Extracting quotes to illustrate your point in public speaking can be fun, meaningful, and illustrative of the larger goal of swaying the public to come around to your point of view. Last week on Channel 2, one of KC's more interesting soap operas, the Mayor, purportedly a man with an auditor's background, chose to use much of his time quoting historical figures rather than proposing his own version of the budget. The Mayor, who new slogan appears to be Smart with the Quote, missed another opportunity to show leadership, instead continuing a long-standing feud between the Mayor, the City Manager, and the Council. One notes that the City Manager, and not the Mayor, graced the cover of one mag this month as KC's Man of the Year. Whether or not that award was truly deserved we'll leave for another day. We also note the Council is composed of 13 members of which the Mayor is but one. Hard to win that battle, so that leaves the Court of Public Opinion. Which, one can only surmise, is the rationale behind the quotes.
Today, as Americans celebrate sound bites about Presidents we thought it good time to offer other quotes that our esteemed Mayor might have used in last week's letter to the council.Funkhouser:
"As we approached this budget season I thought of Sir Winston Churchill who said, 'We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Give us the tools and we will finish the job.'"More appropriately, Funkhouser might have offered this Churchillian tidbit, "But whenever I feel this way I always remember that if, instead of making a political speech, I was being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."
...or even this, "Eating words has never given me indigestion."
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Funkhouser:
"Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of my heroes, Abraham Lincoln. He said I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
Funkhouser might also have quoted this bit of honesty from Lincoln, "I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."
...or taken this jewel of Lincoln wisdom, "Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed."
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Funkhouser:
"Albert Einstein said, In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”What Funkhouser might have quoted from Einstein, "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
...or better yet? "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."
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Perhaps you have your own quote that you think might be more appropriate, but we're imagining that if Councilwomen Circo or Marcuson were to start quoting the likes of Dorothy Parker during Legislative sessions the ratings for Channel 2 would really start to climb.
Sources.
churchill quotes
einstein quotes
lincoln quotes