Cravenly Groveling

by emptywheel

Remember that superb article on foreign lobbying I described a while back? Well, apparently the two PR/Lobbying firms that got so badly taken by Ken Silverstein are now accusing him of being unethical.

My story in the July issue of the magazine details how two beltway lobby shops I approached, on the pretense that I represented a shady London-based energy firm with a stake in Turkmenistan, proposed to whitewash the image of that country’s Stalinist regime. Now, having been punk’d (as PR Week put it), Cassidy & Associates and APCO are seeking to lie and spin their way out of the embarrassing situation in which they find themselves.       

Both lobbying firms have complained that my tactics were “unethical.” Now APCO has issued a press release acknowledging that it met with the Maldon Group–the name of my fictitious energy firm–but saying that it was never actually interested in winning the contract to work for Turkmenistan. “If Silverstein had bothered to have even a second meeting or to further engage, he could have found out that he would not make the cut to become one of our clients,” the press release says.

It’s true there was no second meeting, but only because I rejected overtures from the firm to hold one. Indeed, APCO began cravenly groveling to win the Turkmenistan deal immediately after my meeting with the firm at its Washington offices in late February.

The whole incident gets more and more ironic (I'd laugh if I weren't sure that these two firms hadn't already sold our our foreign policy to the next biggest bidder). Because these "pros" in influence peddling and damage control are now doing a piss poor job of controlling the damage from the article.

Suffice it to say, our foreign policy has not only been sold out to the highest bidders, but it's been sold out by incompetent hucksters. Now how's that going to look on the gravestone of our great Republic?

Comments

[freepatriot]

since I'm a relative newbie on the innertubes (summer of 03), I just gotta ask, how long has this email thingy been around ???

I would think that even the DUMBEST PERSON ON THE PLANET could figure out that those email thingys don't go away

what is it about the warmongers that makes them so resistent to understanding new technology ???

whether or not a thought has been emailed is a real thing, and it has power

you'll need to understand garbled Frank Herbert to translate that one ...

the repuglicans have come a long way since Nixon thought it was a good idea to record his conversations, but it's all been retrograde progress. Now the stupid bastards can even understand that they're creating records

[Gnome de Plume]

Where is Borat when you need him?

[KdmFromPhila]

EW,

How do you write all of these analyses? They're great, but...you do have a day job, don't you?

[Sally]

Ken Silverstein was on Bill Moyers' program last Friday talking about the gravy train these two PR companies are on.

[Woodhall Hollow]

So APCO was just "kidding" with their powerpoint presentation? I mean, one only puts up a powerpoint when one is not serious about something, right?

[emptywheel]

Kdm

Yup, everything "emptywheel" is just me!!

Though I'm temporarily NOT working a day job, so in fact you can have an abundance of posting so you, too, can be distracted by your day job!

[Patrick]

One would think that the "security conscious" (scared sh*tless) voter would want to know more about the connection between lobbyists and US foriegn policy. Also, while the security conscious and low information voter may operate blissfully with...ah...low information, they become mad as hornets when they feel they've been duped (ironic, huh).
EW, you are smokin' today.

[TCinLA]

Further proof if any is necessary of the fact my great-grand-uncle Jim McKelvey, political aide to Harry Truman, was completely accurate when he said "the only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies."

[Janet]

Sorry this is off topic but we have devised a plan to put pressure on the press. They think we are not out here seething. Well, we are. Please check out my homepage to see what we are planning

[Robert Stein]

Silverstein's Harper's story is iffy, but his attempt to smear Kurtz today by innuendo about his wife is straight out of the Scooter Libby playbook:

http://ajliebling.blogspot.com/2007/06/journalism-101-crossing-line.html

[pseudonymous in nc]

Sorry, Robert: Kurtz is a walking conflict-of-interest. And perhaps it's not the done thing to point out that his wife's website promotes 'Media Strategy, Crisis Communications, Media placements' et al., but there ya go.

Exactly how was Silverstein going to get his story? Phone up and say 'I'm a security reporter, and was wondering if you currently represent any shadowy front groups for dictatorships?'

Dear me, American journalism has a mighty stick up its rear. As Silverstein notes, the current model of journalism is to take stenography from one side, seek an alternative view for 'balance' if there's anyone complaining, and leave the readers to judge without any citation of facts.

And as for Cassidy and APCO, chutzpah isn't the word.

[whenwego]

EW:
If Cheney now claims he is not part of exec branch, he has no right to exec privelege. Should not Valerie Plame use this in her civil lawsuit?

[who knew]

LMFAO @ >>>>>>

Exactly how was Silverstein going to get his story? Phone up and say 'I'm a security reporter, and was wondering if you currently represent any shadowy front groups for dictatorships?'

Posted by: pseudonymous in nc | June 26, 2007 at 00:19

<<<<<<<<< sounds like a monty python script ....

[freepatriot]

more off topic commentary

the whole world is turning into a Python script. I was just checking "TalkingPointsMemo", and josh Marshall has a post about William F Buckley debating Norman Podhoretz;

turns out William F Buckley is an Amurika-hating-terrorist-lovin libural, just like the rest of us

somebody buy Bill a latte quick, and get him fitted with some birkenstocks before he regains conciousness. We can send him to the Volvo dealership tommorrow

ROTFLMAO

as I understand it, William F Buckley is the Patron Saint of the conservative movement, but he apparently stopped drinking the koolaide or something, and now we're stuck with him

personally, I think it's a repuglican plot to piss off all of our commie-athiest friends, and drive a wedge in the growing "Defeatocrat Party"

but ignore my paranoid delusions, notify the illeagle immigration conspiritors, so they can start hiding some illegal aliens at Bucky's house. We're also gonna have to arrange Mr Buckley's mandatory gay marriage and toss another baby on the barbeque, cuz Bill's a meat eater

everybody get ready to say hello to the newest member of the freedom hater's club

/snark

[desertwind]

OT - Any comments on Sally Quinn's "A GOP Plan to Oust Cheney"? The Premier Washington Hostess may have had her ear whispered into and this fits into your last Thompson post, I think.

The plan: GOP elders convince Cheney to resign this summer for health reasons. Fred Thompson goes in as replacement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062501038.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

[freepatriot]

yeah, desertwind, I got a comment about fred thompson becoming Veep

it ain't NEVER gonna fucking happen