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Rich Galen has been described as "what you get when you cross a political hack with a philosopher." Rich Galen's career includes work in and out of politics, in and out of the United States. Rich Galen did a tour of duty in Iraq where he went at the request of the White House. The assignment - which was to have lasted about eight weeks, stretched into six months. While there, Rich Galen was responsible for bringing the message of the positive aspects of what the coalition was doing in Iraq back to Middle America.
Rich Galen has been press secretary to Dan Quayle, when the former Vice President was a Congressman and a U.S. Senator; and to Newt Gingrich when Gingrich was House Republican Whip and, in 1996 became the communications director of the political office of Speaker Gingrich. Rich Galen also has extensive non-US experience. At the time of the dissolution of the Communist governments in Eastern Europe, Rich Galen was one of a select number of Americans sent over to help build a democratic political infrastructure. He spent a significant amount of time in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and what was then Czechoslovakia.
Rich Galen is a senior advisor to the world-wide public relations firm, Manning, Selvage & Lee in Washington, DC. Mr. Galen has been married for over 30 years. He and his wife, Susan, live in Virginia. They have one son, Reed, who is 29 years old.
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Rich Galen (May 23, 2012)
There's a very useful idiom: "The wheels are coming off."
That's not a description of the campaign of President Barack Obama. Yet. But if the past two weeks are any... more
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Rich Galen (May 21, 2012)
President Barack Obama was in Chicago hosting the NATO conference over the weekend trying to negotiate, literally, a pathway through the twin Stan thickets - Paki and... more
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Rich Galen (May 18, 2012)
After Vice President Joe Biden backed President Barack Obama into a corner on same sex marriage there has been a flurry of activity surrounding the issue, but not much - if... more
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Rich Galen (May 16, 2012)
The investing community is agog at the prospect of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Facebook on Friday.
If you're under 103, you probably have a Facebook page. You and... more
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Rich Galen (May 14, 2012)
Let's start with Europe and work our way back.
The Greeks held elections last week and they have not been able to form a government since.
The leader of the... more
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Rich Galen (May 11, 2012)
When Joe Biden was selected by Barack Obama to be his Vice Presidential running mate I was thrilled.
I thought "If Obama wins, Biden's propensity to trip over... more
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Rich Galen (May 09, 2012)
For a campaign that has been up-and-running since just about January 21, 2009, the Obama crowd did not have a good "official" first week.
Last weekend,... more
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Rich Galen (May 04, 2012)
Sometimes even the best intentioned deals turn out badly.
The continuing saga of Chen Guangcheng appears it might be one of them.
For those who have been busy getting... more
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Rich Galen (May 02, 2012)
President Barack Obama made a trip to Afghanistan to put an exclamation point on the anniversary of the attack which resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
Air Force... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 30, 2012)
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple (neé Apple Computer) "is the most valuable company" in the world. On the heels of its quarterly report last week, stock in Apple... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 29, 2012)
The reason I came to Ghana was to help publicize the introduction of two vaccines to the Ghanaian heath care system a rotaviral vaccine and a pneumococcal vaccine for... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 25, 2012)
Anyone who has every traveled overseas will tell you the hardest thing to do is to keep up with events back in the U.S. of A.
It's hard to follow the Nationals,... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 23, 2012)
According to two pieces I read over the weekend, the world is coming to an end but I am going to be out-of-town for it.
I am at JFK awaiting a flight to Accra, Ghana to... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 20, 2012)
The Secret Service Hookers-in-Columbia scandal will go on for weeks.
It will spread to the military - not so much the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) - but to the... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 18, 2012)
Let me start by saying that I like Hillary Rosen. She's not a friend of mine, but she is an acquaintance and we have worked together on various projects over the... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 16, 2012)
I have no idea what happened, or didn't happen, in Cartagena last week when at least 11 Secret Service Agents were suddenly sent home and replaced by a different... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 11, 2012)
Rick Santorum called it a day yesterday afternoon.
In one of those weird campaign events, Santorum's folks tried to keep what the event was to be under wraps until about 2... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 09, 2012)
I didn't pay much attention to the Masters golf tournament this weekend.
On the religious front, the Mullings Director of Standards & Practices and I drove to Long Island... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 06, 2012)
• On Wednesday I was invited by the former national political reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dick Polman, who is now the "Writer-in-Residence" at the University of... more
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Rich Galen (Apr 04, 2012)
President Barack Obama does not like the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ok, that's an overstatement. This one is closer to the truth: President Barack Obama does not like the U.S.... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 30, 2012)
Health care and Energy were the big stories this week in Washington, DC. The three-days of arguments at the Supreme Court of the United States (which we, in the... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 28, 2012)
Everything I know about Constitutional law I learned in one three-hour class at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio 45750 taught by Dr. Robert Hill.
