SEARCH
Richard  Grenell

Richard Grenell

Richard A. Grenell has nearly two decades of experience in all aspects of communications and public affairs, as well as extensive on and off-air commentary and lecture experience. Grenell has served as the primary communications advisor for public officials at the local, state, federal and international levels, as well as for a Fortune 500 ranked health care company with roughly $6 billion in revenues.

Grenell was appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush to serve as Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In this role, Grenell advised four U.S. Ambassadors - John D. Negroponte, John C. Danforth, John R. Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad - on the formulation and articulation of United States policy at the United Nations. Grenell was also appointed by John C. Danforth in 2004 as an Alternative Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations Security Council with full voting rights and privileges.

Grenell served as the United States Spokesman at the United Nations during the world body’s most turbulent time. He and his team led communications strategies on issues such as: the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq; peacekeeping operations in Haiti, Liberia, the Congo and Sudan; the conflict in the Middle East; Iran’s nuclear weapons program; a North Korean missile test; Syria/Lebanon conflict; and the UN’s Oil for Food Corruption investigation, to name a few. Grenell has consistently worked to align opinion leaders in Washington, DC and Hollywood with grass-roots activists through issues as diverse as kidney disease and the war in Sudan utilizing celebrities such as George Clooney, Ryan Gosling and Alonzo Mourning to name a few.

Grenell's writings and commentating regularly appear on Fox News, CBSNews, CNN, Politico, NewsMax, Huffington Post, Washington Times, Al-Jazeera and many more. Grenell also teaches at The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications. His writings can be seen at www.richardgrenell.com.

Grenell received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Government and Public Administration from Evangel College.

This week, we saw partisan Washington Post blogger David Weigel resign for getting caught showing his private but unabashed disdain for conservatives.  Weigel, who was hired by Post editors for his perceived thoughtful analysis of the issues, was actually a conservative hater and liberal lover in scribe’s clothing.  But were we really surprised?  It happens every day.

It’s happened again with Gail Collins of the New York Times.  But the difference between Weigel and Collins is that the Times celebrates her.  Since there are so few conservatives who read the Times anymore, except in self-defense, I thought I would remind them why we decided to stop buying it.

This morning I stumbled on a Times piece when a friend posted it on Facebook.  The title alone caught my attention because it was so unbelievable, “The Age of Nancy.” Writer Collins wrote an unabashed anthem to Nancy Pelosi that was filled with talking points straight from Nancy’s staff –

MIDEAST SYRIA US PELOSI

Let us sing a song about the wonderfulness of Nancy Pelosi.

What a run she’s been on. This week — with the big financial reform package edging toward completion, and the House approving a major campaign finance reform bill — was a reminder of what an incredibly productive speaker she’s become.

The piece actually made me laugh out loud because it was so emotional and partisan. Collins employs outdated metaphors and demonstrates that she’s not only a devoted and obsessive fan of the Speaker of the House, but also a profoundly uninteresting and unoriginal writer.  It’s brazen public relations spin from the Times and another example of their blatant advocacy for their favorite causes and politicians. (more…)

Having made a handsome living offending Scientologists, Catholics, Evangelicals and just about every ethnic group in the human family, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are writers who make people squirm, laugh and think. Now they’ve gone and outraged yet another religion.

Nearly every interest group, public official and celebrity caught up in the day’s news has been used in South Park’s story line to make viewers laugh.  The show is smart and thought-provoking, the jokes are crude and vulgar, and no one is immune from criticism.

I like South Park because it makes me laugh when I want to just laugh. It also makes me think when I want to just laugh. But truth be told, I, too, have been offended while watching (and laughing) at the show’s depiction of Christians, conservatives or gays in any given episode.

park11

When South Park took on Christianity and mocked Jesus Christ, I found myself a bit uncomfortable and somewhat offended, yet I was still humored.  I’ve even been so outraged by a stereotypical character or plotline that I’ve been moved to openly discuss it, analyze it with friends and bring it up in a later discussion.  That is what makes it unique. Stone’s and Parker’s appeal is their ability to offend everyone.  You know what you are getting when you watch South Park, so if you are upset by vulgar humor, it’s best not to watch it.

(more…)

On Friday, reporter Jessica Yellin got a chance to sit in as host of CNN’s show, Campbell Brown.  Yellin wasted no time in bringing her partisan political views front and center for the CNN audience to witness firsthand as she brought on for a one-on-one interview the man running for Governor of California – Jerry Brown.

Yellin

In a live performance from the California Democratic Convention in Yellin’s hometown of Los Angeles, Yellin shockingly interviewed Brown and never once told the viewers that Jerry Brown is running for Governor of her home state or that he was sitting at the California Democratic Convention in the town where she grew up.

jerry-brown

In a cozy chat, Yellin introduced Brown to CNN as “California’s top law enforcement official” — immediately positioning him as someone more interested in issues than politics even though Brown is in the middle of a hot campaign for Governor.  Yellin threw Brown multiple softball questions, with not a single follow-up question to Brown’s long diatribes and no interruptions to Brown’s soliloquies.  Yellin, who is known for her liberal political views, even trumpeted the Brown campaign’s messages about his presumed Republican opponent, Meg Whitman. (more…)

Ed Schultz from MSNBC’s The Ed Show has a bright idea: Congress should use the Fairness Doctrine to regulate talk radio.

In a laughable attempt to control ratings through government manipulation of the radio airwaves, Schultz says that conservatives are “low- information voters,” and therefore, the government has a responsibility to break up the free market supply and demand system used by radio station owners. Mr. Ed claims that because the five largest commercial talk radio station owners run a majority of conservative shows on their stations, the government should step in to balance the numbers out – a kind of liberal affirmative action program for talk radio.

mr_ed

But this was no April fool’s joke – it was March 31.  Schultz was serious. (more…)

Let’s summarize: A donor to the Democratic National Committee threatens to kill Republican Whip Eric Cantor in the same newscycle that a donor to the Republican National Committee gets financially reimbursed for going to a racy club in Los Angeles, but the old-school news media leads with the GOP donor story.

cantor

I’d actually argue that threatening to kill someone from the other party is a more serious offense and deserves serious attention – especially in light of the four-day media frenzy over “intimidation” tactics after the vote to hijack health care. But maybe that’s just because I live in Los Angeles? (more…)

The day after the federal government hijacked one-fifth of the U.S. economy in order to give health insurance to unemployed 26-year-olds was a giddy day for CNN’s Rick Sanchez. The 3 p.m. EDT host for the low-rated cable news network couldn’t contain  excitement for the healthcare hijack that had just taken place in Washington.

Sanchez gave us 25 minutes of non-stop gloating from supporters of the healthcare take-over. Sanchez gave us Obama, Biden, Pelosi, more Obama, Biden’s over-the-top and profane characterization that this is a really big deal, more Obama, Ted Kennedy’s widow telling us this is a really big deal, more Obama and a really long pen-signing ceremony to celebrate the occasion. We also got some yucking-it-up moments from Democratic members of Congress telling the President they had cast some tough votes on a really big issue.

RickSanchez

Then Sanchez gave us Analysis 101 with David Gergen and another reporter, conversing with him on how the Republicans keep talking about over-turning the legislation but the reality is they won’t be able to do it. Sanchez assured us that he knew it was all talk – and that it couldn’t be done. When Gergen tried to bring up the fact that public opinion was on the Republicans’ side as evident by the most recent poll showing a large number of Americans were not pleased with the takeover, Sanchez jumped in to say that in his humble opinion: (more…)