by Republicans too ...

The so-called Radicals hated it, mostly because it, in their view, implied respect for the Confederates who died there as well.

More specifically they were upset he didn't actively condemn them.

[TheKentuckian]

20. They were probably right, the south should have been utterly broken

and their "culture" eradicated. We still suffer with their bullshit to this day.

They should have been treated as traitors and placed under black and Native leadership rather than reconciled.

Flying their colors should have been a capital offense and monuments banned.

Pussyfooting with the rebels was a bad idea.

[cwydro]

15. K and R

Well done!

[Minimus]

18. Yes... it was well done

I like how the OP pointed out that the Gettysburg Address was panned by critics much like Obama's speech was disparaged by some pundits. It is good to know that you are not in line with those admonishing the President's address to the nation concerning the oil catastrophe in the gulf.

[Luminous Animal]

19. You convinced me. 150 years from now, Obama's BP speech will stand with

the Gettysburg Address as one of the bestest Presidential speeches evah!