Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

DC PR Firms drove the memogate scandal?
PRWeek ^ | 09/17/04 | PRWeek

Posted on 09/17/2004 3:46:41 PM PDT by DotIssues

Two DC firms ramp up efforts over latest presidential controversies Written by Douglas Quenqua Published on September 17 2004

WASHINGTON: Two DC PR agencies eagerly fanned the flames of election-year scandal last week - one for the left and one for the right.

Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt on President George W. Bush's National Guard service into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats.

A CRC client, the Cybercast News Service (CNS), was among the first to voice suspicion that documents suggesting Bush had received preferential treatment in the Guard were forgeries.

"After the CBS story aired, [CNS] called typographical experts, got them on the record that these papers were fishy, and posted a story by 3pm Thursday," said CRC SVP Keith Appell. "We were immediately in contact with [Matt] Drudge, who loved the story."

CRC worked with CNS and the Media Research Center, another media watchdog client, to push the story into the mainstream press.

"We've been communicating with bloggers and news websites to make sure they know it isn't just Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge who are raising questions," added CRC president Greg Mueller.

CBS News, which at first stood defiantly behind its reporting, succumbed to the pressure by Wednesday, releasing a statement conceding the papers might be false, but maintaining that the sentiments expressed in them were authentic.

"Enough media outlets were talking about it, and you can't deny that it's a big story, so we felt it was important to address it," said Sandy Genelius, CBS News VP of communications.

Meanwhile, Doubleday Press, which was on the defensive regarding claims in its new Kitty Kelley book that the President used cocaine at Camp David when his father was in office, used Ein Communications to ward off attacks from the White House and GOP strategists.

Jeff Ingram, VP of strategic communications, confirmed that Ein had been tapped in early August in anticipation of the controversy over The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: crc; creativeresponse; mem0gate; napalminthemorning; newbie; rather; swiftboatveterans
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-52 next last

1 posted on 09/17/2004 3:46:42 PM PDT by DotIssues
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

Who would have guessed.


2 posted on 09/17/2004 3:47:43 PM PDT by satchmodog9 (Murder and Weather are our only news.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

Charles at LGF says no-one ever contacted him.
See their thread here...
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12674


3 posted on 09/17/2004 3:48:22 PM PDT by DotIssues
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

Coattail riders. These guys are something else...
msl


4 posted on 09/17/2004 3:49:02 PM PDT by DotIssues
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

ROFLOL.

All right, who's got the "Not this sh-- again" graphic?

Just one great big right-wing conspiracy.


5 posted on 09/17/2004 3:49:31 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com
Success has a thousand fathers...
6 posted on 09/17/2004 3:50:29 PM PDT by Shermy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

CNS was the first internet site recognized by drudge on the scandal. They picked it up from freerepublic. Plus they are an advertiser here on FR


7 posted on 09/17/2004 3:50:57 PM PDT by aft_lizard (I actually voted for John Kerry before I voted against him)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com
Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites to turn a CBS report casting doubt on President George W. Bush's National Guard service into a potential black eye for both the network and the Democrats.

BULL SHORTS!
8 posted on 09/17/2004 3:52:29 PM PDT by Jackson Brown
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com
Lies, all of it. Self-serving PR firms want to generate PR for themselves. Charles Johnson of LGF denies any interaction with them and I believe the FReepers when they say they are acting independently.

The only possibility is that the PR firm would have worked with Instapundit or Powerline, but I don't think that's likely either. For one thing, Insta is based in Tennessee. and Powerline is in Minnesota. Secondly, they have never (as far as I know) mentioned working with PR firms (since they prefer openness, I believe them).

This self-serving lie by a PR firm plays into DUers conspiracy theories. The PR firm is hoping conspiracy-minded Dems will believe their story and lend it credibility.

9 posted on 09/17/2004 3:52:40 PM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

PRWeek tells its PR readership that PR firms were central to the Memogate story. Talk about stroking.


10 posted on 09/17/2004 3:52:52 PM PDT by macbee (Hanlon's Razor: "Never ascribe to villainy that which is best explained by stupidity.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson

The truth of it doesn't matter, though, it'll give the lefties something to grasp for if they can get away with this. They'll have an excuse to say the whole thing was driven under the scenes. At the very least it'll give undeserved credit to a firm that's as willing to embellish/fabricate the truth as Rather is.
I hope LGF and The Freepers and the other who REALLY did this make their voices heard about this.
msl


11 posted on 09/17/2004 3:53:36 PM PDT by DotIssues
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: aft_lizard

And where was the part about how EIN (aka scumbags) help Kitty Kelley accuse Laura Bush of being a drug dealer????? Hmmmm????


