by Roseanne Iurilli, a 19 year old MCC college student
This past Sunday, October 10th, 2010, there was a political debate between incumbent Congressman Frank Pallone and Congressional Candidate Anna Little. This was the first time that I had heard Congressman Pallone speak, and frankly I was shocked at how poorly he spoke. Mr. Pallone has been a member of Congress for twenty-two years, and yet I saw better speakers in the Intro to Public Speaking class that I took at Middlesex County College. In this critique, I cover a few of the main points in a public speaking curriculum.
1. Eye Contact
One of the first things that they teach you in a public speaking class is to look your audience in the eye. At no point did Mr. Pallone look his audience straight in the eye. He talked with head tilted slightly back so that he was looking down his nose like Pinocchio.Mrs. Little looked her audience straight in the eye, and she turned her head to each side in order to address her entire audience.
2. Movement and Posture
Another key thing in public speaking: movement. Movement is allowed if you are in a lecture setting, standing at the front of an audience with a portable microphone. In such a case it is okay to walk around the stage a little. However, this was not the setting of Sunday’s debate. Mr. Pallone and Mrs. Little were sitting behind a table; in such a setting, it is best to sit straight and still. Mrs. Little did a very good job with this, she sat still, her hands for the most part stayed folded on her lap except when she was writing notes on the paper in front of her. Mr. Pallone was forever moving around, he kept leaning back in his chair, then leaning forward, and then leaning back again. Also, he had his hands on the table one second, on this lap the next, and then back to the table. At one point during the speech, he was even rubbing his thighs under the table.
3. Vocal Delivery
Perhaps the most important thing that they teach you in a public speaking class is vocal delivery; Projection, Enunciation, and Articulation.
a) Projection
Whether you are using a microphone or not, it is important to know how to project. When using a microphone, it is important to know how far away to hold the microphone and how loudly to speak into it. Throughout the speech Mr. Pallonelooked like he was fighting with the microphone; he kept clipping and unclippingit from his tie, holding it up to his mouth and then far away, and was told several times by the audience that they couldn’t hear him. Mrs. Little held the microphone for her opening statement (and after determining the pickup capability of the microphone), clipped the microphone to her lapel and left it there throughout the remainder of the night, and she kept her voice at an even understandable level.
b) Enunciation and Articulation
Speaking clearly and fluently is very important in public speaking. Mr. Pallone did not articulate very well, and he mumbled many times throughout the debate. He also had an ‘umm’ in almost every sentence, and stumbled over his words multiples times. Mrs. Little articulated very well, she did not ‘umm’ in any of her speaking, and she only stumbled over her words once.
To summarize, in this debate we had a twenty-two year Congressional incumbent debating a woman who had been a mayor and freeholder for only ten. When you put these two speakers side by side, the difference in their speech mannerisms is amazing. Even if you were to ignore the content of the speeches, and merely focus on the delivery, Mrs. Anna Little would have won this debate hands down. Mr. Pallonewould not even have been able to pass an Intro to Public Speaking class at a community college with the speech skills that he possesses.
((HIGHLANDS, October 22) – Republican Congressional challenger Anna Little – responding to the release of New Jersey’s unemployment figures for the month of September, showing that the state lost another 20,200 jobs, and the unemployment rate dipped two-tenths of a percent because so many working-age residents gave up on finding work and decided to leave the labor force – today asked her opponent, 22-year incumbent Frank Pallone, a simple question: “Where are the jobs?
“Mr. Pallone, today I have just one simple question for you,” said Little. “Where are the jobs?!
“Today’s unemployment figures continue the disturbing trend we’ve seen over the last 20 months – New Jersey continues to lose jobs,” said Little. “In the month of September, New Jersey lost ANOTHER 20,200 jobs.
“That’s the worst jobs report in 18 months,” continued Little. “Not since March of 2009 has a New Jersey jobs report been this bad.
