Conservative Erick Erickson, searching for a culprit for Republican losses in the last election other than the conservative message itself, finds it in the greedy and incestuous world of political consultants within the Romney campaign, where a small, tight band of people enriched themselves by charging huge fees to give ‘advice’ to the candidate that resulted in campaign money flowing to companies that they themselves were associated with.
If money is the root of all evil, for the Republican Party evil is located on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza, Alexandria, VA 22314.
Strip away the candidate and coalition and it is on the fifth floor of 66 Canal Center Plaza where the seeds of Mitt Romney’s ruin and the RNC’s get out the vote (GOTV) effort collapsed — bled to death by charlatan consultants making millions off the party, its donors, and the grassroots.
…
Here the top party consultants waged war with conservative activists and here they waged war with the Democrats. On both fronts, they raked in millions along the way with a more fractured, minority party in their wake. And they show no signs of recognizing just how much a part of the problem they are.
His article looks in detail at this network of people and organizations involved.
Meanwhile The Daily Show looks at how these consultants now roam the globe providing the same kinds of toxic services to other nations.
(This clip appeared on November 28, 2012. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
I have always been struck by the American tendency to use the word “War” at every opportunity. In any case, it seems that the political consultants borrowed directly from the GOP playbook.
Actually, the real winners of the 2012 election were Nate Silver and his fellow modeling analysts. He (they) made the “experts” and pontificators in the consulting field and the lamestream media look bad. I suspect that the New York Times will not be dropping him any time soon as one of their bloggers. Revenge of the nerds.
Are they really political consultants? They seem to me to be more like marketing pukes who specialize in political marketing.
If Erick Erickson believes money is the root of all evil, then why on earth did he support Mitt Romney?
I’m really sad it wasn’t on the sixth floor -- then it would have been 6th Fl, 66 Canal Center Place, and hilarious for anything connected to the Republican Party to be there at 666 CCP.
And the difference is … ?
I thought it was “the love of money”, rather than the money itself, that was the root of all evil? A fine distinction maybe, but not an insignificant one. Particularly when considering the Gordon Gecko-esque, greed is good ethos underpinning much of Republican philosophy.