30 September 2005 
Bill Bennett and the First Law in Public Debate
Yoest, Yoest, Bennett, c. 1998
Bill Bennett, host of Bill Bennett’s Morning in America made a statement in his morning commentary and made a story in main stream media.
He said, words to the effect, if every black child were aborted we’d have less crime.
His transgression was not merely the unfortunate unknown terrible cause and effect, but that Dr. Bennett violated the First Law in Public Debate known by media savvy professionals:
1) Don’t do Hypotheticals.
If a question or a rebuttal starts with, “If” change the subject. If you are thinking “If” change you mind.
“I don’t deal in hypotheticals,” is the only verbiage used if “If” comes up.
Bill Bennett is guilty of nothing else.
Full Disclosure: Your Business Blogger was awarded his very first consulting contract in a minor role for Bill Bennett when he was Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Ace has Freakonomics backstory.
Junkyard Dog has busybody in chief.
Outside The Beltway has more on Bennett.
Right Voices has making a point?
Mudville Gazette has Open Post.
Drakeview has this week’s Carnival of the Capitalists.
The Political Teen has Open Trackbacks.
Captain Ed has Bogus Journey.
La Shawn Barber is thinking about writing on Bennett. She could add to the debate.
Your Comments Are Welcomed…
Graphic credit: EddingsChonicles
…even if you didn’t see them for the past few days. A number of comments were accidentally deleted.
If I can find a way to blame the staff, I shall.
Until then, I apologize. I understand the hassle, but please do a re-do of your comment if you don’t see ‘em.
Even the snarky ones.
Thanks
29 September 2005
Should Corporations Donate to the Political Process?
Christine and Tom DeLay, with the Hammer Cake
I ran into Tom DeLay and his wife Christine at an event earlier this year in your Nation’s Capital. Before he was indicted for “criminal conspiracy,” allegedly moving money from corporate donations to Texas political races.
Having studied the man in the flesh a number of times over the years, I believe the charges are most unlikely. The facts alone point to his innocence.
Nevertheless, with such a public political indictment, throw ‘innocent until proven guilty’ out the window — the accused must be proved innocent. And even then, the headlines will have moved on to fresh kill. Only bleeding is allowed above the fold.
For the innocent individual, political hardball can be devastating. Ray Donovan, the smeared Reagan nominee, after his exoneration asked, “Where do I go to get my reputation back?”
So too for the corporation: Where do you get your brand back? If your company is aligned with a political loser(or worse), is your brand damaged goods?
Given those realities, Your Business Blogger has to ask: Should corporations even make political donations?
Let’s start at the beginning of this funding cycle. Not at the end user — the politician — but with the goal of the corporation.
The purpose of a corporation is to maximize shareholder wealth — it’s nice if the corporate citizen increases the stakeholder well being, but that’s not the job of the for-profit enterprise.
Political contributions should be a board-level policy where donations are made only if the corporation’s interest is advanced. Not to advance the agendas of individuals in the company.
For example, Starbucks donates 100% of its political contributions to the Democratic Party, supporting the Kerry campaign in particular.
I would submit that Starbucks should only make donations as an investment in the continuation of the corporation’s goals. And not the personal worldview of Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. Unless the corporation is the extended playground of the founder. Which may well be the case.
Here’s why. A Congressman will get some 150 personal phone calls each day. Some he takes immediately, some tomorrow, some delegated, some ducked.
The unwritten cascade: Friends First, Horrendous Enemies second, constituents third. A known donor to a competitor’s campaign would have his call returned with a lack of urgency not seen with the above-mentioned group. Interns make those returned calls. Next week. Maybe.
(One politico had code words for his donors. Any large contributor was known as “A Great American.” Those calls were put through fast.)
If you are not a constituent, money does buy you — well, maybe not love, but at least a returned phone call.
If a company board recognizes a real corporate need to influence a political issue, through interest or association groups, follow these rules:
Corporations should donate only to winners in the political process.
Corporations should never donate to underdogs. Losers get the company nothing, not even good will.
Corporations should donate to both political candidates (through interest groups) only when both are in a statistical tie.
