Ask any PR expert when the best time is to release bad news and you will always get the same response: on Friday afternoon.
Well, this is what the Clintons did with their shocking tax returns from the last eight years.
Released at 4 p.m. on a Friday.
Usually a sign that the news item needs to be buried in the slow weekend news cycle, so that it can be “old news” by the time Monday rolls around.
National Public Radio (NPR) expected around $50 million, but the Clintons made more than double that.
An instant comment in a USA blog:
“I need to marry Chelsea now.”
I was in Washington D.C. this weekend and I read the Saturday coverage by The New York Times (average), The Wall Street Journal (regular), The Washington Post (good) and the Financial Times (regular).
They were caught by surprise and, worse than that, the NYT and TWP didn’t add much today either.
So tomorrow, the bomb will be old news.
Mark Penn’s resignation will distract the critics.
But the reality is that the tax returns are political dynamite.
As NBC’s Jim Popkin said:
The Clintons’ wealth has skyrocketed since President Clinton left the White House.
In Clinton’s first year as president, 1993, he and Hillary Clinton reported total income of $293,757.
Last year, their estimated total income was $20.4 million.
That is an increase of 6,900%.
Or to put it another way, their income last year was 69 times greater than their first year in the White House.
And we need real experts to explain the WHYs of this instant fortune.
We need to know, for instance, WHO paid so much money for these Clinton speeches.
If the traditional media doesn’t provide the clues, the blogosphere will do it.
Wait and see — and let me know if you find great posts on this $109 million.
Tags: Clinton taxes