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I always believed as a speechwriter that if you could persuade the president to commit himself to certain words, he would feel himself committed to the ideas that underlay those words.

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it's always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.

If you're a speech writer for a president, you don't really see all that much of him because there's so many layers between you and him. But with a vice president, it's different.

A president is always cosseted by his staff.

The job of the president of the United States is to talk to the public, is to explain to them. Now, some presidents talk too much, like Bill Clinton. Some presidents try to talk but don't know how, like George Bush senior.

In the Reagan administration, a great speech was just the first step in a long process. In the Obama administration, it's the only step.

Convention speeches are powerful tools to bend the curve of public opinion. George H. W. Bush's 1988 convention speech is a great example. His son's speech was also quite powerful.

Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives.

Any time the president talks, you listen.