Matthew Scully

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Matthew Scully
BornMarch 30, 1959
Casper, Wyoming
Occupation(s)Journalist, political writer

Matthew Scully (born March 30, 1959) [1] is an American author, journalist, and political writer who has also written on animal welfare.

Contents

Early life

Scully was born in Casper, Wyoming and lived his childhood throughout Colorado, Ohio, and New York,. [1] [2] He attended Arizona State University in the 1980s. He married Emmanuelle Boers in 1998. In 2008 when Matthew was working for Sarah Palin in the McCain campaign, John McCain lost to Barack Obama, causing them to then move to Los Angeles, California. In 2013 they moved to a Suburb of Phoenix, Arizona where they currently live.

Career

President George W. Bush prepares his State of the Union speech with Dan Bartlett, White House Communications Director, at left, Mike Gerson, director of Presidential Speechwriting, and speech writers Matthew Scully and John McConnell in the Oval Office Thursday, January 23, 2003. Bush prepares for State of the Union 2003.jpg
President George W. Bush prepares his State of the Union speech with Dan Bartlett, White House Communications Director, at left, Mike Gerson, director of Presidential Speechwriting, and speech writers Matthew Scully and John McConnell in the Oval Office Thursday, January 23, 2003.

Scully worked as a speechwriter in the 2000 presidential campaign, and served as a special assistant and senior speechwriter for President George W. Bush from January 2001 to August 2004. He also wrote speeches for vice-presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, and Mike Pence. Governor Robert P. Casey of Pennsylvania, and Bob Dole. [3]

In an article in The Atlantic , Scully accused former White House chief speechwriter Michael Gerson of wrongfully taking credit for speeches written by Scully and other members of President George W. Bush's speechwriting team. [3] Scully served as literary editor of National Review and has written for The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Washington Post , The Los Angeles Times , The Atlantic Monthly , and The American Conservative .

Palin acceptance speech

Prior to the 2008 Republican National Convention, Senator John McCain (the Republican presidential nominee to-be) asked Scully to write the acceptance speech for his vice presidential nominee, whom McCain had not yet chosen. Scully wrote the speech two weeks before the convention. He wrote the speech for a man to deliver, not a woman. [4] [5] [6] Four days before the convention, Scully was surprised when he was informed that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was to be McCain's running mate. Scully then worked all night to tailor the speech to Palin and also to incorporate new campaign strategy shifts that were being rapidly formed in intensive discussions by McCain campaign staff. [7]

Palin delivered the 40-minute speech at the convention on September 3, 2008. [8]

Melania Trump 2016 convention speech

Scully was hired along with John McConnell to write "the biggest speech of Melania Trump’s life," to be delivered on July 18, 2016, at the 2016 Republican National Convention. [9] Scully and McConnell sent Ms. Trump a draft a month before the convention; however, one of Ms. Trump's writers rewrote most of the speech herself, inserting "word-for-word repetition of phrases" from Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, leading to focused criticism of the writer. [9]

Animal welfare

Scully is the author of Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (2002), described by Natalie Angier in a review published in The New York Times (October 27, 2002) as a "horrible, wonderful, important book... because the author, an avowed America First conservative Republican and former speechwriter for George W. Bush, is an unexpected defender of the animals against the depredations of profit driven corporations, swaggering, proponents of renewed 'harvesting' of whales and elephants and others who insist that all of nature is humanity's romper room, to play with, rearrange, and plunder at will." [10] Nichols Fox in a review published in The Washington Post wrote that Dominion is "destined to become a classic defense of mercy." [11]

As a conservative Christian Scully argues that mankind has dominion over animals but should be compassionate and merciful in their treatment towards them. He argues from a Christian animal welfare position and is not an animal rights activist. [12] Scully argues against the philosophies of "no-pain theorists" who hold that animals are not conscious or do not feel pain, including Stephen Budiansky, Peter Carruthers and David Oderberg. [13] The book strongly argues against using animals for food (factory farming) and sport (hunting). The book was positively reviewed in the journal Animal Law , which noted that "Dominion asks tough questions and forces us to face the reality of civilization's needless cruelty toward animals." [13]

Selected publications

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References

  1. 1 2 "Matthew Scully". HappyCow . Santa Monica, California. Archived from the original on 2013-07-03. Retrieved 2013-05-22. Birth place: Casper, Wyoming
  2. ↑ Bollard, Lewis E. (2008-11-21). "Maverick for Mercy: Matthew Scully extends compassionate conservatism to animals". The Harvard Crimson . Archived from the original on 2013-08-07. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
  3. 1 2 Baker, Peter (2007-08-11). "Bush's Muse Stands Accused: Speeches Weren't His, Colleague Says". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2012-11-06. Retrieved 2011-04-05. Scully says it is an image puffed up by an unrelenting talent for self-promotion
  4. ↑ Ferguson, Barbara (2008-09-06). "McCain speech breaks record". Arab News . Saudi Arabia. Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2011-03-14. the speech had actually been written two weeks before the convention, and had to be tweaked, because it was originally written for a man, not a woman.
  5. ↑ Zeese, Kevin (2008-09-06). "The Republican Masquerade Is Over, Time to Remove The Masks". American Chronicle. Beverly Hills, California. Archived from the original on 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2011-03-14. The speech was reportedly written two weeks before Palin was chosen by former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully.
  6. ↑ Calabresi, Massimo (2008-09-04). "The Man Behind Palin's Speech". Time . New York City. Archived from the original on 2013-05-16. Retrieved 2013-05-17. before he or anyone else knew who the nominee would be
  7. ↑ Draper, Robert (2008-10-22). "The Making (and Remaking) of McCain". The New York Times Magazine . Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-05-17. introduced them to McCain's running mate. The two aides were surprised.
  8. ↑ Bash, Dana; King, John; Steinhauser, Paul (2008-09-04). "Palin accepts nomination, slams Obama in speech". CNN . Atlanta, Georgia: Turner Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-05-17. Sarah Palin accepted the Republican Party's nomination for vice president following a lengthy standing ovation as she took the stage at the Republican National Convention Wednesday.
  9. 1 2 Haberman, Maggie (19 July 2016). "How Melania Trump's Speech Veered Off Course and Caused an Uproar". New York Times . Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  10. ↑ Angier, Natalie (2002-10-27). "The Most Compassionate Conservative". New York Times . Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved 2013-05-17.
  11. ↑ "Book Reviews". Matthew Scully.com. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  12. ↑ "Matthew Scully". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  13. 1 2 Patel, Shennie (2003). "A Review of Dominion". Animal Law. 9 (323): 299–322.
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