Individuals can, of course, make their own decisions. But this should not involve the Company kitty.
Starbucks Howard Schultz and George Soros have not separated the private personal from the public business. For example, individuals can care and contribute deeply on both sides of abortion.
However, the abortion issue should not be funded by corporations unless they benefit from that industry, such as Planned Parenthood Clinics.
Corporations making charitable donations will be covered in upcoming posts. (The answer may surprise.)
Captain’s Quarter’s reviews the weak case.
Right Wing NutHouse has hunting Repubwicans.
GOPBloggers advocates full disclosure of funding.
The StakeHolder sees nothing amiss.
Sacred Monkeys reports the Texas Democrats have been hit hard.
Legal Fiction doesn’t care for DeLay but has questions.
Michelle Malkin has overview.
See Mudville Gazette at Open Post.
The Political Teen has video.
Outside the Beltway has blogger reaction.
Update 25 Oct: Brand Autopsy has more on Starucks.
Update 17 Jan 2006 The Window Manager has more on movies.
27 September 2005
Live Blogging Commander in Chief
“President” Geena Davis
Tonight, Tuesday, Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity will be live blogging the first episode of the ABC network series featuring a female president in the White House.
Charmaine will compare and contrast leadership styles of the Executive Branch under President Reagan with that imagined by Hollywood.
Presidential Personnel, Oval Office, c.1986
Charmaine is third from the left, front row. (Your Business Blogger will not enter the picture for another two years, so to say.)
Thank you (foot)notes:
Experienced broadcaster Slake will not be watching.
Pinko Feminist Hellcat writes that no amount of TV can help her political preferences — and her unhappiness with Bush.
Laura at The Wide Awake Cafe will not be watching.
Jessica at Feministing will be watching (for the hype).
Mudville Gazette has Open Post.
Contest Closing
Salvation Army
Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity will be announcing the winners in her Guess the Compensation Contest tonight. Leave a comment on your guess at her post.
The T-shirt Prize
I will assume that some might be tempted to take a peek at the answers — Charmaine was careful not to ascribe such a nefarious action, I am less so. Gender difference, I guess — so contest entries will also be judged on subjective content as well as the objective answer.
Charmaine will be live blogging the new Commander in Chief. Contest winners posted after the broadcast tonight.
26 September 2005
Islamic France
Markets hate uncertainty. France has a future which is most uncertain — which is another (real) reason not to do business there.
France is beginning to pay citizens to have children because their birthrate is far below replacement. But this may matter little — Islam is quickly encroaching on French culture.
In early summer in the God-fearing USofA George Weigel gave a talk about the decline of European civilization and his new book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God. He uses the post-modern architecture of the monstrous “cube” that is the Great Arch of La Defence in Paris and the ageless cathedral of Notre-Dame as metaphor.
I bought the book. Read it. Saw the future.
Weigel writes about a possible outcome for Europe:
Then there is the nightmare scenario…Europe fails to reverse its demographic decline; its finances … perilous, its native populations … demoralized, and recent arrivals …assertively Islamic.
…it has happened before. The once flourishing Greco-Roman-Christian civilization of North Africa… within eight decades…disappeared into the sands… destroyed by advancing Islam.
In significant parts of Europe, the drama of atheistic humanism would have played itself out in the triumph of a thoroughly nonhumanistic theism.
The crisis of civilizational morals that Europe is experiencing today would have reached its bitter end in a Europe in which the muezzin summons the faithful to prayer form the central loggia of St. Peter’s in Rome, while Notre-Dame has been transformed into Hagia Sophia on the Seine
– a great Christian church become an Islamic museum.
Weigel’s prophesy is coming too soon, and so close.
Here’s the business angle. As in any relationship trust is necessary between individuals to bind contracts. And business can be done with trusted individuals of Muslim faith. But seldom Muslim countries.
Under current French leadership it is easy to predict instability for France. A poor venue for strategic investment except for tourism.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Jihad Watch has France detains Jihadists.
Donald Sensing has excellent backstory at Europe Trending Gloomy.
