For speechwriter, coffee cup contest … we have a winner!
Jul 23, 2015
And finally, we received 80 entries to our contest, “So the speechwriter walked in carrying a coffee mug that said …” There were too many honorable mentions to mention. But …
Book Review: A Stranger in a Strange Land
Aug 19, 2015
It sounds like the premise of a new HBO series: A man with a PhD in English reads a poorly-written oped published under the name of his home state’s governor. …
We know ghosts exist. But do they deserve to?
Feb 17, 2016
It’s always dicey when half-jealous journalists start evaluating speechwriters’ salaries, as the USA Today’s Paul Singer did last week. Singer noted that Sen. Marco Rubio pays a fulltime speechwriter $60K, …
Rhetorical Recap: Obama’s Last (Let’s Hope) Memorial Service Call for Unity
Jul 13, 2016
He was elected on the hope that he would help bridge the nation’s racial and partisan divides. He has tried. And yesterday he addressed the deadly consequences of these definitive …
The Speechwriter’s Life: Michael Meyer
Aug 24, 2016
Michael Meyer’s interest in speechwriting had a lot to do with his wish, as a veteran journalist, “to see how the game is played from the other side.” What he …
The Speechwriter’s Life: Cheryl Palmer Normile
Dec 25, 2016
As far as she can tell, Cheryl Normile was the first female speechwriter on the Secretary’s staff at the US Department of Agriculture. She started at USDA in the early …
Rhetorical Recap: The Final Episode of “The Presidency, With Barack Obama”
Jan 11, 2017
From the web page teaser and scalped tickets to the stifling of tears and the Springsteen recessional, Barack Obama’s Farewell Address resembled nothing so much as the last broadcasts of …
Demanding, and understanding
Feb 22, 2017
Let’s get this out of the way: Tonight’s Smithsonian Channel “The Obama Years: The Power of Words” is strictly hagiography. But it’s good hagiography—artfully crafted and sincerely felt. And it’s rhetorical …
Hillary Clinton speechwriter writes a tome of her own
Apr 26, 2017
A tome of her own. “I promised myself long ago that I would never write a book of my own unless I had something to say,” longtime Hillary Clinton speechwriter …
Speechwriters, socializing
Sep 20, 2017
I’ve attended enough gatherings of speechwriters to know that our profession tends to skew toward quiet, reserved types: We like the hushed company of a keyboard. We’re able to articulate …