Decius wrote:
I think that there ought to be more outrage about the Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford memo which you can read here and I highly encourage you to do so.
THIS is THE HEART of the problem with Democracy in America - special interests spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on cynical campaigns to discredit people because they can't win on facts. We know that this kind of stuff goes on, but in this case these people more or less spell out what they are doing in black and white. Everyone should read this memo. They need to understand the amount of effort that goes into lying to them and manipulating them.
This morning I imagined remixing this as tongue in cheek television advertisement.
[Suit 1 - standing in front of the Capital building] Are you concerned that the United States might become a more Democratic country, with strong political institutions that faithfully represent the will of the people?
[Suit 2 - with OWS protestors far in the distance] Do you have important initiatives in Washington that could be undermined if they become the target of popular protests?
[Suit 3 - older man, in a wood paneled office] Here at Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, we're here to help.
[Suit 2 - handing money and a bong to a hippie and directing him to join the OWS protestors] We can help you develop negative narratives that will undermine the credibility of people who express political opinions that you disagree with.
[Suit 1 - handing money to a radio talk show host before he goes on the air] Large companies are not always the best spokespersons for their own causes. We can leverage our vast coalition of both traditional and non-traditional allies to make it clear that standing in opposition to your initiatives will carry severe political costs.
[Suit 3] Manipulating the democratic process is an important part of doing business in America today, and nobody does it better than Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford. So give us a call, our agents provocateurs are standing by.