Update 14 Oct 2005 Random Numbers explains why investors don’t care for France
Best of Me carnival submission
25 September 2005
Indra Nooyi, Jeff Gordon: Maybe Pepsi Really Can’t Do Anything Right
It is well known that a good consultant can graph out a trend line using the random numbers from thrown dice. I have for you, Gentle Reader, still another data point in the continuing question of Pepsi Patriotism: The #24.
Your Business Blogger has allowed that Pepsi might, just might be able to get something right as Pepsi President, Indra Nooyi, gives America the Digitus Impudicus.
I thought her NASCAR sponsorship was an example of her loyalty to American Values.
But I was wrong.
Radio Blogger uses NASCAR teams to put blogs into neat discreet market segments. Radio Blogger puts them along his left sidebar as blogroll.
For example, under
Richard Petty Blogs, you have:
Hugh Hewitt
Instapundit
Michelle Malkin
Under Darrell Waltrip Oddblogs:
Lileks
The Corner
Virginia Postrel
And under Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wiseguy Blogs, one sees:
Fraters Libertas
Infinite Monkeys
Lucianne Goldberg
Shot In The Dark
Spitbull
However, the category that caught my attention was:
Jeff Gordon Dark Side Blogs:
Buzz Machine
Daily Kos
Matthew Yglesias
Press Think
Princeton Progressive Review
TPM Cafe
So there you have it. Jeff Gordon, #24, is associated with very, very left of center anti-capitalists. And (gasp) Nooyi sponsors him.
The Finger, The Donation, and now, The Number.
(What all this has to do with Jeff Gordon is irrelevant. As long as I can draw a tight scatter diagram along a line.)
Pepsi President Indra Nooyi is consistent with her anti-American branding. Validated here in an unbiased third-party blog presentation uncovered by my crack research team. Nooyi continues to give America the finger.
Mere coincidence you say? Watch me prove it. On the next roll of the dice.
Like any good consultant.
Thank you (Foot)notes:
Chris Dickson is drinking only Coke.
Sepia Mutiny has Clout is Cool.
StlRecruiting says Pepsi should have a blog.
Gall and Wormwood points us to Chris Muir’s cartoon.
Kerfuffles has concerns.
Roscoe’s Blog has Saddam-Pepsico Connection. And a tax deduction.
Thanks to Mudville Gazette for Open Post.
24 September 2005
Scandal 101: Free Consulting If Chuck Schumer is Your Boss
If you work for Senator Chuck Schumer (D) you do not have friends in the growing storm. Your world is changed.
Charmaine Yoest on phone
Top of Chuck Schumer’s head center
Your only friend is your lawyer. And even here you are not your legal counsel’s friend. You are now what these economic rent seekers call a “client.”
Your Humble Business Blogger has been on both sides of the table dealing with the FBI and legions of lawyers. You cannot win, even if you don’t lose. You will cry. Start now.
The Schumer scandal is in my current state of Maryland involving purloined documents from our Republican Lieutenant Governor Steele. The Democrats are doing the purloining . You, Schumer staffer, are guilty.
Your counseling sessions should begin with advice from Hugh Hewitt:
First, write down this number: 202-974-5600… for Chadbourne & Parke in DC, … Abbe Lowell. … he is the city’s best bet for criminal defense … It is best to be the first one to the firm before conflicts kick in. Bring your wallet. Probably dad’s wallet, if you are young staffer in over your head. In fact, you’d better tell dad right now.
You will remember Lowell, Esq. and his combat with Ken Starr. As Hugh Hewitt suggests, the DC battlefield requires local guides.
In politics, as in business, guilt or innocence is irrelevant.
At one of my start-ups 15 years ago, we received a letter from a competitor’s legal team challenging our patent. “To respond you need to budget $25,000,” our lawyer said.
“But our patent is air-tight! This is frivolous! Outrageous!”
“Indeed,” our legal counsel almost smiled.
That time the company paid, or, rather, our funders.
Another tangle with a business partner over disputed expenses was mediated by lawyers. Him guilty; me innocent.
No matter, for a year or two the lawyer fees were greater than the Yoest family home mortgage payments. And I don’t get Christmas cards from my lawyers.
Because I was never a friend. And now I am not even a “client.”
