Beer, bar food and a group of speechwriters

Eavesdrop on the Washington Speechwriters Roundtable as they cheer and jeer the State of the Union Address.

Not all the group were political speechwriters; some hailed from trade associations (like the AMA and NADA), and one was a freelancer. But most were employees of Uncle Sam or had close links, with jobs that depend directly on policies addressed in the speech. Specifically represented were the Department of Commerce, Fannie Mae, FEMA, the Pentagon and USDA.

“Nice coordination on the red and blue neckties.”

“Hey bartender, thanks for adjusting the TV to closed captioning. Can you keep that big blue box with ‘Settings’ over Cheney?”

“Hillary and Barack don’t look too impressed. Or happy.”

“What’s a ‘junk medical lawsuit’?”

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