Jeff Greenfield Quotes

In politics you learn to always smile.

No, no, no. Dick Cheney forbade me to waste time on his image. I would have liked to have done more.

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

Don't worry about polls, but if you do, don't admit it.

Did I say that the President's entire job is image management? Of course not.

He has a very extensive public relations apparatus that is paid for by the taxpayers of this state. They are some of the best in the business. and he is a master at getting not only television but other media exposure on the basis of confrontation and chaos.

I don't stage my own publicity.

Pictures can be devastating. Who allowed John Kerry to get himself photographed windsurfing in a flowered swimsuit? Anyone in the real world in that operation?

The genius of David Petraeus has always been his masterful manipulation of the media.

I'm envious of people that can handle the press. No matter what I say or how articulately I say it, it always comes back to the same issues. And it's getting kind of old.

All I do is give interviews and spend time being photographed.

I think if you go from show to show without doing that big PR blitz it's helpful because people can get pretty sick of your face if you're just out there all the time. And keep a low profile, hold in your stomach and be a good sport.

A President has to do the image stuff that will help him so that he can do the substantive things he wants to do.

In all my life I have treated the press with marked contempt and had remarkable success.

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

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

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

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

It’s not only what you do in politics. It’s what you appear to do.

There are two things that you should never do in front of the TV cameras. You should not make love and you should not make peace.

To be sure, every White House tries to limit its exposure to difficult and distracting questions. The Obama administration was scrutinized for its use of late night shows and YouTube chats to get the president's message across in low-risk situations.

I'm not a politician; I don't have a well-organised PR machine to craft my every word.

One thing that is fairly undeniable about Trump - love him or loathe him - is his understanding of how to manipulate the media and to perpetuate a symbiotic relationship with the press.

I don't mind doing publicity but I want to make sure it's the right type and it's about promoting my music and not me.

Never lose your temper with the Press or the public is a major rule of political life.