Cal, Not Being Silent
Ursula Hennessey ·
Oct 20, 2010 at 5:52am
Not sure if this has been posted here before, but I came across it at the Cato Institute website along with this article by Daniel J. Mitchell.
There's lots to love about this video. For starters, it's apparently the first film (with sound) of an American president. However, I also love the way Coolidge shuffles the papers as he speaks. I love the way he walks off at the end. No fanfare. No concern for image. Only the words. And, oh, the words ...
P.S. If you are short on time, fast forward to the 2:00 mark.
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Aug '10
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
Unbelievable. He says the "...total expenditures of all the governments is the staggering sum of seven billion five-hundred-million dollars, of which [inaudible] goes to the national government, with the remainder to the state governments. Such a sum is difficult to comprehend [no kidding! that's all?!] , and amounts to a little more than $300 annually for every family in America...."
Holy Mother of God! How did we ever get so far off the rails? And how did we ever allow Calvin Coolidge to become an object of ridicule? That's a rhetorical question, of course. Franklin Roosevelt and his minions - with the aid of Herbert Hoover's grotesque mismanagement - 'reeducated' us all.
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
River: Unbelievable. He says the "...total expenditures of all the governments is the staggering sum of seven billion five-hundred-million dollars, of which [inaudible] goes to the national government, with the remainder to the state governments. Such a sum is difficult to comprehend [no kidding! that's all?!] , and amounts to a little more than $300 annually for every family in America...."
Holy Mother of God! How did we ever get so far off the rails? And how did we ever allow Calvin Coolidge to become an object of ridicule? That's a rhetorical question, of course. Franklin Roosevelt and his minions - with the aid of Herbert Hoover's grotesque mismanagement - 'reeducated' us all. · Oct 20 at 6:31am
Cal must be doing triple axels in his grave!
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
I love it. Interesting how that same message can be delivered with sunny California optimism (Reagan) or with flinty New England resolve (Cal). I'll take it either way, but it makes me wonder who will lead conservatives in 2012. Mitch Daniels strikes me as the flinty Coolidge type versus, say, a Huckabee.
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
I love the message, but like you, Ursula, I was struck by his mannerisms too -- and the fact that he was reading from his papers. It made me wonder if he wrote the speech himself. My sense is that he did.
Aug '10
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
Mitch better put down the VAT talk and slowly back away if he wants my support...
Jul '10
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
Cal's Telepaper is smarter than Obama's Teleprompter.
Jun '10
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
Just found this link at the Cato Institute...
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3015
Coolidge supported Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon who reduced the tax rates at the time (very high btw!) by saying: "the wise and correct course to follow in taxation and all other economic legislation is not to destroy those who have already secured success but to create conditions under which every one will have a better chance to be successful."
My sophisticated response... duh!
Sep '10
Re: Cal, Not Being Silent
BTW I ran the CPI calculation and 7.5B USD in 1924 is about 94B USD in 2009.
If I am not mistaken our deficit (not including lots of money left off the books) is about 1.3 Trillion.