Demagogue

At Washington Whispers, Paul Bedard writes:

(Mitt) Romney is the first-ever presidential candidate to haul out a PowerPoint presentation at campaign events. He did it recently while addressing the Detroit Economic Club, and the audience went nuts for it.

"It was amazing," an auto exec tells us. "I mean he didn't just make claims. He had the graphs to back him up!"

It now shocks us when a political figure makes claims that actually have some basis in fact. How sad.

Bedard continues:

The idea was the candidate's and was a textbook presentation outlined in classic fashion: It opened with the "Intro," wrapped up under the title "Close," and finished with an "End" on Page 21. In between were graphs that Romney tried to soften with descriptions of lines like "squiggle."

PowerPoints, says spokesman Kevin Madden, "speak to the competency that [Romney] exudes and the authoritative nature of his understanding of the issues." Plus, he says, the boss just digs them — and is a great presenter.

"He's the PowerPoint president ..."

Now there's a moniker to trumpet.

Ross Perot had lots of charts and graphs too, but most of us who watched him on TV felt he was only one stammer away from lunacy.

I have sat through dozens of PowerPoint presentations over the past several years, and I can tell you from my own experience that the ability to throw together a PP presentation is no assurance of a person's "authoritative" understanding of the issues.