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Here’s my response to yesterday’s POLITICO Arena question: Is the former congressman really the right Democrat-basher for conservatives to cozy up to? (Note: This question and my response came before the Massa disaster on Glenn Beck’s show yesterday.)

When looking to seize political opportunity, it is useful to remember the old proverb “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” However, in this case the opportunity (former Rep. Massa, with his anti-Rahm bluster) appears to be an egotistical creep that we’d all be better off hearing from less. Republicans and conservatives would be wise to simply ignore the wild rants from a congressman who quit in his first term specifically to avoid a revealing ethics investigation.

You can see my response and those of other contributors here.

Here’s the NikeFree 5.0 v4 iD Running Shoe I designed at NIKEiD.com. It’s going to be the official shoe of Stanzel Communications.

Here’s my March 6, 2010, appearance on Fox News. The topic was the 2010 elections. I appeared with New York Post columnist Kirsten Powers and Rick Folbaum conducted the interview.

Gotta love the Onion News Network.

How Will The End Of Print Journalism Affect Old Loons Who Hoard Newspapers?

We are all human. We all make mistakes. It isn’t nice to take joy in failings of others. But, this photo caption blunder by the folks at the New York Times is going to make me happy all day. I can’t stop laughing about it. Kudos to Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz for getting the screen capture.

Seriously, you have to check it out – New York Times photo caption mistake

Today’s POLITICO Arena question was about the light scolding Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) received for his ethical lapses. Here’s my response, which you can also read here.

Ethical lapses by several Republican members of Congress helped sweep the Democrats into a majority in 2006. On Election Night that year, Nancy Pelosi said the “Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.” The closed-door meetings and sweetheart deals we’ve seen this year certainly disprove that statement. My question, however, is this – how is what Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) did as chairman of the tax writing committee any less serious than the violations which sent former GOP Reps. Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney to jail?

Remember that song, “one of these things is not like the other,” that Big Bird and Cookie Monster used to sing on Sesame Street to figure out which item didn’t belong in a group? Well, I thought I’d post this montage of pics that my former White House Press Office colleague Stuart Siciliano put together so we could play the game again. Enjoy.

Today, the POLITICO Arena posed the question: Was the Tiger Woods apology a good or bad template for the occasional wayward pol? My succinct response – No. Below is my longer response, which you can also see at http://www.politico.com/arena/.

Tiger Woods needs better public relations advice before his apology approach becomes a model for wayward politicians to follow. There were numerous things wrong with his template. In brief:

· He could’ve given the very same apology (save the “I’ve been in therapy” portion) almost immediately after the Thanksgiving driving disaster occurred.

· To me, his apology seemed cold and mechanical. He seemed to simply be trying to check all of the necessary boxes of that an apology needs – family, fans, sponsors, golf and the kids.

· He gave off the vibe that he deserved better treatment from the media. The news media helped fuel is rise to worldwide fame and riches. He put himself into the public eye by signing huge endorsement deals which came with advertising that splashed his face and image everywhere. Had he only been a golfer and nothing else, his “leave me alone” attitude might carry some weight. In this case, I found that request to be tone-deaf and petulant.

· He should’ve opened the statement up to more than just a few handpicked reporters. Kudos to the golf writers for boycotting in protest of his excessive effort to control the event. Tiger’s approach hurt the event when the feed from the main camera went out during his statement and news organizations (at least NBC, where I was watching) were forced to use the “cuts camera” (the one off to the side designed to get crowd reactions) to carry his remarks.

· To truly get this episode behind him and get back on track (with the news media, anyway), he should’ve taken questions. That doesn’t mean he needed to detail his many exploits, but he should’ve exhausted the questions from reporters. This would have demonstrated whether or not he had genuine remorse over the damage he had caused to his family, the game and himself.

· Finally, he should’ve worn a different shirt. You’d think a guy with that much money would be able to get a tailored shirt that fit correctly. His collar was awkwardly flying out of the jacket and it made him look like a junior high student stuffed into his first ever homecoming dance outfit.

Tiger – Give me a shout. Stanzel Communications can help you get out of this public relations sandtrap.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention: Elin, you are welcome to call, too.

I was quoted in this POLITICO story by Michael Calderone. He examined the recent foray by Obama White House communication staff into the Twitterverse.

Here’s the top of the story and my quote. You can read the full story here.

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W.H. messaging in 140 characters
By: Michael Calderone
February 15, 2010 07:07 PM EST

The White House has started using a new weapon for correcting news reports, pushing back against a negative story, or shaping the press corps narrative of the day: Twitter.

On Monday, deputy press secretary Bill Burton told his more than four thousand followers — which includes much of the White House press corps — that a Washington Post report that morning was wrong. The Obamas, he noted, went to Chicago for Valentine’s Day in 2009, not this past Sunday, as was reported in the Post’s Style section.

It was a small correction, but indicative of how the White House press shop can now more actively engage with the press and public through the popular micro-blogging platform that allows users to post 140 characters at a time, and follow any number of friends, celebrities, reporters and a variety of media outlets, large and small.

While there’s long been a White House Twitter feed, only in the last few weeks have members of the administration started using individual accounts in an official capacity. Burton, who’s had an account since August, just started posting regularly in January, gaining attention among reporters with a little push-back against a CNN report.
…
While Gibbs and Burton are the first press secretary and deputy to officially use Twitter, the first White House press shop official to embrace the platform was Scott Stanzel, President George W. Bush’s deputy press secretary from just after the 2006 midterm elections until Obama’s inauguration.

“It’s a very efficient way to share information and nearly all White House reporters are active in some fashion on Twitter,” said Stanzel, who now runs his own public relations firm, Stanzel Communications.