So young staffer, even if you could never get arrested, your time has come. You say you are innocent? You never touched, viewed, aided and abetted the stolen Steele stuff?
I once asked Morton Blackwell — who ran the GOP in Virginia — why Clinton’s cabinet stood behind Clinton and lied for him during the Lewinsky event.
“Because,” said Blackwell shaking his head, “Clinton only hires people just like him, who think and act like him.” Birds of a feather kind of thing. (The only exception would be Jesse Brown.)
No, you are guilty. You’re in a barrel headed over Niagara Falls, New York. What now?
Here’s what you do:
1) Hire legal counsel.
2) Resign from Schumer’s office
3) Do exactly what your legal eagles say.
4) Do not go home to NY.
5) Find the cameras.
I was at the Roberts’ confirmation hearings with Charmaine as she lobbied in the lobby. The most dangerous place to be was between Schumer and a camera. But now you must beat him to the cameras, learn to stare into the bright lights and repeat the script your legal team will write. Sincerely. Faking it with your whole heart.
I can help you. email me. I can give you more free consulting.
So, young staffer, this experience will get you prepared when you deal with your divorce attorney in the coming years, but that will be easier.
Penta Posse
Senate Office Building
Thank you (foot)notes:
Checker Board has Ominous.
Captain’s Quarters has the story.
Atlas Blogged has questions.
Kennedy v The Machine has silence.
And remember, Hugh Hewitt has the naming contest.
The Anchoress is not bored. Which makes good reading for us all.
MaxedOutMama has Schumer Staff Pulls.
GOPinion has more.
GOP Bloggers has the payoff.
Michelle Malkin has the dirty trick story.
Mudville Gazette has Open Post. And while there, see Toe in the Water with dangerous dolphins.
23 September 2005
Avoiding Business Failure
See Top 10 Reasons That Businesses Fail by Bobby Guy on Jeff Cornwall’s blog The Entrepreneurial Mind.
Your Business Blogger has made each of these mistakes. More than once. Good to see them all on a single list. I suppose.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Way to Grow post up with reviews.
Morning Star has Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as background.
Be Excellent recommends a business coach.
21 September 2005
Leadership and Honore: A Reverse Fisking of “Stuck on Stupid”
Lieutenant General Russel Honore gave a press conference today that will be long remembered and will become a part of media relations folklore.
Your Business Blogger has been on both sides of the microphone at a few press conferences. Permit me to ‘reverse fisk’ The General’s performance. Astute observers know that LTG Honore did it right. Here’s what happened on the subliminal level in seven easy lessons.
General Russel Honore
Look at The General. 85% of all communication is non-verbal and even a clueless reporter might understand that the three five-pointed silver stars might be some indication of rank and importance. (Less than one percent of entry level Second Lieutenants will become General Officers.)
The sunglasses normally don’t work for normal people making a presentation. Eye contact is necessary to establish trust in a small group. But The General is not normal; nor is the situation. The General doesn’t need this rule due to this caveat: In this setting the shades are intimidating.
Think Terminator in Aviators.
Lesson One: Own the Microphone. Set the stage.
Here’s some of what The General said at the press conference:
…by order of the mayor and the governor,
Every elected mayor and politically appointed dog-catcher outranks any member in the Armed Services. The General is respectful of the chain of command. Reporters don’t like and don’t understand hierarchy. Just ask their editors.
…and open the convention center for people to come in. There are buses there. Is that clear to you?
It is perfectly clear. And that is what is so refreshing. All General Officers are subject to Senate confirmation. All General Officers are politicians, and usually sound like politicians. But not this one.
There is no doubt who is in charge.
Lesson Two: Direct message.
…Buses parked. There are 4,000 troops there. People come, they get on a bus, they get on a truck, they move on. Is that clear? Is that clear to the public?
Here we see the different agendas of the politico, Mayor Nagin, and the professional, General Honore. The General is using the press conference and the reporters as a public service forum to accomplish his mission. Mayor Nagin merely wants to be liked and re-elected.
[A female reporter asks]: Where do they move on…
[Honore]: That’s not your business.
