Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Greatest Political Speech Ever: Sweat's "Whiskey Speech"

Here's the famous "Whiskey Speech; then-Rep. N.S. "Soggy" Sweat Jr. delivered on April 4, 1952, at a banquet while the prohibition issue was before the Mississippi Legislature.

"My friends,

"I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey.

"If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

"But;

"If when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.

"This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise."

7 comments:

whistleblower said...

Since you decided to post the greatest political doublespeak speech ever; I thought this one may interest you. Besides the fact that it is another good example of doublespeak, it gives me a chance to post without negative commentary.

Quebec judge suggests pedophiles deserve to be hanged for abusing children


TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. ­ A Quebec court judge has suggested that pedophiles deserve to be hanged.

Judge Claude Pinard made the comments while sentencing a 20-year-old man last week to more than eight years in prison for distributing child pornography and luring young children over the Internet.

Police seized some 17,000 pictures and 530 videos when they arrested the man and an accomplice last April in Trois-Rivieres, midway between Quebec and Montreal.

Pinard said he was disgusted by the evidence presented in court, the Journal de Montreal reported in its Wednesday edition.

In handing down the sentence, the judge said that if the death penalty were ever reinstated in Canada he would support it being applied to those who abuse children as young as four and five-years-old.

He said their crimes are all the more sinister because of the psychological damage suffered by victims.

“I think these people, we should hang them high and low,” Pinard said.


According to the Journal, Pinard specified he doesn’t currently support the death penalty and that his comments didn’t apply to the case at hand.

The death penalty was abolished in Canada in 1976.

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