Part of former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s fifth campaign reboot is, apparently, media training for the candidate. Gabriel Sherman at New York magazine reports the Bush campaign has hired Jon Kraushar to help improve the Republican’s image:
According to a source close to the campaign, Bush will be media-coached by Jon Kraushar, a legendary image-maker who’s worked with [Roger] Ailes for decades. In the 1980s, Ailes and Kraushar were business partners at Ailes Communications, the political-consulting shop Ailes founded. It was during this time that Ailes and Krashaur famously coached Jeb’s father and Dan Quayle to the White House in 1988. A year later, Ailes and Kraushar collaborated on the best-selling book You Are the Message, which has become something of a Bible for public speakers and television pundits. After going their separate ways, Ailes and Kraushar remained close. Fox pundits regularly go to Kraushar for training and Ailes recommends politicians to him. During the 2012 presidential election, Ailes sent Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, to Kraushar for help….
…inside the campaign, Bush’s poor communications skills have become a source of tension among advisers and donors. One source told me that some senior Bush aides are frustrated that he wears glasses and suits on the trail, which makes it difficult for him to relate to a large swath of GOP primary voters (or at least the Trump ones). His weight has also been an issue. Bush dropped 40 pounds on the Paleo diet in preparation for his run, but the dramatic weight loss has left him appearing uncomfortable in his new body and prone to awkward movements.
…inside the campaign, Bush’s poor communications skills have become a source of tension among advisers and donors. One source told me that some senior Bush aides are frustrated that he wears glasses and suits on the trail, which makes it difficult for him to relate to a large swath of GOP primary voters (or at least the Trump ones). His weight has also been an issue. Bush dropped 40 pounds on the Paleo diet in preparation for his run, but the dramatic weight loss has left him appearing uncomfortable in his new body and prone to awkward movements.
There are echoes here of another image-troubled presidential candidate paying for a high-dollar consultant. Time magazine reported 16 years ago (almost to the day) that the Al Gore presidential campaign was paying Naomi Wolf to help change the vice president’s perception as a “beta male.”
From the 1999 Time article:
Wolf, 37, is apparently counseling the Veep on more than just style points. Democratic Party sources say it’s Wolf who, more than anyone else, has urged Gore to bare his teeth at the President he has served loyally for more than seven years. Wolf has argued internally that Gore is a “Beta male” who needs to take on the “Alpha male” in the Oval Office before the public will see him as the top dog. In private, sources say, Gore expresses an almost primal bitterness about his relationship with Clinton, contending that while he was crucial to getting the President elected in 1992, the public’s disgust with Clinton now threatens his own ambitions. At last week’s forum with rival Bill Bradley, Gore startled his audience by seizing upon the first question that was thrown to him–a broad one about the questionable behavior of politicians in Washington–to talk about “the disappointment and anger that you feel toward President Clinton, and I felt it myself.”
Gore was famously paying Wolf $15,000 a month for her services. When asked how much Kraushar is being paid, a Bush spokeswoman replied, “we don’t discuss debate strategy.”
