January 23, 2012 – 11:18 pm
Listening to the candidates debate tonight, I come away with one overriding feeling, a result both of how they delivered their remarks and what they actually said: Romney has memorized a series of positions; Gingrich has thought every issue through and is fully and emotionalluy committed to it. Though not close to catching a [...]
January 21, 2012 – 10:03 pm
In his acceptance speech tonight, Newt Gingrich showed the power of the podium. He set the foundation for pulling his rivals behind him, should he win the nomination. He praised their speeches of the evening and said they are collectively representative of the nation. More, he began to define the fall campaign: [...]
January 19, 2012 – 10:28 pm
Gingrich’s handling of the question about ABC interview with his second wife was brilliant. Who would have thought in such a position that the accused emerge as the man of passionate principle? It probably won not just the debate but the South Carolina primary for him.
All the candidates were very strong, the [...]
January 16, 2012 – 11:26 pm
The GOP candidates have become hugely impressive in debate. Informed. Able to turn attacks around and give it back even better. Crisp and detailed in laying out their positions. But Gingrich stood out. He got a standing ovation just before a commercial break. Throughout, he projected authenticity of passion. [...]
Here is some advice to the White House about tonight’s presidential television address.
I take an interest in presidential speech giving. I wrote speeches in the White House for nearly two-thirds of the Reagan presidency, the first half of that time for the Vice President, second half for the President.
Presidential rhetoric is an instrument of [...]
January 26, 2011 – 12:03 am
OK, why was the SOU so flat?
Well, #1) the buddy system seating — Ds mixed with Rs — apparently kept the Ds from getting up a wave. They were too dispersed. So the applause was too. It often sounded as though only one or two would start, then look around, [...]
April 18, 2010 – 12:34 pm
In 1909, as the federal government was first moving towards regulation of the financial industry, J.P. Morgan is said to have told friends, “The time is coming when all business will have to be done in glass pockets.” Goldman Sachs is about to find that, for the financial world today, glass pockets are no [...]
February 11, 2010 – 12:35 am
If the embattled OBama Administration wants a lesson in how to handle public communications, they could do no better than to watch and copy the First Lady.
In a recent interview Mrs. Obama was asked to opine on former Alaska governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. This came days after White House Press Secretary Robert [...]
January 31, 2010 – 1:30 pm
Roger Ailes and Arriana Huffington went head to head on today’s edition of ABC’s “This Week”. Ailes decked Huffington in Round One. She struggled back to her corner, went after him again for Round Two, and he decked her again. She didn’t come out for a third round.
Ailes was prepared. With [...]
January 28, 2010 – 12:23 am
Mr. Obama’s first State of the Union Address: good speech — and not so good.
On one hand, the President can be extremely appealing. Numerous times in the evening, I found myself liking him — particularly when he seemed to break from text and, with a smile, remind both parties of their common [...]
January 28, 2010 – 12:08 am
One commenter — “Pedro” — suggested that Ed write under a pseudonym. I’m for it. I tried to persuade him to stay on as a contributor. I thought, well, some say WHWG is a kind of think tank as well as a communications and policy consulting firm — so why not create [...]
January 19, 2010 – 9:01 pm
Hey kids, see if you can pick the correct line in tomorrow’s talking points for White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
Will it be” “Last night’s election was a fluke”? Or? “It was indicative of nothing more than a single vote on a single night.” Or? “It was a snapshot.” Or? “We had a bad candidate.” [...]
January 14, 2010 – 7:19 am
As any PR flak knows, the best way to knock your client’s bad news off the front pages is for worse news to catch reporters’ attention. Less scrupulous hucksters will fabricate rumors and stories to help move the media. But sometimes events just fall into place.
So it’s been for Harry Reid. When news broke over [...]
January 12, 2010 – 6:38 pm
When faced with intellectual theft or subversion by the regime in Beijing, many Fortune 500 have spines of Jello. This is bad enough when a company quietly allows its hard-earned competitive products to be lifted. It is immoral when companies cooperate with Chinese authorities by helping them crack down on democratic dissidents.
One company has found [...]
January 11, 2010 – 1:24 pm
Washington is getting a case of the vapors over Michael Steele’s new book, Right Now: A 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda. The Republican establishment heaped coals over Steele’s head in a front-page Washington Post article for getting the GOP off message in the face of what should be a historic midterm rebuke of [...]
