Political speech is a type of performance poetry. That may seem unlikely to those who struggle with its cliches and platitudes, but understanding the links between political speech and oral traditions of poetry allows us to appreciate its strengths alongside its weaknesses, the creativity alongside the banality. Applying ethical standards appropriate to oral performance, rather than the literary default mode of critics like George Orwell and Don Watson, gives us a stronger moral critique of all those anti-intellectual dishonesties cloaked in boredom we know so well. Making the case, Stay on Message explores the poetics of political speeches in Australia, the USA, and elsewhere-with examples of both the good and the delightfully appalling.