YouSaid · the spoken record

Cody Keenan

lines on the record
83
first
2017-01-26
most recent
2017-01-26
sittings or episodes
1
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podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “Yeah, it was his, you know, I'll fully admit in the beginning it was the name and the prestige he held, because I didn't know yet what was so important about politics. I mean, I came in, you know, like I said, a West Wing fan, and that's what I pictured everything was. And you learn quickly it's nothing like that. It is not sexy walk and talks. You don't learn or you don't solve the world's problems in an hour. What I learned, the most important lesson Yeah, that's the most important thing I learned was in Kennedy's mailroom and it was opening the mail.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “And so I wrote what I thought was a nice speech. And then this young Senator Barack Obama got up afterwards and gave a far better speech. And I was standing in the back wall of the room watching this whole thing. And later on, when I first, not to skip too far ahead, but when I first talked to John Favreau, he told me he was in the back of the same room, you know, with the same feelings about that speech, because he was still new at it in 2004.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “You've heard that story? I have a funny story about one of my first speeches for Kennedy was for the RFK Human Rights Awards the year Katrina happened and it was the first time it was ever awarded to an American.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “And they share a lot of similarities. They're very warm. They're demanding, but they're wonderful to their staff, you know, whether it's thank you notes or visits to the office or whatever. I mean, they just couldn't be nicer, better, more generous people.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “There was nothing like it. I mean, watching somebody read something that I'd written was exhilarating and I wanted more. So they gave me a shot at a few more and I think I only wrote maybe four or five speeches for Kennedy.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “But, you know, it's Ted Kennedy, so he'll also ad lib for about 20 minutes and go on a tirade, then ask the chair for more time.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Yeah, and he was kind of a ghost. He never left his office even during evacuations. You know, he just stayed. He was going to go down with the ship. But that was my first shot because Michael didn't have time to write a speech. And he asked me if I could write. And I said, yes. And I stayed up all night long, and my first speech was a floor speech for Kennedy attacking the Bush administration's record on transparency. And it's a terrible speech in retrospect I still have it. But he gave him a great deal.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “He was an extraordinary mentor. He was with Kennedy for decades, and he was the one who kind of, well, he was the one who first gave me a shot on a speech. Because Kennedy didn't have a speechwriter. If you just kind of wrote speeches for your own issue area and then his legislative director, a guy named Carrie Parker, who'd been with him since the 60s, edited everything.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Why, I've worked hard and I had the benefit of being one of the few interns who had already graduated from college, so my competition was slim. And he was a big fan of promoting upwards in the office. So my first job was staff assistant in his personal office answering phones and doing tours and walking the dogs. I was hired to do that after my internship and did that for, I think, about nine months, and then Michael Myers, who was the chief of staff of the help committee for Kennedy, asked if I wanted to be his assistant. I said, yes. And that's when I first got into policy work.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “I stumbled upon a posting for an internship in Ted Kennedy's office. And so I called, and I knew who he was, obviously. So I called the chief of staff. Because, of course, that's the way things work in Washington. I just Googled the phone number and asked for Mary Beth Cahill. And fortunately, there's an intern manning the phones that day, so I managed to get through to her assistant, who promptly transferred me to the intern coordinator, and she hired me over the phone without asking about anything. And I figured, well, that's strange, but okay, yeah, I can start Monday. That is strange. Yeah. Well, she eventually told me it was 5 p.m. on a Friday and she just wanted to go home.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “I didn't. When I first moved to Washington, you know, and again, it was my fraternity brothers who were like, just go. I was adrift for six months after college. I went back to my first Northwestern homecoming jobless. And that's embarrassing. And it was one of my fraternity brothers who said, dude, move to D.C. This is what you like. We have a friend there, Nick, crash on his couch till you find a job. And I got here, and Nick was the only person I knew. He was one of the groomsmen at my wedding this year. He's one of my best friends. And he was doing Teach for America. So I had nobody in the political sphere. So I was just googling for jobs, going to as many networking things as I could. And you realize quickly it's very difficult to break in. Once you're in the door, it's easy to find jobs. And so I'd set my sights a little too high. I figured I'd seen every episode of the West Wing. I went to Northwestern. How hard could this be applying for legislative aid jobs? And then once I realized I couldn't get those staff assistant jobs, once I realized I couldn't get those.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “And I'd some credible English teachers in high school who I still remember the first C I ever got in my life was Ms. Wasssel in Connecticut, Richfield High School. And it was the first paper I'd ever got back that was just torn to shreds with black ink. And I went to her afterwards and I said, you know, there must be some mistake here. I've never gotten a C before. And to her credit, she patiently walked me through everything I'd been doing wrong all these years and no one had taught me otherwise and she made me a much better writer. It's not something I focused on in college either.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “Yeah, so I guess, you know, I kind of, I was raised to sell things, sort of, you know, and a lot of politics is you're selling a candidate. Writing always came easy to me, probably because it was a voracious reader. I mean, nonstop as a kid. It's all I did. You know, the Wilmet public library had a contest every summer to see which kids could read the most books, and I was always determined to win it.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “There may be a script in there. My understanding is that show it was originally supposed to be about the staff, and Martin Sheen was going to be kind of a side character. And he ultimately became the main character. But I think his show focused on staff would be really interesting.