Disqus - Latest Comments for davidmurray

Re: Voices of Moderation

davidmurray — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:45:31 -0000

Ed, you do remind me here of the middling pro golfers about 13 years ago who noisily resented Tiger Woods saying things like, "I expect to win every tournament I enter" and flatly stating that Nicklaus' major record was in his sights.

The Latimer comparison is fundamentally unfair, as you know.

Obama finds himself president of the United States at an important moment in history.

Should he slink along like he expects to be another Harding?

Re: The Speechwriter as Gossipmonger

davidmurray — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:23:03 -0000

Entertaining and dead-on, Ed. Thanks for reading this—so not all of us have to!

Re: Fire the Speechwriters?

davidmurray — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:40 -0000

Latimer's column struck me as at once disingenuous, opportunistic and harmless. Hard to believe he believed what he was saying. Easy to believe he prepared the piece cynically, calculated to make an editor bite: "hey, speechwriter calls for firing all the speechwriters."

It reminded me of another sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing op/ed 16 years ago in the Wall Street Journal. "Speechwriters of the world, get lost!" wrote speechwriter Phil Theibert.

Such pieces get written because speechwriters know the formula for publicity—and because their professional experience has made them utterly comfortable in the knowledge that op/eds don't move mountains.

Or even molehills, as the case may be.