“Since the official end of the recession in June 2009 – well more than a year ago – New Jersey has LOST 62,400 jobs. It’s a sad state of affairs when the government deems a recession officially ‘over,’ but we continue to lose jobs.
“Worse, the unemployment rate in September declined from 9.6 percent to 9.4 percent – not because more people found work, but because more working-age residents have been out of work so long that they GAVE UP on finding work, and removed themselves from the job market,” continued Little.
“That’s a sad, sad commentary on the failure of the Pelosi-Pallone strategy. And it’s not what Frank Pallone and Nancy Pelosi promised when they rammed through their massive trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ package – they promised, if you’ll recall, that unemployment wouldn’t go higher than 8 percent.
“The best thing the government can do is to lower tax rates and reduce regulation, and create an environment in which the entrepreneurs and job-creators in our nation will put their capital to work for all of us,” continued Little. “Instead, for the last 20 months we’ve gone in exactly the opposite direction. Nancy Pelosi and Frank Pallone have made clear their determination to raise taxes on the job-creating class, and have made clear their determination to keep borrowing money to pay for more failed ‘stimulus’ programs.
“It’s time for a change in direction.
“Remember, you cannot change Washington without changing the people we send to Washington!”
Frank Pallone will be honored with Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey’s Leadership Award on Sunday evening as the organization celebrates in 75th Anniversary.
Earlier this week I ridiculed Pallone for pulling out of the Monmouth County Medical Society’s Health Care Forum and Planned Parenthood for teaching teens about pulling out as a method of contraception. In that post I admitted that I really didn’t know much about Planned Parenthood and just assumed it was a place where people went to get cheap (subsidized) contraceptives and abortions.
Now that Planned Parenthood is on my radar, I am appalled to learn what an evil, and racist, organization they are.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I believe Planned Parenthood is a morally bankrupt institution, whose legacy of restricting what Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg described as “growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of” is written in the blood of tens of millions of black children who never had the chance to see the light of day.
Their denials to the contrary, the facts continue to indict their ongoing attempts to exterminate as many “undesirables”, as Planned Parenthood founder and eugenicist Margaret Sanger called them, as possible.
From the sting that revealed an all too eager willingness on the part of several Planned Parenthood clinics to accept a donation from a man who explicitly expressed that it be used to kill black babies, to the statistics that reveal black women account for over a third of all abortions, even though they are only 13 percent of the population, they have been caught red-handed – literally – in their gruesome task of carrying on Sanger’s “Negro Project.”
How the GOP was saved from Bush and the establishment.
Two central facts give shape to the historic 2010 election. The first is not understood by Republicans, and the second not admitted by Democrats.
The first: the tea party is not a “threat” to the Republican Party, the tea party saved the Republican Party. In a broad sense, the tea party rescued it from being the fat, unhappy, querulous creature it had become, a party that didn’t remember anymore why it existed, or what its historical purpose was. The tea party, with its energy and earnestness, restored the GOP to itself.
The Asbury Park Press’ recent editorial endorsement in the 12th Congressional District race correctly described the contest between 12-year incumbent Rep. Rush Holt and me as providing voters a stark choice between two very different candidates with different visions about the future direction of our country.
Beyond that, the editorial read more like one of Rush Holt’s negative campaign attacks against me – nasty in tone and short on facts. I thank the editorial board for allowing me the opportunity to respond and set the record straight.
First, I encourage everyone reading this to visit my website at www.supportscott2010.com and read my comprehensive “Blueprint for Renewal.” I am confident they will find it to be the most detailed and thoughtful series of position papers put forth by any congressional candidate in the country this year.
I set out to run a positive campaign of ideas and I am proud to have done just that.
Now, on to the specific issues:
The editorial board falsely accused me of opposing insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. This is a completely fabricated claim that has been promulgated by Holt. In fact, my website lays out a novel plan for large national insurance pools of “uninsureds,” grouped by medical specialty that would be subsidized by federal dollars.
