It’s not been a great week for the Anthony Weiner campaign. Aside from the candidate’s own missteps, his communications director and spokesperson, Barbara Morgan, made her own mess. Speaking to a reporter from a political website, Talking Points Memo, Morgan lambasted former intern Olivia Nuzzi and her article, which painted an unflattering picture of the Weiner campaign and its team. Morgan’s tirade broke just about every spokesperson training rule and used almost every expletive in the book.
To be sure being a press spokesperson for a politician is stressful under the best of circumstances. Working for the embattled campaign of the sexting former Congressman has got to be like living inside a pressure cooker. But Morgan should have known better. One of the cardinal rules of spokesperson training is to keep your cool, no matter what. If you lose your temper, you lose control. Morgan’s outburst didn’t serve her boss at all; instead Morgan became the story.
Morgan thought the interview was off-the-record, which is no excuse either. Nothing is ever really off-the-record.
On the plus side, Morgan did apologize and even added some humor, tweeting a photo of a swear jar and noting that she had to pay up. Nuzzi accepted the apology.
To be sure this story will fade away. However, Morgan’s experience is a good reminder of the importance of staying calm and the pitfalls of a spokesperson losing one’s temper, no matter how outrageous the situation.
