By John Ruane
As the Republican primary race heats up, it’s obvious to anyone who has worked in public PR for any length of time that the media trainers and public relations professionals supporting the candidates are working overtime to keep their politicians prepared for the toughest questions, while staying on message. Regardless, when Michele Bachmann is in front of a microphone doing an interview, her PR people must be sweating bullets.
For any presidential candidate, one stupid remark can cost them the race and send everyone in their organization packing up their offices to go home.
During the GOP Tea Party Debate in Florida, it was obvious that she had been fully prepared by her staff to attack Texas Governor Rick Perry for signing an executive order requiring all 12 year-old girls in the State of Texas to have a HPV injection, a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer. The order was overturned by the state legislature, which made the subject nil until Bachmann and staff decided to use it in a debate against Perry. She had great ammo. Perry was going over the collective heads of parents and telling 12 year-old girls they have to get the injection. Then she slammed him again citing contributions Perry had received from the maker of the vaccine, Merck, indicating he had been bought. The debate critics were giving her a clear knockout victory until she decided to knock herself out.
In an interview after the debate, she said that she had been approached by a tearful woman whose daughter had the injection and “it caused mental retardation.” Her excuse for stating this information in a media interview was that she was just reporting what she had been told to her by the woman.
Now, as anyone who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry knows all too well, you don’t make a claim about the benefits or side effects of a medicine unless you have FDA approval to do so. There is a responsibility that goes along with communicating information about medicines. We all have to be very careful about staying on message when answering questions about a medicine’s benefits as well as those about side effects. In our written statements, we have to offer fair balance about treatment benefits by including the side effects. Those are the FDA rules. For those reading this who aren’t familiar with those rules, but have been inundated with pharmaceutical product commercials over the past decade, that is why you hear the litany of side effects stated at the end of each commercial.
However, candidate Bachmann didn’t have that message sensitivity, or understanding of the responsibilities that go along with it, when she blurted out that information about mental retardation. And the media firestorm began. Health officials criticized her comments as dangerous and irresponsible.
Now here’s the kicker on all of this. Was Bachmann just ignorant about the responsibilities that go along with speaking about medical treatments or is it possible that some misguided staffer set that entire charade up prior to the debate? That’s pretty cynical, I know, but it was actually raised when Bachmann made an appearance on the Tonight Show and Jay Leno asked her why the woman who made that claim hasn’t stepped forward. The easy answer is she knows that she and her daughter would be crucified in the news media, which is most likely the case. Or as Leno’s tone suggested, Bachmann made it up to place greater heat on Perry.
Personally, I don’t believe the assertion made through the tone of Leno’s question. I do think Bachmann’s media professionals know they have to guard against any impromptu situation their candidate is placed in. Despite Leno’s attack, it was very apparent Bachmann had been media trained well sticking to the key messages, and when pushed for other answers, reverted right back to the key messages. She did a very good job and I’m sure her PR staff was smiling.
This is very similar to an interview she had done a few weeks earlier with Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation. He asked one tough question after another and Bachmann proved that she could answer each question respectfully, and then as trained, add her key message. But then it came to the most challenging question, when he asked her about the statement she made in Florida, saying that the earthquake and hurricane that hit the East coast was a message sent by God to get the attention of the politicians.
Bachmann later claimed it was a joke. Right. If you saw the statement, there was nothing in the delivery that could have indicated that the remark was a metaphor, satirical, sarcastic or humorous. She was in front of her Tea Party supporters who have no love for politicians (Who does?). Nonetheless, it was a ridiculously controversial statement that drew tremendous media criticism. Her PR staff had to come up with something to get her off the hook, so they went with the humor alibi. I sure didn't believe it and knew it was probably the only answer she could give to get her past the crisis.
In many ways, Bachmann is very much like Sarah Palin on the campaign trail. They are speaking to groups of supporters and think they can speak their mind with no media backlash. Palin found out the hard way and her staff started working to control her entire message by limiting her media interviews to conservative media organizations, of which there are many in this country. That will work until she decides to formally announce her run for the presidency. At that point, whether she likes it or not, she will have to maneuver through the media minefield just like her pal Bachmann and the other candidates. She will have to stay on message.
Bachmann is quickly learning that staying on message at all times is the only way to get through that minefield she faces every time a reporter sticks a microphone in front of her. She has been stubborn about this though, still thinking she can voice her opinions in an impromptu situation. As she continues to get burned, the key message to her will be, just say what has been agreed upon if you want to have any chance of winning. Otherwise, they will all be packing up to go home very soon.
*
* *
John Ruane runs Ruane Communications in Chicago. |