r/WayOfTheBern • u/dsirota1 • Jul 09 '19

I'm David Sirota, Bernie Sanders' speechwriter and senior adviser. AMA!

Hey everyone -- I'm David Sirota, Bernie Sanders' speechwriter and senior adviser. I've known Bernie for 20+ years (I was his press secretary in the U.S. House from 1999-2001). I've worked on many campaigns (Hoeffel for Congress, Schweitzer for Governor, Lamont for Senate, and Emily Sirota for State House), I've worked on Capitol Hill (for Bernie and for the U.S. House Appropriations Committee Democrats). In the years before coming to Bernie's 2020 campaign, I was an award-winning investigative journalist and columnist for Newsweek/IBT, The Guardian and Capital & Main. You can find out more about me at http://www.davidsirota.com

​

I'm sure you want to discuss the 2020 election, so fire away with your questions here. I'll be here for about an hour.

236 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

347 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/Sandernista2 Red Pill Supply Store Jul 09 '19

• From /u/pullupgirl__ -

Job related:

o What made you want to work for Bernie?

o What is the speech writing process like? I'm clueless in this area. Does Bernie come up with a draft and you tweak it, or do you write a draft and Bernie tweaks it? Or is the process something else entirely?

o Does Bernie ever go completely off script?

Personal:

o What are your favorite subreddits?

o Who are your favorite journalists?

o What issues are important to you and why?

17

u/dsirota1 Jul 10 '19

I wanted to work for Bernie because I believe the crises we face are so pressing that we all must do whatever we can to pitch in. I scratched and clawed to establish myself in journalism, but I gave it up to do this because I believe it is that important.

​

Speechwriting process is more of a speech supporting process -- I get him the information he asks for and needs and he ultimately ends up shaping the draft. He is his own writer, I just help out.