Political Leaders – Now I've Heard Everything

Caught in The Cogs of The Washington Political Machine: Former Speechwriter Matt Latimer

March 21, 2025Bill Thompson

Perhaps no job in Corporate America could ever fully prepare you for a job with the federal government.

Or more particularly, the United States Senate, or the Pentagon, or the white house.

Someone who worked in all three of those venues in the early 2000s will tell you, it’s not just a different world, it’s a different Universe.

Matt Latimer started his Washington career working in the US Senate – at one point working alongside Ann Coulter – before taking a job at the Pentagon as a speechwriter for then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

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Latimer joined the White House in 2007 as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, a position he held until resigning a year and a half later. disillusioned with how the president and his advisors handled the financial crisis.

A year later, Latimer wrote a memoir he called Speech-less. He and I met one day that fall in the cafe at our local Borders bookstore to talk about it.

So here now, from 2009, Matt Latimer.

Matt Latimer now heads a literary and public relations firm he co-founded in Northern Virginia.

Bob Dole’s Incredible Story of Survival in World War II

March 7, 2025Bill Thompson

In April 1945 the war in Europe was nearing its end. But battles were still raging, And on April 14 one such battle left a young American 2nd Lieutenant gravely wounded.

His name was Bob Dole, a 21-year-old from Kansas who had joined the Army in 1942.

The German shell that hit him that day in Italy in 1945 was nearly fatal. Miraculously Dole survived, but it would be another three years before he was out of the hospital.

Dole, of course, went on to a long, illustrious, and successful political career, culminating with the 1996 Republican nomination for president.

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In 2005 Dole wrote a memoir of his World War II experience, a book called One Soldier’s Story. I met with him in his Washington DC office one day that spring to talk about it, some 60 years after he nearly died on that battlefield in Italy.

So here now, from 2005, Bob Dole.

Bob Dole died in 2021 – he was 98.

The Power of Liberalism: Insights from Robert Reich’s 2004 Book

February 12, 2025Bill Thompson

Are you a liberal?

For several decades now that word has carried a negative connotation, largely through the efforts of conservatives.

But some 20 years ago one of the country’s most prominent liberals, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, wrote that most Americans probably are liberal.

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His 2004 book was called Reason, It was subtitled Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America.

Robert Reich and I talked about his book in the spring of 2004, just as the presidential campaign that year was heating up . But listen to how timely and relevant the things we talked about 20 years ago still sound today.

So here now from 2004, Robert Reich..

Robert Rice is 78 now. He blogs at robertreich.org.

How The “Gotcha”Culture is Destroying American Politics

January 31, 2025Bill Thompson

American politics has become a minefield of “gotcha ”.

The media do it to politicians, politicians do it to each other, even the media do it to each other.

And it’s eroding our entire system, says one man who was once a participant.

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Washington DC attorney Lanny Davis was formerly special counsel to President Bill Clinton, but has also represented other politicians, billionaires, and a wide range of other clients.

In 2006 Davis wrote a book that he called Scandal: How Gotcha Politics Is Destroying America.

He and I sat down for a conversation about the book in his k Street office in August of 2006.

So here now, from 2006, Lanny Davis.

Lanny Davis is 79 now.

Christine Todd Whitman: Left Behind By The Radicalized GOP

January 10, 2025Bill Thompson

There was a time in American politics, not that long ago, when there were actually liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats, and a broad range of moderates.

But the landscape has changed, and the parties have become much more polarized – reciprocally, it seems, the MAGA-dominated GOP.

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Twenty years ago a prominent Republican warned us about the divide and what it was doing to the country.

Christine Todd Whitman, the two-term Governor of New Jersey and Rockefeller Republican, former EPA Administrator, said the 21st century GOP was turning away from the party she had grown up in.

Get your copy of Christine Todd Whitman’s book

Whitman wrote a book in 2005 called It’s My Party, Too – The Battle For the Heart of the GOP. She and I talked about the book in February of 2005, just a couple of weeks after George W. Bush’s second term began.

So here now, from 2005, Christine Todd Whitman .

Christine Todd Whitman is 78 now. In 2022 she and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang co-founded the centrist “Forward Party.”

An Admiring Look at Ronald Reagan by His Top Speechwriter Peggy Noonan

December 9, 2024December 7, 2024Bill Thompson

Broadly speaking there are two schools of thought about the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

On the one hand some see Reagan as the personification of all that was wrong with the 1980s, an era characterized by that line from a movie: “Greed is good.”