You cannot wait for all the traffic lights to turn green before leaving town. What The General was saying was that the plan’s end may or may not be detailed at this moment — the important part is to start. The first phase is known. The plan will unfold in phases, not all at once.
This is how the military works. When a unit moves, the subordinate will report up the chain of command when he crosses the “Start Point” at a predetermined time. Woe to the leader who misses the when and where of the starting gate. Missions and objectives always change, but there must be movement to start.
Lesson Three: Know your audience.
[Male reporter]: But General, that didn’t work the first time…
[Honore]: Wait a minute. It didn’t work the first time. This ain’t the first time.
After action reports are evaluated after action. Not during. Not before. The General is wise enough to never criticize the previous commander — not in public, certainly not in a press conference.
You got good public servants working through it.
Praise in public; reprimand in private. The General will soon violate this maxim, gloriously.
You are carrying the message, okay? What we’re going to do is have the buses staged. The initial place is at the convention center. . and that’s where we will use to migrate people from it, into the system.
The General is a professional in his use of the press: to convey the information The General wants reported.
Lesson four: Get Action
[Male reporter]: General Honore, we were told that Berman Stadium on the west bank would be another staging area
[Honore]: Not to my knowledge. Again, the current place, I just told you one time, is the convention center….
Rumor Control. The only feedback The General wants is to know if bad information is disseminated.
Lesson Five: Do not be distracted
Once we complete the plan with the mayor, and is approved by the governor…
Chain of command, again. But it is now obvious who’s running the show.
… Let’s not get stuck on the last storm. You’re asking last storm questions for people who are concerned about the future storm. Don’t get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward…
This is the biggest challenge of press conferences: the collegial need to answer a question. But that’s not always necessary. A reporter’s question should always be handled in one of three ways:
1) I know the answer and here it is.
2) I don’t know the answer and will find it.
3) I know the answer, but I’m not telling you.
The General is using a (very original) version of #3.
…And don’t confuse the people please…help us get the message straight. And if you don’t understand, maybe you’ll confuse it to the people.
Most of the reporters do have the story straight. But good work by The General is not a story. ‘If it bleeds, it leads.’ Mayor Nagin was a bloody fool that made great copy. The General is clean. No story.
[A male reporter]: General, a little bit more about why that’s happening this time, though, and did not have that last time…
[Honore]: You are stuck on stupid.
Few ever spoke to the press this bluntly and survived. And every politician would like to demonstrate such bravery. A reprimand in public; real Non-judicial Punishment. It worked.
The General pulled it off. He does not have to be accountable to the Fourth Estate as politicians must.
Lesson Six: Be honest.
He continues:
I’m not going to answer that question. We are going to deal with Rita. This is public information that people are depending on the government to put out.
Version #3, again.
This is the way we’ve got to do it. So please. I apologize to you, but let’s talk about the future. Rita is happening.
The General is not begging. The General is not sorry. He is using soft wordings as a pillow for the reporter he knocked on his backside.
Lesson Seven: Be Yourself
And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months.
Stuck on Stupid has now entered our lexicon and Honore for the history books.
Thank you (foot)notes:
Charmaine at Reasoned Audacity for Honore.
The Political Teen has the video.
Visit Mudville Gazette and Open Post and while there see bRight & Early with SOS.
Michelle Malkin has links and a question.
Sister Toljah has more as always.
Outside the Beltway has Traffic Jam and while there see BrainShavings with race hustlers.
The Accidental Misanthrope has an outstanding review of Leadership vs. Management. Sustitute Nagin for Manager; then Honore for Leader.
More at Dean’s World at Honore Hero. Follow his links for a pronunciation guide. Good stuff.
SOS is now the war cry for the GOP against the DNC. See CaliforniaConservative and the Arnold campaign.
Chaos-in-Motion is confused about Honore’s presentation. Chaos is left of center, I think.
The Radical Centrist has more on the role of the press.
Dr. De Doc has Birth of Memelet.
Andi’s World has the counter example at bad PR for Code Pink.
See the best in graphics at PenguinPoletariat.
Update: Any Letter hosted Carnival of the Capitalists.