Apparently, there was some miscommunication at the offices of A. Larry Ross Communications, the firm that handles publicity for Get Motivated Seminars, Inc. Last week, as you will recall, Ross's office sent out a press release announcing that Tamara Lowe, co-founder of Get Motivated, wasn't at all happy with some of the coverage George W. Bush received after making his speaking debut at last Monday's motivational hoedown in Fort Worth. In the note, Lowe was quoted as saying Bush "delivered an inspirational, articulate and
engaging speech" that received thunderous applause, yet the "media coverage continues to caricature his performance."
We didn't talk to Lowe Friday, as we'd hoped, because she didn't OK the press release after all, or so she tells Unfair Park today: "My publicity team sent that out without my approval," she says. "I was disappointed it went out. I don't have any frustration. Everybody's entitled to their opinion." Well, all right then.
"Part of it's entertainment," she says. "I consider it a badge of honor to be spoofed by The Daily Show or Jay Leno." Fair enough.
But what about the line in her missive about Bush's speech being "the best ever" given by a former president?
"He was comfortable and commanding, an amazing leader and communicator
on the stage," she tells us. "It reminded me of Al Gore. During his
tenure in the White House he was a stiff communicator. You didn't see
his humor and intelligence until afterward."
Bush, she says,
structured parts of his speech around various portraits in the White
House and how they correspond to leadership principles. "He went
through and shared the challenges he faced and the ways he dealt with
that," she says. "The whole thing was first-class."
Though the lineup at the recent Fort Worth seminar was loaded with
Bush-era politicians, Lowe insists the company's role "is not to be a
political voice, but to be a forum," and stresses that she and her
husband's company has featured speakers from across the political
spectrum. The Fort Worth event's Republican-heavy tone was "partly because of
the demographic we were in," Lowe says. "The alumni of our events are
primarily responsible for the lineup of the day. We'll call people who
have come in the past and they tell us who they want to see."
