Rick Perry & Thrust (Lazy Obama Edition)

The hardworking staff’s acclaimed (as of right now) Perry & Thrust series continues with this addition (via NH Journal):

AUSTIN – The Perry campaign today released a 30-second television advertisement, “Lazy,” which is airing over national cable and Iowa broadcast and cable.

“As President Obama continues to make excuses for our nation’s economic struggles, apologizing for America and disparaging Americans by calling us lazy, soft and un-ambitious, Gov. Perry is offering solutions to reverse the damage inflicted by this out-of-touch administration,” said Perry campaign communications director Ray Sullivan.

(Background via Politico here.)

Said ad:

 

Memo to Barack: The less you talk, the better you’ll do.

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Let The $4 Billion Rumpus Begin! (Chamber Of Commerce Edition II)

Back in September the U.S. Chamber of Commerce jumped into the 2012 election with a print ad framed as an Open Letter to Congress and President Obama:

(Actually readable version here.)

Now comes a TV campaign (via Politico’s Playbook):

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched six new television ads today to ensure that voters are educated on important issues affecting the economy. The ads will air on network and cable in 15 markets across six states, including Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington. … The six ads can be viewed here.” http://bit.ly/v7iGZL

Representative sample, attacking Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-I Unemployed My Wife):

 

The Chamber dropped $33 million on the 2010 midterm elections, so there’s no telling what it will pony up this election cycle.

Safe to say, though, it’ll be a lot more.

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The Daily Caller Sells Out Its Readers – Again

This is the second time in two weeks the Daily Caller has pimped out its email list to a GOP presidential candidate.

First it was Herman Cain telling the hardworking staff he was getting high-tech-lynched by the left-wing media.

Now it’s Newt Gingrich putting the arm on us while accusing the liberal media of anointing Mitt Romney the inevitable nominee.

Newt 2012

Despite every media attempt to prematurely write this campaign’s eulogy, Speaker Gingrich continues to take advantage of the heavy debate schedule to win voters Newt.orgwith his substantive ideas and bold policies. In the 24 hours following the CNBC debate, traffic at Newt.org spiked and this campaign shattered its one-day fundraising record! Then the CBS News Poll and the McClatchy/Marist poll were released, both showing Newt in a statistical tie for first place. Clearly, the American people are choosing positive and thoughtful discourse over the shallow bickering preferred by the old media.

Much of the liberal media are claiming that the recent events on the campaign trail amounts to further proof of their hypothesis that Mitt Romney is the inevitable nominee. Thankfully, these pundits don’t get to choose our President or have any track record of making accurate predictions; remember when Newt’s campaign was over months ago?

This is our opportunity to seize the moment and nominate the only candidate with the knowledge and experience to tackle the dramatic problems our nation faces. With less than two months until the first votes are cast in Iowa, we are preparing to open offices across early primary states starting with the grand opening of our headquarters in Greenville, South Carolina this Saturday. It is still going to take strong organization to secure delegates in primaries and caucuses, and to build that organization we need your help.

We rely on the grassroots support of patriots like you to build those organizations in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida. Please stand with Newt 2012 by making a generous financial contribution today!

Thank You,

Michael Krull
Newt 2012
Campaign Manager

Newt 2012

Hey, Daily Crawlers – one more of these and the hardworking staff is unsubscribing.

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The Happiest Blogs On Earth

About 200 Mommy bloggers just got a new Daddy (via the Wall StreetJournal):

Disney Buys ‘Mom’ Blogs, Plans to Integrate Content

In a deal that could further blur the line between advertising and blogs, Walt Disney Co. is buying Babble Media Inc., whose website carries news for parents and blogs written by moms and dads.

Disney will offer its own cache of parenting-related content for use as links in blog posts on the five-year-old site, which carries articles by some 200 bloggers, including a few celebrity moms such as Samantha Bee of “The Daily Show” . . .

For example, if a blogger writes a Thanksgiving-related post about how to prepare an organic turkey, Babble’s editors could include links to Disney’s content about, say, festive table settings, said Brooke Chaffin, Disney Interactive Media Group’s senior vice president of Moms and Family.

“Senior vice president of Moms and Family.” Is this a great country or what.

Job titles aside, it’s clear the kind of work that’ll go on here – hanging Disney’s myriad products and services on the Momposts like so many Christmas ornaments. And it fits perfectly with Disney’s stepped-up efforts to define marketing down – in age.  The company recently launched Disney Baby products aimed at infants and newborns and purchased Kaboose, a Canadian firm operating websites for Moms and kids.

Welcome to Tomorrowland, boys and girls.

Originally posted on the New! Improved! Sneak ADtack!

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Nation (Tina Brown Tantrum Edition)

(Note: The hardworking staff started writing this post last night, but then Verizon crashed its Internet service and it’s still not working but we’re elsewhere now, so . . . )

Things are getting downright beastly at NewsBeast, the shotgun marriage of Newsweek and the Daily Beast.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had the details:

Publisher, Top Editors Out at Newsweek, Daily Beast

The publisher and two top editors of Newsweek magazine and the Daily Beast website are leaving, shaking up a pair of media properties that are still struggling to find their financial footing a year after they merged.