But then there are those who revere our 40th president as not just a great president but as a rare and exceptional leader of great principle and virtue.

https://amzn.to/41iG3LfGet your copy of Peggy Noonan’s book

Into that latter category falls Peggy Noonan, Reagan’s top speechwriter, who crafted some of Ronald Reagan[‘s most memorable orations.

In 2001, a dozen years after he left office, Reagan was the subject of an admiring book by Peggy Noonan called When Character Was King. That’s when she and I had one of our many conversations.

So here now, from 2001, Peggy Noonan.

Peggy Noonan Is 74 now. She writes a column for the Wall Street Journal.

John Kasich And His Plea: Stand For Something

September 25, 2024September 21, 2024Bill Thompson

Whatever happened to honesty, Integrity, and accountability?

And not just among our politicians, but our sports heroes, our entertainers, and all leaders.

Longtime Ohio politician John Kasich recognized years ago that the country is in a battle, of sorts, to reclaim personal responsibility.

It was a message that Kasich put forward in a 2006 book he called Stand For Something.

The conversation you’re about to hear took place that spring, six years after his first run for president, and four years before he ran for governor of Ohio.

So here now, from 2006, John Kasich.

John Kasich is now 72. He lives in Ohio.

Revisiting Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 Presidential Bid

August 21, 2024August 17, 2024Bill Thompson

The 2024 Democratic National Convention is taking place this week in Chicago.

Back in 1968, Democrats also held their convention in Chicago. That year, the incumbent president had decided not to seek reelection.

With Lyndon Johnson out of the picture, one of the leading contenders for the nomination that year was Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy. His anti-Vietnam War position resonated with a large segment of Americans.

Ultimately, of course, the nomination went to vice President Hubert Humphrey, who lost to Richard Nixon in the November election.

McCarthy remained in the Senate until 1970, and ran for president three more times, but never again held public office.

In 1987 McCarthy wrote a political memoir called Up ‘Til Now. When I met him that spring to talk about it, it was the first of several conversations he and I would have.

For context, in 1987 the Reagan administration was involved in the war in Nicaragua which at the time some were comparing to the quagmire of Vietnam. McCarthy talks about that, and the 1988 presidential race that would ultimately pit Vice President George H.W. Bush against Democrat Mike Dukakis.

So here now, from 1987, Eugene McCarthy.

Eugene McCarthy died in 2005 at age 89.

An Extraordinary Couple: William Cohen & Janet Langhart Cohen

August 7, 2024August 3, 2024Bill Thompson

We’re all familiar with the old saw that “opposites attract.” But how opposite is too opposite?

At first glance it might have seemed that William Cohen and Janet Langhart were just too opposite to succeed as a couple

Cohen was white, Jewish, Republican.

Langhart was black, Christian, and Democrat.

But when journalist Langhart interviewed Senator Cohen, something sparked. And in 1996, they were married. The following year President Bill Clinton appointed Cohen his Defense Secretary.

Get your copy of William Cohen & Janet Langhart’s book

The Cohens’ marriage has been sustained by a mutual empathy, as both have
faced racial or religious discrimination each has experienced since childhood.

In 2007 William Cohen and Janet Langhart Cohen co-wrote a book called Love in Black And White. That’s when I had the chance to sit down for a few minutes with both of them to talk about it.

So here now from 2007, William Cohen and Janet Langhart Cohen.

William Cohen is now 82. Janet Langhart is also 82. They celebrated their 28th anniversary last February.

Barry Goldwater: 1964 GOP Nominee’s Optimism

July 12, 2024July 6, 2024Bill Thompson

The 2024 Republican National Convention begins Monday in Milwaukee. Donald Trump will be formally nominated as the GOP standard bearer, and we expect to learn who his running mate will be.

Sixty years ago, convening in San Francisco, Republicans nominated firebrand Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater as their party’s nominee against incumbent Democrat Lyndon Johnson.

But ,many Republicans in 1964 saw Goldwater as too extreme. And Goldwater himself didn’t do much to calm those concerns, with his acceptance speech.

After being trounced by LBJ that fall, Goldwater remained in the Senate for another 22 years, helping shape the conservative policies of the GOP.

After his retirement, he wrote a memoir called simply Goldwater. And when I met him in 1988, the country was in the thick of the George H.W. Bush vs Michael Dukakis race. And as you’re about to hear, Goldwater had some very specific ideas about that contest.

So, here now, from 1988, Barry Goldwater.

Barry Goldwater died in 1998. He was 89.