The PR front groups spring up like fungi in a pile of horseshit

Oh, they’re out there sprouting and touting the evils of Harry Reid and the virtues of Sharron Angle - Paul Ryan’s witless puppet.

Here’s the latest crop of Astroturf :

Bankrupting America isn’t a grassroots movement in any stretch of the imagination, but rather a project by PR and marketing firm, Patriot Group.

“We are a company of public affairs principals, not an advertising agency or public relations firm. We have assembled a group of individuals with the finest minds and deepest reservoirs of experience in business, government and politics.”

from Patriot Group website

As you can see they are a group of true blue average Joe and Jane Americans - or the inevitable result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision which took the lid - and all sensible restrictions - off campaign money.

These people are not local. They don’t have any interest in Nevada, Sharron Angle, Nevada’s politics or its citizens. They have one master - Republican money and power. That’s why they can lie so easily about the issues here.

Then there is the ‘guy with the shovel, quit digging’ commercial:

And another ad by the same firm:

Yup, these ads were produed by another marketing/PR/lobbying firm, Public Notice. Bankrupting America is simply an ad campaign. Nothing more. No mom’s and pop’s. No rallies. Just commercials. These people also aren’t in Nevada.

“Public Notice is an independent non-profit dedicated to providing facts and insight on the economy and how government policy affects Americans’ financial well-being.” from Public Notice website

But when you read their ‘About Us’ statement, gee …. it sounds a LOT like a PR firm’s Statement of Qualifications. At least to me - a used to be PR hack. The last thing Public Notice actually IS, is dedicated to anything other than making a big profit telling lies for any client that will foot the bill.

Now, you know why I exited the PR business, with a vow never, ever to engage in it again.

The line between legitimate, above board PR and this sort of political prostitution is just too fine for me to walk.

This sort of thing is the anti-thesis of representative democracy, which is why I was adamantly opposed to the Citizens United SCOTUS decision. If that misguided decision isn’t the functional definition of an activist court, then nothing is. The good news is that the Court has made bad decisions in the past, and somehow, Congress was able to mitigate the damage.