Matthew Scully

Scully was born in Casper, Wyoming and lived his childhood throughout Colorado, Ohio, and New York.{{cite news|title=Maverick for Mercy: Matthew Scully extends compassionate conservatism to animals |first=Lewis E. |last=Bollard |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/11/21/maverick-for-mercy-hes-the-least |newspaper=The Harvard Crimson |date=2008-11-21 |access-date=2013-05-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807185339/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/11/21/maverick-for-mercy-hes-the-least/ |archive-date=2013-08-07 |url-status=live }} He attended Arizona State University in the 1980s. He married Emmanuelle Boers in 1998. In 2008 when Matthew was working in the McCain campaign, John McCain lost to Barack Obama, afterwards in 2013, they moved from Los Angeles, California, to a Suburb of Phoenix, Arizona where they currently live.

File:Bush prepares for State of the Union 2003.jpg

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.{{cite news|title=Bush's Muse Stands Accused: Speeches Weren't His, Colleague Says |first=Peter |last=Baker |author-link=Peter Baker (author) |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081002403_pf.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |date=2007-08-11 |access-date=2011-04-05 |quote=Scully says it is an image puffed up by an unrelenting talent for self-promotion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106160331/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081002403_pf.html |archive-date=2012-11-06 |url-status=dead }}

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. 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.

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.{{cite news|title=McCain speech breaks record |first=Barbara |last=Ferguson |url=http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=113887&d=6&m=9&y=2008 |newspaper=Arab News |location=Saudi Arabia |date=2008-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616060911/http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=113887&d=6&m=9&y=2008 |archive-date=2012-06-16 |access-date=2011-03-14 |quote=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. |url-status=dead }}{{cite news|title=The Republican Masquerade Is Over, Time to Remove The Masks |first=Kevin |last=Zeese |author-link=Kevin Zeese |url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/73388 |newspaper=American Chronicle |location=Beverly Hills, California |date=2008-09-06 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717200825/http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/73388 |archive-date=2012-07-17 |access-date=2011-03-14 |quote=The speech was reportedly written two weeks before Palin was chosen by former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully. |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=The Man Behind Palin's Speech |first=Massimo |last=Calabresi |url=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1838808,00.html |newspaper=Time |location=New York City |date=2008-09-04 |access-date=2013-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516084619/http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1838808,00.html |archive-date=2013-05-16 |url-status=dead |quote=before he or anyone else knew who the nominee would be }} 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.{{cite news |title=The Making (and Remaking) of McCain |first=Robert |last=Draper |author-link=Robert Draper |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26mccain-t.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times Magazine |date=2008-10-22 |access-date=2013-05-17 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411143948/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26mccain-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |archive-date=2013-04-11 |url-status=live |quote=introduced them to McCain's running mate. The two aides were surprised. }}

Palin delivered the 40-minute speech at the convention on September 3, 2008.{{cite news|title=Palin accepts nomination, slams Obama in speech |first1=Dana |last1=Bash |author-link=Dana Bash |first2=John |last2=King |author-link2=John King (journalist) |first3=Paul |last3=Steinhauser |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/03/palin.speech/ |newspaper=CNN |publisher=Turner Broadcasting System |location=Atlanta, Georgia |date=2008-09-04 |access-date=2013-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210327/http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/03/palin.speech/ |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=live |quote=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. }}

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.{{cite news|last1=Haberman|first1=Maggie|title=How Melania Trump's Speech Veered Off Course and Caused an Uproar|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-convention-speech.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news|access-date=20 July 2016|work=New York Times|date=19 July 2016}} 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.

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 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."{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/books/the-most-compassionate-conservative.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=The Most Compassionate Conservative |access-date=2013-05-17 |last=Angier |first=Natalie |date=2002-10-27 |work=New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108074024/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/books/the-most-compassionate-conservative.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=2014-01-08 |url-status=live }} Nichols Fox in a review published in The Washington Post wrote that Dominion is "destined to become a classic defense of mercy."{{cite web|url=http://www.matthewscully.com/reviews.htm|title=Book Reviews|access-date=2008-09-04|publisher=Matthew Scully.com}}

As a conservative, 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.[https://archive.today/20220227235351/https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/scully-matthew-1959 "Matthew Scully"]. encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 27 February 2022. 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.{{cite journal|author=Patel, Shennie|year=2003|title=A Review of Dominion|journal=Animal Law|url=https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/26573-9jbookreview|volume=9|issue=323|pages=299–322}} 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."

• {{cite book|last=Scully|first=Matthew|author-link=Matthew Scully|title=Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy|url=https://archive.org/details/dominionpowerofm00scul|url-access=registration|quote=ISBN0312319738.|access-date=2011-03-09|date=2003-10-01|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|location=New York City|isbn= 978-0-312-31973-1|type=paperback and Kindle Edition}}
• Scully wrote a chapter ("Fear factories: the case for conservatism for animals") of the book "CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation): the tragedy of industrial animal factories" (Daniel Imhoff, editor). San Rafael, California : Earth Aware, c2010. {{ISBN|9781601090584}}
• {{cite web|last= Scully |first= Matthew |author-link= Matthew Scully |title= Pro-Life, Pro-Animal: The conscience of a pro-life, vegan conservative |url= https://www.nationalreview.com/2013/10/pro-life-pro-animal-matthew-scully/ |website= National Review Online |date= 2013-10-07 |access-date= 2014-07-18}}

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• [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/advertisers/viewpoint_aspca082504.htm?nav=archive "Animal Cruelty and Need for Reform"], online discussion with Matthew Scully, Washington Post, August 25, 2004

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Category:1959 births

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