Speechwriters, do you have colleagues you’re ashamed of?

Recently communication consultant Shel Holtz had a blog post about the worst practices in the PR business—whisper campaigns, phony front organizations and the like.

“I’m ashamed for my profession that such practices continue,” Holtz wrote. “But it’s just a dark, ugly corner of the PR world. It’s not my world.”

Speechwriters, are there tactics you hear about at speechwriters conferences or lines you read in speeches that embarrass you?

Let’s name them—right here and right now—and see if we can agree on a few “worst practices” of professional rhetoric.