Good people of South Carolina face the scary prospect of being led by their philandering Governor Mark Sanford for another 18 months.
That's right. The love-smitten Republican has a year and a half left in his term. This blogger can’t believe the upright citizens of the Palmetto State can put up with more embarrassing emotional outbursts and sobbing from their leader. Isn’t S.C. still a member of the Bible Belt? When will it sink in that S.C. will become the laughingstock of the nation if Sanford is allowed to hang in there?
Crazed media advisors have been trotting out S.C.'s Don Juan in a redemption tour before anybody with a camera or pencil and reporter’s note pad. The teary-eyed phony (Sanford demanded the resignation of Bill Clinton following his liaison with Monica Lewinsky) divulged to the Associated Press yesterday: “This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story. A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.” How cheesy! Sanford, whose national political aspirations are dead, may have a new career writing Harlequin novels.
In the "who cares" dept, we have learned that Sanford’s Argentine girl friend is actually “his soul mate.” It's unclear where that leaves Casanova Mark’s wife of 20 years, Jenny. Roommate? Ex-wife?
S.C.'s skirt chaser-in-chief also admitted casual sexual encounters with other women. “There were a handful of instances wherein I crossed the lines I shouldn’t have crossed as a married man but never crossed the ultimate line,” said Sanford, mimicking his new idol Clinton, who once famously said: “I never had sex with that woman.”
Sanford's "ultimate line" crack could be the name of a reality show. Perhaps Mark could find time in his sexual travels to host the show.
The public was also treated with news that Mark The Rake had Manhattan and Hamptons romantic trysts with Maria Belen Chapur, the 43-year-old mother of two who is now gleefully skewered by the press as a Latin American hottie or firecracker. S.C. tourism people should give Mark a call about those escapades. There are fine establishments in Myrtle Beach that are well suited for romantic getaways.
As of Monday, half of South Carolina believes Sanford should remain in office. That’s hard to figure especially since Sanford, the guy who recently “on principle” was willing to turn down parts of the President Obama’s economic stimulus package, is now plainly outed as a guy with no principles at all.
Here’s wishing best of luck to Jenny and her four sons. The Mark Sanford story can’t end soon enough.
His media team should consider a new line of work.
China has apparently caved, suspending its effort to force personal computer makers to install filters in their machines to enable the government to censor the Internet. That’s good news coming from the world’s biggest gulag for journalists.
The government, which cracked down on dissent during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and last month's 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre, backed away from the so-called “Green Dam” project just hours before it was to go into effect. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology says Green Dam was put on hold after computer makers expressed technical difficulties in installing the censorship filters. That’s baloney.
Since March, Chinese computer makers led by Lenovo have put filters into more than 50M computers.
China maintains Green Dam protects the tender sensibilities of its people from the evils of pornography. Green Dam was also pitched as a tool to help parents control how much time their kids spend on the web.
China is not backing away from Green Dam because of pressure from the U.S. and European Union about suppressing free speech. It could care less. It is backing away after watching the Internet-fueled demonstrations in Iran.
The Iranian government tried its hardest to corral dissent on the web and at sites like YouTube and Twitter. It failed miserably.
The best outcome for China: the clumsy Big Brother attempt will just fade away. That’s the best face-saving measure. Imagine if Green Dam failed to curb information used to direct street demonstrations in China. The government’s inability to totally restrict the flow of information would be exposed.
That would prove the emperors of Beijing have no clothes.
President Barack Obama needs to gulp down a couple of mugs of super-caffeinated coffee and stop sipping the weak tea that must be being served in the White House these days. He needs to ratchet it up more than a couple of notches.
Take the global warming bill, please. The Administration is gushing that Congress, which is tightly controlled by Democrats, passed the first-ever bill aimed at fighting global warming. The margin of victory: a slim 219 to 212. Not exactly a boffo victory. The bill is merely a start.
Environmental groups like Greenpeace say the measure is nothing more than a sell-out to Big Business and a cop-out by Obama. Here is why: In his Inaugural Address Obama vowed to “restore science to its rightful place.”