The editorial board also parroted one of Holt’s misleading attacks against me regarding unemployment benefits, quoting a statement they claim was extracted from my campaign website. My campaign website has never had any reference whatsoever to unemployment benefits, another mistake that indicates a sloppy research effort by the Press or an excessive reliance on talking points distributed by Holt.
The truth is that while congressional Democrats have offered to extend benefits indefinitely and congressional Republicans have called for cutting them off immediately, I have discussed a sensible compromise that is both compassionate and fiscally responsible, while focusing on the critical task of rebuilding America’s economic engine.
The best social welfare net is a job. Holt has no plan to create private sector jobs; he is offering just more of the status quo.
The board’s most ridiculous attack against me was regarding partisan politics. The fact of the matter is Holt votes with his party nearly 99 percent of the time and believes any idea offered by a Democrat is good and any idea offered by Republican is bad. He’s part of the problem in Washington and has contributed mightily to the toxic environment there.
On the other hand, I have supported a reform Democrat for mayor in my hometown of Princeton against an entrenched political machine, and I took considerable flak during the Republican primary for my financial donations to Democrats with whom I agreed on certain issues. There is only one candidate in this race who has demonstrated a willingness to reach across the aisle to solve problems – and it is me.
Less than two weeks from today, voters will go to the polls to make a historic decision. I would like them to believe I am the candidate who can make America work again.
In the surest sign yet that Frank Pallone is losing to Anna Little, Phoney Palloney has hit the airwaves with a negative TV ad.
Contrary to the custom with political ads, Pallone’s announcement that he approves the message appears at the beginning of the spot. This makes it appear that Pallone approves the previous ad shown, i.e., Frank Pallone approving a Scott Sipprelle ad, approving BP’s public relations ads, and Phoney Palloney approving a sleep apnea relief ad.
Complete with scaring music, newspaper headlines and black and white photos, Pallone’s ad says that Little told the Star Ledger that social security and medicare are unconstitutional, that she would end regulations on all corporations, kill the department of education, deny insurance coverage to sick people, and end corporate income taxes while imposing a 23% national sales tax. “Read the papers, Tea Party Approved Anna Little is too extreme for us” is the ad’s tag line.
When Pallone made these charges during the debate at Temple Shalom last Sunday, the crowd laughed at him. The ad provoked laughter in the Gallagher household this morning.
Both the Monmouth University poll and the National Research poll of the NJ-6 race indicated that Little’s only weakness (and Pallone’s only hope for reelection) is her low name recognition outside of Monmouth County. Pallone’s ad helps Little. I hope he keeps running it.
If anyone finds a video of the ad, please send it here. I want to post it.
Pallone’s other pressing engagement was the Ocean Township Democratic Club’s Monthly Meeting. Congressman Frank Pallone refused to defend or explain the Health Care Reform Act that he helpped author this evening before the public and the Monmouth County Medical Society, opting instead to visit the Ocean Township Democratic Club’s monthly meeting.
Highlands Mayor Anna Little, Pallone’s opponent in the up coming election, addressed a crowd of approximately 200 at the Oyster Point Hotel in Red Bank and an additional 500 residents who participated in the forum via live stream through the internet or via teleconference call. There was roughly 60 people with Pallone in Ocean.
MoreMonmouthMusings was one of the hosts of the live feed. Video will be posted of the event sometime tomorrow.
If anyone has video of the Ocean Township Democratic Club’s meeting, please let us know and we’ll provide equal time.
MoreMonmouthMusings will have a live feed of the Monmouth County Medical Society’s Health Care Forum starting a 7PM.
The Little campaign sent a robo call to 40,000 Democrats in the 6th district this afternoon asking them to call Frank Pallone and encourage him to attend the event. Those same 40,000 will be called again at 7PM for a teleconference whereby they can listen to the forum.
Additionally, News12 told the Little campaign that Pallone wants to debate Anna Little on the station next Friday, the 29th, according to campaign manager Larry Cirignamo.
, a U.S Air Force veteran and the Executive Director of 