It turns out I learned a... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 26, 2012)
The Hunger Games. The film did about $155 million in its opening weekend. I had never heard of it, or the trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins of which the first formed the... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 23, 2012)
Gasoline prices have climbed above $4 per gallon for regular at too many places across the nation. We know this because President Barack Obama has embarked on a four-day... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 21, 2012)
Mitt Romney won Illinois. Romney is now the nominee.
Period.
The exit polls showed Romney with a double digit lead in the early evening, and the CNN crew had to be... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 16, 2012)
Today, at 8 AM local time, the Apple iPad (colloquially, but not officially, known as the iPad 3) goes on sale at the hundreds of Apple stores in the US and overseas, plus... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 14, 2012)
Alabama and Mississippi. Southern States. States that help define the word "Southern" in the United States.
Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania - western Pennsylvania, not... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 12, 2012)
This will be a test. A civility test. I want to talk about this Rush Limbaugh v Bill Maher business of using really bad words to describe people they don't agree... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 09, 2012)
Mitt Romney won Super Tuesday. He won Super Tuesday in grand fashion, winning 6 of the 10 states in play and getting (according to the Associated Press) 212 of the 390... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 07, 2012)
At 10:08 PM Rick Santorum was hanging on to a two percentage point lead in Ohio, but it was a very good night for Santorum no matter what happens as the rest of Ohio's... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 05, 2012)
Tomorrow is Super Tuesday, 2012. As in real life, some Supers are more super than others. There have been dreadful, for instance, Superbowls and, for that matter Superbowl... more
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Rich Galen (Mar 02, 2012)
Super Tuesday. Ten states this year (21 on the GOP side four years ago). In most cases only registered Republicans can actually vote, but Democrats and Independents, citizens... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 29, 2012)
All over big cities across this great nation of ours Establishment Republicans (ERs) are breathing again because Mitt Romney won both Michigan and Arizona. And Michigan.... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 27, 2012)
We haven't had any election activity since February 7 when Rick Santorum led the pack in the popular votes in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado.
That led to a Perry-like,... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 17, 2012)
The General Assembly of the United Nations took the boldest of steps yesterday by adopting a resolution condemning the government of Syria's on-going assault on its citizens.... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 15, 2012)
The National Journal's Ron Brownstein reported last night that with Rick Santorum taking a two percentage point lead over Mitt Romney in the latest CNN poll, it marks the... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 13, 2012)
Ever since the White House announced its new rules on requiring employers that provide health insurance to provide contraceptive services with no additional cost to their... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 10, 2012)
In the 1965 film "The Agony and the Ecstasy" Michelangelo (played by Charlton Heston) is taking his sweet time painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julius II... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 08, 2012)
There were election events last night in Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado.
Missouri was a primary, but it was a state-wide beauty contest. No delegates were at stake.... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 06, 2012)
The Nevada GOP couldn't get the votes counted. By halftime of the Superbowl CNN.com was reporting that a full day after the caucuses only 83 percent of the precincts had been... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 03, 2012)
Once again, Donald Trump trumped the rest of the world and made a grand opera out of an otherwise modestly interesting situation.
You may be aware that the Republican... more
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Rich Galen (Feb 01, 2012)
No campaign for President is a straight line upward. Some campaigns are a flat line; some are a straight line down, but no Republican in a contested cycle has ever run the... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 30, 2012)
The polls in South Carolina and Florida have been the statistical equivalent of a zero-gravity flight: Sharp climbs followed by steep dives.
On Monday January 16 - five... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 27, 2012)
The 19th debate in this GOP primary season was held in Florida. This is the last one before Tuesday's primary. From this point on, the pace of primaries and caucuses... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 25, 2012)
One of the big things about the State of the Union address is talking about which Cabinet Secretary has been sent to an undisclosed location in case the Capitol Building goes... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 20, 2012)
The Lad came East to visit with some clients and had dinner with the Mullings Director of Standards and Practices and, as happens at family dinners in Your Nation's Capital,... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 17, 2012)
When political professionals get together to discuss things like ads, campaign tactics, and debates they know the only thing that matters in the end is:... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 16, 2012)
Some of you might have noticed that I like to do TV; which is to say I will go anywhere, anytime, to be on with anyone, on any TV outlet including "Bob's TV Network" (BTV)... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 13, 2012)
This is the first of an occasional series of what I am calling "Obama's America."
While the political elite are focused on the Republican primary fight, the rest of... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 11, 2012)
Let's review the concept of winning:
Winning, in our culture, means coming in first. You don't win by coming in second or fifth. You win by coming in first.
Mitt Romney... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 06, 2012)
A political campaign is like a wedding or the launch of a space vehicle in that the planning and activity starts sometimes years in advance, reaches a frenzied pitch in the... more
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Rich Galen (Jan 04, 2012)
At long last, real voters cast real votes on behalf of real candidates. One down, 49 to go and that doesn't include American Somoa, Guam, the District of Columbia and other... more