The American Climate and Energy Security Act, as it is currently written, targets an emission cut of greenhouse gases by four percent by 2020. That’s a mere pittance. The Nobel Award Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change urged the U.S. and other industrial nations to slash emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 to head off an environmental disaster.
Since the bill narrowly passed in the House, does anyone believe tougher targets will be included in the Senate version of the bill? Not a chance.
The President is not being straight with the American people. He says the bill is the best possible outcome, but Obama didn't even break a sweat. It's beyond baffling that Obama didn't use some of his political capital to counter effective corporate lobbying on behalf of the bill. The energy lobby won this fight hands down.
Clive Crook, columnist for the Financial Times, calls the “cap and trade bill a travesty.” The House bill’s net effect on short-to-medium term carbon emissions are “small to none,” in Crook’s view. The bill goes to the heart of what’s wrong with Obama.
Crook believes the President isn’t a leader of reform, rather a “cheerleader of reform.” He talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. The President will accept a flawed bill, rather than fight for something with teeth. Crook wrote: “On climate change, he was firm on the need to auction all emissions permits. Congress proposes to do the opposite and Mr. Obama’s instant response is ‘That will do nicely.” The President’s team claims it is being pragmatic and understanding of political realities. A better description: Obama is ”choosing to be weak” as the FT headline reports.
The President is a singles hitter at a time the nation needs home runs on the environmental, financial and healthcare reform fronts. He is the punchless New York Mets rather than New York Yankees.
Obama has to start going for the fences while he still enjoys broad political support. As chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The American Climate and Energy Security Act is a wasted opportunity to deal with global warming.
Michael Jackson spent about 40 of his 50 years in the spotlight, a considerable amount of time to be fending off reporters, running from paparazzi, deflecting rumors and, of course, promoting oneself.
In fact, he’s had so many PR reps that he had to warn reporters in 2003 that most of the people who identified themselves as spokespeople or friends were frauds.
Here's a quick look at some of his reps:
Bob Jones – the former Motown Records PR rep went to work for the Jackson 5 in the 1970s and continued to work for Jackson when he went solo in the early 1980s. Jones died last September at age 72 and it was said that he was the only Jackson family associate to never sign a confidentiality agreement. That came back to bite Jackson when he fired Jones in 2005 after the second molestation scandal and Jones responded with the book “The Man Behind the Mask.”
Dan Klores – although he didn't work directly for the King of Pop, the New York PR executive-turned-filmmaker was in a meeting with Sony officials about Jackson's career in 1994, following the initial molestation scandal. As executives kicked around ideas for Jackson’s comeback (a concert for children was one idea floated), the New York Times Magazine reported in 2003 that Klores turned to Jackson and asked: “Have you ever thought about getting married?” Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley later that year.
Raymone Bain – a PR pro and former general manager of Jackson’s company, Bain also served as Jacko’s spokeswoman. She is with the D.C. firm Davis, Bain & Associates and specializes in high-profile clients in the entertainment field. Bain once issued a press release (in 2004) to assure media outlets that “Michael Jackson is not dead.”
Stuart Backerman – the former adviser to British Columbia premier Mike Harcourt stepped in to help Jackson in the wake of the damaging documentary by Martin Bashier in 2003 in which Jackson admitted to sharing his bed with kids not his own. He was reportedly fired after 10 months on the job at the behest of attorney Mark Geragos.
Michael Levine – the former Jackson rep issued this statement yesterday: “As someone who served as Michael Jackson's publicist during the 1st child molestation incident, I must confess I am not surprised by today's tragic news. Michael has been on an impossibly difficult and often self-destructive journey for years. His talent was unquestionable but so too was his discomfort with the norms of the world. A human simply can not withstand this level of prolonged stress.”
Lee Solters — the iconic showbiz PR rep died in May at the age of 90 and his long roster of celebrity clients included Jackson, whom he worked with in the 1980s. Some may remember Jackson had a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles during that era and when Jackson eventually gave up the pet to a zoo when he had his first child, false rumors that the chimp had died were deflected by Solters with the memorable quip: “When Bubbles heard about his demise he went bananas.”
* Michael Sitrick – the Los Angeles crisis counselor said in a 2006 Los Angeles Magazine profile that the only two clients he ever turned down were Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson.