The departure of Ray Chelstowski as publisher suggests the owner’s dissatisfaction with the advertising performance of the magazine, which despite some recent momentum has continued to pile up losses. The company is installing former CBS Interactive executive Eric Danetz as the senior vice president of sales. Newsweek and the Daily Beast are owned jointly byIAC/InteractiveCorp. and the estate of stereo-tycoon Sidney Harman.

But the New York Times had the dirt:

Staff members at Newsweek and The Daily Beast said the environment there had become difficult in recent weeks. People who work there, who did not want to publicly criticize their bosses, say morale in the newsroom has sunk as Ms. Brown has had more frequent outbursts in front of her employees. “It’s all hell, it’s agony,” she has been overheard telling staff members about the quality of their work, according to one of them.

Rule #1 in the publishing business: Never agonize Tina Brown. She just agonize you right back.

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De-Occupy Wall Street

From the New York Times:

Police Begin Clearing Zuccotti Park of Protesters

Hundreds of New York City police officers began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early Tuesday, telling the people there that the nearly two-month-old camp would be “cleared and restored” before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested.

The beginning of the end?

Or the end of the beginning?

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This Is What’s Wrong With The News Media’s Political Coverage (II)

Enough with the “familiar” references to U.S. Senate wannabe Elizabeth Warren’s life story!

Two months ago (as the hardworking staff duly noted) it was a Boston Globe report that included this:

In an hourlong interview, [Warren] spoke often of the now-familiar story of her humble roots in Oklahoma.

Yesterday it was Globe columnist Adrian Walker’s turn, chronicling a Warren campaign rally at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury:

Once she reached the podium, Warren recited her increasingly familiar rise from poverty to the faculty of Harvard.

The hardworking staff will say it again:

Ask ten people in the 351 cities and towns of Massachusetts about Elizabeth Warren and 1) 98% won’t know who she is; 2) 99.99% won’t know the first thing about her.

That’s how familiar Warren’s story is. To all appearances, this is news coverage by the chin-strokerati for the politerati. Which, to all appearances, is all too prevalent.

Cut to: Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, which featured a piece on the high-profile nature of the Scott Brown/Elizabeth Warren Senate bakeoff.

Nut graf:

The race pits two nationally known candidates who have been elevated to prominence by separate populist waves. Mr. Brown, propelled by tea-party activists, scored an upset win in a special election in early 2010, capturing the seat long held by Democrat Edward Kennedy. Ms. Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and prominent consumer-finance watchdog, has tapped into the anti-Wall Street sentiment that is illustrated by the world-wide “Occupy” protests.

Of course, by “nationally known” the Journal means known to the – wait for it – chin-strokerati.

And the mainstream media wonder why people don’t take them seriously.

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Let The $4 Billion Rumpus Begin! (Elizabeth Warren Edition)

Beseiged by a $600,000 Karl Rove rave, presumptive Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-Occupy This) has launched a rebuttal in the form of a one-minute bio ad (via Politico):

 

Opening: “I’m Elizabeth Warren. I’m running for the United States Senate. And before you hear a bunch of ridiculous attack ads, I wanna tell you who I am.”

Sorry, Prof. Warren. The corn is off the cob in the ridiculous attack ad arena.

But good luck keeping the Roveniks at bay.

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Let The $4 Billion Rumpus Begin! (Huntsman Sort-Of-Super PAC Edition)

GOP nevergonnabe Jon Huntsman, who has tracked resolutely at up to 2% in the presidential primary polls, actually has a non-canine friend: Our Destiny PAC, which has just launched this ad in New Hampshire (via NH Journal/Politico):

 

Yikes. Maybe they should rename it Our Buzzkill PAC.

Regardless, Jon Huntsman’s destiny is very likely a return ticket to the private sector.

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The Bain Of Mitt Romney’s Existence

Just as with Ted Kennedy in 1994 and the Boston Globe in 2002, Mitt Romney’s vulture capitalist record has come back to haunt him, this time in Sunday’s New York Times.

After a Romney Deal, Profits and Then Layoffs

By the green-hued yardsticks of Wall Street, the 1990s buyout of an Illinois medical company by Mitt Romney’s private equity firm was a spectacular success.

Mr. Romney’s company, Bain Capital, sent in a team of 10 turnaround experts from Boston to ferret out waste, motivate executives and study untapped markets.

By the time the Harvard M.B.A.’s from Bain were finished, sales at the medical company, Dade International, had more than doubled. The business acquired two of its rivals. And Mr. Romney’s firm collected $242 million, a return eight times its investment.

But an examination of the Dade deal, which Mr. Romney approved and presided over, shows the unintended human costs and messy financial consequences behind the brand of capitalism that he practiced for 15 years.

Romney is (eternally) running for president on his business record but, the Times reports:

The White House . . . is already preparing a less flattering portrayal, trying to frame Mr. Romney’s record at Bain as evidence that he would pursue slash and burn economics and that his business career thrived by enriching the elite at the expense of the working class.

Helpful charts in the Dade deal:

 

Calculate it for yourself.

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