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It is a common understanding that few persons pass through this life without being forced to take a position on a controversial question. There is an art to Diplomacy and no greater place is this skill exercised than from the pulpit of politicians. Diplomacy in answering questions is a skill we can all use and let us freely acquire this skill from those paid experts of diplomacy! Some such questions are in the "Have you stopped beating your wife?" category or "Would you rather smoke cigars or cigarettes?" These entrapment type questions often require some fancy footwork to escape unscathed. The zenith of this art was reached by a Mississippi State Senator in 1958 when he addressed the Legislature thus: "You have asked me how I feel about whisky. All right, here is just how I stand on this question: "If when you say whisky, you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge; the bloody monster that defiles innocence, 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 pinnacles of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation and despair, shame and helplessness and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it with all of my power… " …"But, if when you say whisky, you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the stuff 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 holiday cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentlemen's step on a frosty morning; if you mean the drink that enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies and heartbreaks 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 infirmed, to build highways, hospitals and schools, then certainly I am in favor of it." "This is my stand. I will not retreat from it; I will not compromise." Contact author at: |
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www.ticktalk.net |
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The Art of Diplomacy |
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TIME PIECES |
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