12 posted on 09/17/2004 3:54:02 PM PDT by bpjam (I don't know what a neo-con is and neither does anybody else.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

Doesn't Carville belong to one of those DC PR Firms? Wasn't that the premise of the horrible, short-lived, HBO series by George Cluney?


13 posted on 09/17/2004 3:54:59 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com
Really happy that PR firm got their first article out at 3:00 PM. By 6:21:07 PM EDT I'd raised the question of "kerning" for the first time on FreeRepublic or any other site.

See: CBS News denies Bush docs forged (then calls back to back off of earlier "expert" claim) Posted by muawiyah to Diogenesis On News/Activism 09/09/2004 6:21:07 PM EDT · 133 of 301

In the end most of the typographical issues raised by most folks, including the supposed experts consulted by the PR firm, were not definitive. Kerning was, and is, of course, definitive ~ you just didn't have that on typewriters in the early 1970s!

14 posted on 09/17/2004 3:56:05 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

Yep, they were just ALL OVER the news shows this past week, mentioned everywhere!!!

(Pardon me while monkeys fly out my butt....)


15 posted on 09/17/2004 3:56:23 PM PDT by Right Cal Gal (Armed, Female and Southern!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson

16 posted on 09/17/2004 3:56:43 PM PDT by ElkGroveDan (Santorum 2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: satchmodog9
Creative Response Concepts (CRC), the VA-based agency promoting the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, used right-wing blogs and news sites...

They did, huh? Maybe we should ask (politely) the talented folks at CRC how they managed that.

Taking credit for the work of others. What a bunch of lowlifes.

17 posted on 09/17/2004 3:59:06 PM PDT by macbee (Hanlon's Razor: "Never ascribe to villainy that which is best explained by stupidity.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

.


18 posted on 09/17/2004 3:59:11 PM PDT by Mo1 (Why is the MSM calling the Vietnam Vets and POW's a suspected group??)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Mo1

What the hell!?! I registered here at Freerepublic almost two weeks ago and I haven’t got one single call from Carl Rove or anybody at the right wing conspiracy headquarters. I am really starting to feel left out… are ya’ll sure ya’ll wrote my number down right???


19 posted on 09/17/2004 4:04:00 PM PDT by txroadkill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: tryontheglasses.com

Well someone's been cooking this "awol" story for a long time, since Oct 5, 2000. Check out the whois database for awolbush.com:

Domain Name: AWOLBUSH.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Record created on 05-Oct-2000

Registrant:
Tell the Truth, Inc. (AWOLBUSH-DOM)
3 Harbor, #315
Sausalito, CA 94965
US

Domain Name: AWOLBUSH.COM

Administrative Contact:
Easton, W (30326953I) web-admin@awolbush.com
3 Harbor, #315
Salsalito, CA 94965
US
(415) 555-1212 fax: 999 999 9999

Technical Contact:
Hurricane Electric (HE468-ORG) hostmaster@HE.NET
Hurricane Electric
760 Mission Court
Fremont, CA 94539
US
510 580 4100 fax: 510 580 4151

Record expires on 05-Oct-2005.
Record created on 05-Oct-2000.
Database last updated on 17-Sep-2004 18:56:57 EDT.

'whois -h whois.arin.net 65.182.102.15'


OrgName: Brinkster Communicatoins Corporation
OrgID: BCC-134
Address: 885 Kempsville Road
Address: Suite 309
City: Norfolk
StateProv: VA
PostalCode: 23502
Country: US

NetRange: 65.182.96.0 - 65.182.111.255
CIDR: 65.182.96.0/20
NetName: ORF-BRINKSTER-COM
NetHandle: NET-65-182-96-0-1
Parent: NET-65-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: ORF-DNS1.BRINKSTER.COM
NameServer: ORF-DNS2.BRINKSTER.COM
Comment:
RegDate: 2003-12-12
Updated: 2004-01-13

TechHandle: MICHE2-ARIN
TechName: Thompson, Micheal A
TechPhone: +1-757-222-3424
TechEmail: mthompson@brinkster.com

OrgTechHandle: MICHE2-ARIN
OrgTechName: Thompson, Micheal A
OrgTechPhone: +1-757-222-3424
OrgTechEmail: mthompson@brinkster.com


20 posted on 09/17/2004 4:08:57 PM PDT by VoteHarryBrowne2000 (Mad as Zell!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-52 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson