Jedediah Bila Quotes

To succeed in big-city politics requires a powerful, motivating vision of a better world, a plan to get there, a willingness to meet constituents on their terms, and a tough political skin.

The 1934 Republican response to the Upton Sinclair campaign for California Governor marked a stunning advance in the art of public relations, in which advertising men now believed they could sell or destroy political candidates as they sold one brand of soap and defamed its competitor. In another twenty years, these techniques would spread East, achieve a new refinement, and begin to dominate the politics of the nation.

Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.

I love marketing a lot, and I'm very creative when it comes to developing ideas for shows or publicity campaigns.

President Barack Obama would do well to take a page or two from Clinton's playbook.

Apple has great marketing, among the best PR and marketing in the world.

Politics is a matter of communications.

Governing today means giving acceptable signs of credibility. It is like advertising and it is the same effect that is achieved—commitment to a scenario.

[As a congressman] ... you need to market whatever it is you're trying to sell.

Everyone in politics turns to the press, if only to manipulate it or deflect it.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration... that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who's occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can't be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

It's so much easier to do press if you take positions that the press likes than to take conservative Republican positions.

When you are President you have to get something done, and that often means compromise.

Politics is the business of managing perceptions.

I want to run this party like a campaign—not a bureaucracy.

Today being President is really no different than running for President. It’s about approval ratings and photo ops and damage control and deniability.

Lobby? That's certainly not what the position is all about.

Sometimes heads of state have to make statements for [local] public consumption.

I did not see my job as Press Secretary as to help the press. My job was to help get Tony Brown and the Labour Party elected.

Over time, the best politics are policies that actually work …. Others in the White House are looking for short term political victories. The political hacks are just doing their jobs.

I have no more obligation to spin. When you’re in the White House, you spin.

In politics, you don’t have to love the press; you don’t even have to like the press, but you sure as hell have to feed the press.

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

What succeeds best politically does not always do so policy wise and vice versa.

A dozen men in good suits and women in silk dresses will circulate smoothly among the reporters, spouting confident opinions. They won't be just press agents trying to impart a favorable spin to a routine release. They'll be the Spin Doctors, senior advisers to the candidates