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “I'm so heartened by that. I'll talk to the intern class here a couple times a year, and I always ask for a show of hands is who watches the West Wing. And these are kids who are, you know, they're 20. And the West Wing started almost, what, 20 years ago. Yes. So I love that they watch it.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Yeah, and they scrapped a lot about politics. And that's how I first got interested in it. Like, you know, why are they so riled up about all this? I think my earliest political memories were when I really started paying attention was probably around Bill Clinton's impeachment. And I remember thinking, this is weird. And I started getting kind of politically educated and paying attention. And, you know, we'd have debates in the fraternity house on campus. And it was right when the West Wing TV show started. And that was kind of the hook for me.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “It was a big thing in my home. My parents, my mom was a hardcore liberal Democrat, you know, worked for campaign for McGovern in Indiana, campaigned for Ted Kennedy. She always was. My dad was a Reagan Republican. Hmm.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I just drifted around in college because I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Chinese irreparably harmed my GPA and I can't remember any of it to this day. Dabbleton International Relations. I actually withdrew from Northwestern for a while and moved to Spain to work for America Online for nine months. And ultimately it was my friends who said, you know, this is what you're passionate about. You talk about politics all the time. You know, the West Wing has that, did you?”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “So I had a knee reconstruction in high school after a football injury, and I was fascinated by the whole thing. And I shadowed my orthopedic surgeon a couple times doing surgeries in Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. And I found it amazing. And I loved AP biology. That was my favorite course. smart in college they try to weed you out. You have to do a year of chemistry and then a year of organic chemistry before you can get to the good stuff. And it worked with me. They weeded me out pretty fast.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “I made all three of them in Chicago games three, four, and five. I took my dad to game three. A friend took me to game four and I took my sister to game”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “It's the one place where when I get off the plane I feel like I'm home, you know, and it's got my wife's a New Yorker, and I've always told her Chicago has all the good of New York without the bad. It's friendly, you know, it's diverse, it's interesting. There's no better sports fans in America than in Chicago, you know.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “We gradually moved from Lakeview to Evanston to Wilmet, and I went to Central Elementary and Wilmet Junior High, and then we moved to the East Coast for my dad's work. And I made a beeline right back to go to Northwestern right after high school. Yeah.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Yeah, it was the big heyday of beer and cars and cigarettes. And the tribune actually used to run a page kind of covering the ad biz in Chicago. And they would pit my parents against each other. Marilyn Keenan stole Corona from her husband's firm. He stole Brock's candy from hers.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Some of the Cubs front office guys asked me, they said, this is a national historic site, Wrigley, in the scoreboard. I don't know if we're allowed to do this or not. I said, I think he'll probably write you a note.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “You know, they took photos with every player, and I think the whole thing stretched out for like two or three hours, which we just never do. Yeah. And their gifts were special too. I mean, they pulled the 44 out of the scoreboard for him, which will be a problem if Rizzo has to go in and pitch, but.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “He excused it too. I mean, that was a special event. As he said, the First Lady has never come to a sports event. She came to this when she talked to the team. She talked about her dad. And I saw some of these big guys getting a little misty.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “And people were just starting to leave their chalk messages on the wall, and over the next few days you saw that explode, and they were all love letters to, you know, departed fans, saying we did it, it happened. And that got me a little choked up, and I worked that into the remarks. Yeah.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “Yeah, there was a story about a guy who drove eight hundred miles just to listen to the game on the radio at his father's grave. Unbelievable. Amazing. And I remember walking out at game five.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “When we were 30 points down in Iowa, that we were going to pull this thing off and pass universal health care and marriage equality and Wax Bin Laden, I might have believed you, but if you told me my last speech in the White House would be for the World Series champion Chicago Cubs, I would have said not a chance. No, I...”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “I made sure to bring my dad and my mom, and they got to meet players and they were so excited. They were wearing their hats. And I channeled my own fandom, but I think everybody's fandom into those remarks. I tried to speak to he had a paragraph in there about how to be a cub fan is a generational thing. You talk about going to your first game with your dad, or like the first lady crawling into her dad's lap to watch on WGN. And all the wonderful heartbreaking stories this season of people going to their parents' gravesites. But yeah, if you told me eight years ago, you know, that.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “After my first game, in which I was six months old, my dad took me in a backpack and, you know, like a baby backpack. Yes. And sat in the bleachers and told the women behind me, you know, if you take care of my kid for the next three hours, just pay attention to him. Let me know if he's crying or whatever. So, one of the things about that speech is I was just channeling.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “My dad's sketchy about the details. But I did, the first bar I ever went into was Murphy's bleachers, and I was six months old.”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Yeah, I'm not sorry That they were longer. I was born in Wrigleyville, literally. And if you told me eight years ago in a saloon,”

    2017-01-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 116 - Cody Keenan · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source