If I was to interrupt this article every few sentences, asking you whether or not I was making a good impression on you, I hope and believe that you would think I was a servile jerk. Yet this is what our politicians are doing in every speech.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes politicians for being overly submissive in their communication, seeking validation instead of presenting strong ideas.
Christopher Hitchens points out the irony in politicians constantly seeking approval from their audience, which dilutes their authenticity and authority. He suggests that constantly checking for audience approval makes them appear insincere and lacking in conviction, much like someone who is overly eager to please in a conversation.
In practice
During a political debate, addressing the issue of authenticity might be enhanced by quoting Hitchens to emphasize the importance of conviction over mere popularity.
In a public dialogue with Salman in London he [Edward Said] had once described the Palestinian plight as one where his people, expelled and dispossessed by Jewish victors, were in the unique historical position of being 'the victims of the victims': there was something quasi-Christian, I thought, in the apparent humility of that statement.
What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
Never ask while you are doing it if what you are doing is fun. Don't introduce even your most reliably witty acquaintance as someone who will set the table on a roar.
[E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence.
The worst days are when you feel foggy in the head - chemo-brain they call it. It's awful because you feel boring. As well as bored. And stupid. And resigned.
Let me tell you something: for hundreds of thousands of years, this kind of discussion would have been impossible to have, or those like us would have been having it at the risk of our lives. Religion now comes to us in this smiley-face, ingratiating way — because it’s had to give so much more ground and because we know so much more. But you’ve got no right to forget the way it behaved when it was strong, and when it really did believe that it had God on its side.
Your proposal raises the greatest mischief that can befall my country. You could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your country, concern for your self or posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind, never communicate, as from yourself, or anyone else, a sentiment of the like nature.
There's really no point to voting. If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.
With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries. What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural backround, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient.
The American foreign policy trauma of the sixties and seventies was caused by applying valid principles to unsuitable conditions.
One of the most pervasive political visions of our time is the vision of liberals as compassionate and conservatives as less caring.
I may find Saddam Hussein's regime abhorrent - any normal person would - but the survival of it is in his hands.
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