Matt Taibbi Quotes

During my years as a press secretary, I developed a powerful internal filter, which worked to strip all things 'off message' from my thoughts before they came out of my mouth. It didn't always work, of course, and I said more than a few things I regretted.

Anyways, trying to express yourself to the press is often like arguing with a hysterical person.

In my first company, Seer Technologies, where I was chief technology officer, we shied away from the media. We watched every word and were guarded in front of journalists.

Every politician higher up than assistant water commissioner knows how to avoid tough questions [from reporters]: Don't answer them.

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

Politicians generally don’t volunteer for press encounters they can’t control.

Talking to the press is not always good.

I totally alienated some reporters as I retreated.

The press secretary who starts to narrow down or close the president's options because he answers delicate negotiating questions no longer serves the president.

I hate dealing with the press. But I think it is a necessary evil.

In a lot of cases, as in Tom and Nicole's case, the tabloids were about to break the story, so they said just let the news out. And they called organizations such as ours.

I thought I might say something to newsmen that could be turned into a scandal.

In public relations, you live with the reality that not every disaster can be made to look like a misunderstood triumph.

Negative publicity makes people forget your best times.

It’s awfully tough to score political points when you are on the defensive.

When presidents are in trouble, there's two things they always do: reshuffle the staff and call in a bunch of reporters for advice.

It was my job to get the skeletons out of the closet and into the press—which I did.

I believe, with the media, you must answer every question in some way. And in very, very, touchy situations, we must answer every question again and again.

There are many commentators who have said the wrong thing before. That's part of the business.

Sean Spicer has somehow been doing PR since 1999, which is 18 years. Somehow, after 18 years, his go-to move was denying the Holocaust.

The whole idea of a spokesman is a joke and a fraud if you drop someone like a hot potato if there's controversy.

As an opinion manager, a campaign consultant, fixing personality negatives is a lot easier than fixing character negatives.

It sounds odd, but it's almost hard to find a piece of negative press about myself.

You speak to the press at the Tour every day, but most often in a negative sense. Ninety per cent of the questions you are asked in the post-race press conferences are challenging or provocative, so you have to justify yourself; you have to try to give the right answers about every topic across the board.

I find it so astonishing how poorly a lot of politicians handle negative whatever in the press. You have to just get it all out there. You have to be totally, uncomfortably honest.