A linebacker from the University of Texas, Sergio Kindle, crashed his car into an apartment building in Austin. His attorney, Brian Roark, admitted Kindle lost control while sending or receiving a text message.

“It was probably something he should not have been doing,” Roark said.

Gee, ya think so? Hope Roark is better in the court room than he is with the media.

If you haven’t seen South Carolina governor Mark Sanford’s news conference about his affair, you gotta take a listen. Calling it “rambling” is an understatement. He didn’t mention the reason for the news conference—”I’ve been unfaithful to my wife”—until 8 minutes into his statement. Up until then, and afterward, it was a mess of incoherent blather.

Obviously there was no preparation, no “messaging,” no clear goal, and while it was entertaining, I’m afraid he did himself more harm than good. Sometimes, the more you talk the bigger the hole you dig for yourself.

I know apologizing in public is the right thing to do to put bad news behind you. I’ve been preaching that for more than 20 years. But it’s getting awfully old. Especially since when most of these guys say “I’m sorry” what they really mean is “I’m sorry I got caught.”

Not surprisingly, MySpace has announced the layoff of hundreds of employees—30% of the workforce. In an email to employees, CEO Owen Van Natta hit all the right notes, explaining the reasons for the RIF, empathy for those affected, and hope for the future.

I especially liked this statement.

“These decisions are difficult for everyone, but especially for our friends and colleagues who contributed to MySpace’s success and are directly affected by the changes. Through no fault of theirs our company’s size became unsustainable.”

Then MySpace issued a press release. That nice statement about the company’s size being unsustainable turned into this quote: “Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company.”

Pretty poor choice of words. If I had been laid off after being a loyal, dedicated employee who helped put MySpace on the map, I would resent being characterized as “bloat”. Van Natta (or the PR team) should have stuck with his earlier description, “unsustainable”.

Yes, sticks and stones may break my bones…and…yes, words can hurt a lot.

We’ve all heard the old saw “practice makes perfect.” What it really should say is “the right kind of practice makes perfect (or at least pretty good).”

When talking about presentations or media interviews, the right kind of practice means saying the words out loud, not just in your head. If you’re getting ready for a media interview, pose yourself possible questions from the reporter, then answer them out loud.

The idea is not to memorize what you’re going to say, but hearing yourself say the words out loud helps you critique them and ultimately “own” them. Ideally, you could even tape yourself on a audio recorder or camera.

It’s the same with presentations. Some people talk into a mirror. That doesn’t work for me—it’s too distracting (Hmmm…my eyebrow sure looks weird when I talk). But at least stand up and deliver your presentation out loud, ideally with the slides you’ll be using, if any.

Again the idea isn’t to memorize your speech. It’s to let yourself actually hear how the words will sound when strung together so you can make adjustments if necessary.

David Letterman struck exactly the right note last night in his sort of apology/explanation for the jokes he made the previous night about Sarah Palin’s daughter.

The jokes implied that during the Palin family’s New York visit, daughter Bristol (the one who had a baby with Levi) had had sex with Elliot Spitzer and Alex Rodriguez. The Palin’s—both Todd and Sarah—responded angrily, suggesting that Letterman was talking about their younger, 14-year-old daughter and blasting him for contributing to the sexual exploitation of minors.

I have to say I thought the jokes were funny. On the other hand, if I were the Palins, I’d probably be upset as well.

I think Letterman hit just the right note in his explanation—self-deprecating, somewhat remorseful, and almost, but not quite, apologetic. He invited Sarah to come on his show.

That’s exactly what she should do. It’s the old “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” idea. Trying to win a war of words in the media with someone who has his own TV show and millions of loyal followers is pointless.

I have to agree with Jon Stewart. The promotion between MSNBCs”Morning Joe” and Starbucks makes me want to vomit. I know the news biz is suffering, but it’s hard to see them stoop to this. What a disgusting sell out.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said that “the rules of engagement in marketing and advertising have changed quite significantly.” Maybe, but it’s a pretty scary step.

The president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, says “Morning Joe” will continue to cover Starbucks as a news item if warranted. “They understand we have standards,” he told the New York Times.

Of course. Can’t you see it now:

Announcer: Welcome to “Morning Joe” brewed by Starbucks. Here’s Joe Scarborough.

Joe: Big news this morning — Starbucks has decided to close 500 more stores across the country, but don’t worry. They still have really good coffee like this latte I’m drinking. It’s definitely worth $4.50 even though I didn’t have to pay for it. You all should try one. Mika, what do you think?

Mika: I agree Joe. But I prefer the cafe mocha. Because their coffee is so good, I’m sure Starbucks will eventually be able to open those stores up again. What else is going on this morning Joe?

Joe: Did I mention that this Starbucks coffee is really good….