September 24, 2009 – 5:04 pm
From West Wing Writers associate David Litt: Here’s a link to the New York Times online “Opinionator” feature, where West Wing Writers’ Jeff Shesol blogs about the demands of the 24-hour news cycle and the idea of presidential “overexposure.”
September 24, 2009 – 10:04 am
Sarah Palin spoke on Wednesday to an investor conference in Hong Kong. The Wall Street Journal published excerpts. Recognizing the limitations of reading excerpts, a few concerns arose. Governor Palin’s remarks were organized under a loose banner of “common sense.” For instance, she described herself as a “common sense conservative” and said “common sense” is […]
September 24, 2009 – 7:39 am
Bruce Bartlett lists my prior response on Matt Latimer’s Speech-Less as being among those reflexive, circle-the-wagons Republican responses to criticisms of George W. Bush. Actually, my reflexive, circle-the-wagons reaction was against speechwriters betraying the trust of their presidents. On substance, I have to agree with Bartlett that Latimer offers disturbing corroboration of what appeared to […]
September 22, 2009 – 4:34 pm
William McGurn of The Wall Street Journal skewers his former hire, Matt Latimer, for writing a kiss-and-tell about his tenure in the Bush White House. McGurn writes: “Bringing him [Latimer] into the Oval and getting him on Air Force One was a (losing) attempt on my part to get the president to warm up to him. […]
September 15, 2009 – 10:54 am
There’s been way too much talking recently. And it just gets people in trouble and drains seconds out of our lives. We’d be better off if these people would shut the hell up: Rep. Joe Wilson. No need to be shouting things at the president on the House floor. Thank you for apologizing. But you’re not […]
September 11, 2009 – 4:27 pm
Over the last 48 hours, most of the water cooler talk in our office has been about Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress. My colleague, Jeff Shesol, helped put my rage at Wilson’s rage in perspective in this recent post to Politico’s Arena. He came across a letter in which […]
September 10, 2009 – 9:10 am
Regardless of whether anyone was watching, or anyone watching was persuadable on the issue of health care, President Obama’s health care address last night will be chalked up as a victory for one reason: He lowered his expectations. The president confirmed last night that he doesn’t want health care reform anymore; he wants health insurance […]
September 10, 2009 – 7:44 am
Several quick impressions. First, it was the best effort President Obama could possibly make. The speech–whether you thought the argument was spot-on or deceitful–was a well-crafted, rousing St. Crispen’s Day appeal that managed to both offer an open hand to Republicans, and slap them in the face with it. Second, Washington should not get a […]
September 8, 2009 – 11:11 am
Matt Latimer is trying to sell a book and to do that he’s employed two strategies that have worked for others: (1) take an idea with a kernel of reason and pop it into something “bold” and “contrarian”; (2) and this applies to former Bush Administration staffers trying to sell books – say something negative about […]
September 8, 2009 – 12:16 am
OMG! No! No! No! How will I live? How will I feed my puppy, my parakeet, my pet rock? Not that I would elevate parochial interest above the greater good. Speechwriters are not a lobbyists, at least not until someone shouts fire us. That said, I am closer to Vinca on this than to Matt. […]
September 7, 2009 – 9:53 am
I’d be interested to know what Ed and others think of Matt Latimer’s piece in yesterday’s Washington Post — “A Speechwriter’s Tip for Obama: Silence is Golden.” His overarching thesis, as others have argued as well, is that too much presidential airtime ultimately devalues the currency of the presidential word; that if Americans are seeing […]
September 5, 2009 – 12:19 pm
Our friend Max Atkinson has begun a new series discussing his research of which techniques speakers use to arouse applause from their audiences. He broke new ground in the mid 1980s after he analyzed dozens of famous politicians and identified various “claptraps.” A claptrap is a trick, device or language designed to catch applause. He […]
August 31, 2009 – 10:05 pm
Proving David Hannum right on the sucker born every minute front, check out this website for Bravina, a self-described “special blend of nine natural supplements” that “will help prepare you to execute an articulate public presentation.” For a mere $19.95, you too can have six tablet-sized amalgams of passiflora, motherwort, St. John’s wort, ashwagandha, Valerian […]
