Only the Best Should Attempt Full Ginsburgs

In Washington-speak, a "full Ginsburg" is when one person appears on all five major Sunday news programs in a single day.  The feat was first performed in 1998 by William Ginsburg , the attorney for Monica Lewinsky.  Since then, the trick has been performed about 18 times -- often by Presidential candidates.

If you are not running for office --and you are doing a Ginsburg, chances are you are running for your life. Even if one or two of the interviews is pre-taped, it is hard on a person to keep their energy up and their talking points down.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer logged a full Ginsburg this morning.  We'll leave to others to rate the substance of his answers -- but the way they were delivered was not impressive.

By far his worst performance was the single show on which he did "a remote" - rather than being on set looking into the eyes of his questioner. His appearance on ABC's This Week, which at times gives the appearance of a hostage video, is below:

 

 Media Training 101 is to have the interviewee know where to look into the camera. Pfeiffer’s shifting eyes match the demeanor of his answers.  And he had a habit of talking way too fast (trying to get it over with?) stepping on his words and phrases and THEN looking off camera to the monitor. He also stumbled badly with one of his answers to George Stephanopoulos where he said "the law is irrelevant" in the IRS matter.  Bet he wishes he had that sound bite back.

His in-studio performances were not so hot either. His answers earned him the worse dressing down we have seen in many years from veteran Bob Schieffer.  The CBS Face the Nation stalwart’s asked:  “why are you here?” Not exactly what an interviewee is hoping to hear.

Pfeiffer needs a lot more practice doing remote interviews -- and more importantly -- the White House ought to re-consider the wisdom of sending out a single spokesperson and asking him or her to perform in the five-ring circus that the full Ginsburg creates.  It didn't work out too well for UN Ambassador Susan Rice either.


h/t Joe Quimby

Can the Administration Comeback from the Scandal Trifecta?

15-Seconds co-founder Bill Harlow answered that question on Varney & Co. on Fox Business Network today.  Fox apparently doesn't permit video embedding anymore...but the appearance can be see at this link.

Rangers Coach Takes Slap Shots At Reporters

Apparently John Tortorella has little patience for reporters.  As coach for the the N.Y. Ranger hockey team, some might argue that media relations is part of his job -- but it is clear that he would rather try to water ski behind a Zamboni than have to respond to journalists.

In the clip below, Tortorella makes short work of a post-game press conference.

In the first instance a writer ask him to "Talk about" something.  The NHL must be like Jeopardy, because the coach insists that all communication has to be in the form of a question or you lose.

Next someone does asks him a question --but one he didn't like and the coach replies: "Holy crap.  Give me another question."

Finally, Tortorella gets a hat trick in blowing off the media when a reporter asks a question which he responds "No"...raps the lectern and quickly exits stage right.



The interesting thing is that the coach's grumpy performance came after his team beat the Washington Capitals 1-0 on Sunday.   It makes you wonder how amiable he would be after a loss.



h/t: NESN
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Taxing Day for the IRS

File this one away as one of the most ill-advised comments ever by a government spokesperson.  Lois Lerner, a senior Internal Revenue Service official was on a conference call this afternoon briefing reporters on a brewing crisis.

The IRS is admitting (after having denied it for some time) that some of their personnel inappropriately used their positions to target some conservative organizations.

When trying to explain some statistics in relation to the matter  Ms Lerner, a ranking IRS official, confessed "I'm not good at math."  That's like the Surgeon General admitting that she can't stand the sight of blood.

The Washington Post reports that those auditing the conference call found other anomalies too.

In addition to being bad at math, Lerner is apparently no great shakes at media relations either.   The Post cites numerous examples of Lerner not having her facts together before meeting the media.

When your organization has screwed up -- it is important not only to quickly admit it and get your facts straight -- but also to avoid giving the media the impression that you have something to hide.  Ms. Lerner tried to bail out of the conference call after less than half an hour of questioning.  Reporters objected and she eventually stayed on line for another 20 minutes before exiting in part, she said, because the questions were getting repetitive.  That is a good sign that you have failed to adequately answer them.

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