Wall Street, after receiving billions in taxpayer money, is now launching a PR campaign to save it from the wrath of people who are angry with the shenanigans that brought the financial sector to its knees. Talk about hubris.
Policymakers and media in New York, London, Washington and Brussels are targeted and there are plans for a “city-by-city, grassroots approach.” Brunswick Group is working on the campaign, getting a $70K retainer, while Burson-Marsteller’s BKSH Worldwide is down for $10K.
Lefty groups, such as Americans United for Change, see the Wall Street PR plan as manna from heaven. Tom McMahon, acting executive director of the group, sums it up nicely, dubbing the grassroots campaign the “Thanks for the Bailout, Suckers—Now Quit Whining Tour.”
Said McMahon in a release: “If Wall Street executives think the public is overreacting to their years of writing their own rules, playing with our money in the stock market like a virtual casino, paying themselves multi-million dollars and throwing lavish parties with their bailout money-it’s frightening to imagine what these guys think might justify a little public outrage.”
Opinion Research Corp. found that nearly 6 in 10 of Americans (58 percent) are “less confident in the fairness of the financial markets” today than a year ago. Regulatory overhaul is needed to restore confidence in the financial system.
Change is coming and no amount of Wall Street PR is going to prevent that.
The Board of Education voted unanimously in favor of the idea. The Barack Obama Elementary School opens next year in Upper Marlboro. The board believes Obama's election as the first black U.S. President is an accomplishment worthy of the tribute.
First Lady Michelle Obama may soon be inviting school kids from Barack H. Obama Elementary School to tour the White House or work the victory garden if members of Prince George’s County Board of Education have their way.
This blogger is a fan of the President, but believes it’s way too early to be tossing around tributes to him. The guy has been in office for only five months. At very least, wait until he finishes his first term. The fear is that by the time the President begins his second term, Obamiacs will be in the final stages of planning a monument on the National Mall.
A friendly word of advice to the good people of Prince George’s County: Presidential school names are a permanent thing. Don’t make the same mistake that dunderheads in Stockton, Calif., did when they opened George W. Bush Elementary in 2003. The tribute was to the then-self-acclaimed “Education President” whose “No Child Left Behind” legacy has burdened schools countrywide with never-ending testing and federal mandates.
Dubya, of course, soon jumped ship. He left behind the “Education President” title, manfully morphing into “War President” mode. Landing jets on carriers is a much bigger thrill than hanging out with a bunch of educators and their charges.
And pity the poor kids in Hiawatha, Iowa, who attend “Nixon Elementary.” That hall of learning opened in 1970 as Richard M. Nixon Elementary School with a grand opening four years before Tricky Dick waved his final good-bye to White House staff before entering a helicopter in disgrace for the beginning of the long ride back to California. Crafty Citizens of Hiawatha have lessened the shame somewhat. They did modify the school’s name to the more generic Nixon Elementary. People may be tricked into thinking the building is named after the town’s beloved doctor or civic leader.
Take a breath, Prince George’s County. There are eight more years to see if Barack measures up. A lot can happen. The Obama name is a tougher cover-up than Nixon, a true master of the dark arts.
Crazed media advisors have been trotting out S.C.'s Don Juan in a redemption tour before anybody with a camera or pencil and reporter’s note pad. The teary-eyed phony (Sanford demanded the resignation of Bill Clinton following his liaison with Monica Lewinsky) 
The government, which cracked down on dissent during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and last month's 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre, backed away from the so-called “Green Dam” project just hours before it was to go into effect. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology 
Take 
Here's a quick look at some of his reps:
Policymakers and media in New York, London, Washington and Brussels are targeted and there are plans for a “city-by-city, grassroots approach.” Brunswick Group is working on the campaign, getting a $70K retainer, while Burson-Marsteller’s BKSH Worldwide is down for $10K.
This blogger is a fan of the President, but believes it’s way too early to be tossing around tributes to him. The guy has been in office for only five months. At very least, wait until he finishes his first term. The fear is that by the time the President begins his second term, Obamiacs will be in the final stages of planning a monument on the National Mall.
