Speechwriters, stay in the closet

Political speechwriters and their moral compass, the vegetarian behind Sarah Palin’s speech, the new speechwriter behind Gordon Brown and the wisdom of 9/11 jokes

No credit for speechwriters: Writing in the National Review Online, Mark R. Levin slams speechwriters who become media stars. “It is odd and disquieting that more and more speechwriters, on their own or others on their behalf, seem to claim ownership of their boss’s message,” Levin says. “There’s just something unseemly about it to me—credit taken for the Challenger speech, ‘the axis of evil,’ etc., etc. When the words come out of the speaker’s mouth, they belong to the speaker. I notice speechwriters don’t take credit for bad speeches.”