Re FAKE PHOTO: It's not just Howard Kaloogian, it's BIG right-wing players

[VOX]

It's Move America Forward, and it's Russo Marsh & Rogers, the Sacramento-based political public relations firm with major right-wing ties. Move America Forward is an astroturf political action group that RM&R uses to woo big-money financiers of right wing candidates and causes.

While it feels good to nail Howard Kaloogian, that phony "downtown Baghdad" photo used on his Web site has a stream that runs right to the heart the right wing.

Per WordsHavePower blog, 8/2/05, "Prior to taking on Kurdistan as a client, RM&R's most recent activity in Iraq was its involvement with Howard Kaloogian's "Truth Tour". Kaloogian has been a shill for Russo, Marsh and Rogers ever since the firm developed the Move On America website..."
- - - - -
http://whpsocal.blogspot.com/2005/08/pr-for-civil-war.html
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
PR for the civil war
Republican PR Firm Helps Divide Iraq
Proving once again that the war in Iraq was designed not to make America safe, but to make Republican businesses rich, word came out yesterday that the Kurdish Regional Government had hired California based public relations firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers (RM&R).
<snip>
- - - - -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Move_America_Forward
<snip>
Move America Forword was established in May 2004 by former Republican assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and Melanie Morgan, a talk show host at KSFO 560 AM, both of whom now serve as Move America Forward's co-chairmen. Move America Forward's website was paid for and run by Russo Marsh & Rogers,<1> a Sacramento-based political public relations firm with strong ties to the Republican Party. Sal Russo, a principle in Russo Marsh & Rogers, served as advisor for the "Recall Grey Davis" campaign and serves currently as "Chief Strategist" with Move America Forward. Russo also worked on the political campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Alfonse M. D'Amato, George Pataki, Jack Kemp, and Orrin Hatch.

Prominent Move America Forward campaigns have included lobbying and various media advertisements calling for the recall of former California governor Gray Davis, restricting the distribution of the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 911, the closing of the US-Mexico border (the MAF's “Secure Our Borders” campaign) and the ending of amnesty programs to illegal immigrants (through nomoreamnesty.com), and its recent support of John R. Bolton, an outspoken critic of the United Nations, to serve as the US representative to the United Nations. In August 2005, Move America Forward sponsored a "You don't speak for me, Cindy!" tour to counter Cindy Sheehan's protest at President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch (and the vigils in support of Sheehan that were held around the country).
<snip>

[Julius Civitatus]

1. "Truth Tour" - They sure lack a sense of irony

But Steven Colbert would certainly be proud.

[leveymg]

2. Thank you! This gives important context to the story.

Here's an article about another big GOP astroturf operation: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/28/112052/928

[gatorboy]

3. Kaloogian must be changing things up on his webpage.

The only thing that works at the moment is, get this, his "contribution" section. :eyes:

[VOX]

5. Hah! You're right -- the site is as frozen as a glacier...

Except the "contribute now" link! :rofl:

Cheers, gatorboy -- :toast:

[Imalittleteapot]

9. I wanted to see his photo gallery. Everything is locked up.

[blonndee]

24. I can link up to it, try here.

Hilarious! They've replaced the photo with a "real" one from Baghdad - an AERIAL view in which no detail can be seen!! :rofl:

http://www.kaloogianforcongress.com/aboutus.asp?id06=116&par06=104#

[stevedeshazer]

28. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Baghdad" before:



Baghdad after:

[Fleshdancer]

4. I was just checking out that org....

One of their latest campaigns is to censure Jimmy Carter. :wtf:

The bogus Baghdad pic on Kaloogian's campaign site was from the "The Truth Tour Live from Baghdad" a collaboration between Move America Forward and right wing talk radio.

From an article about the tour before it begins:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/06/30/news/top_stories/22_31_436_29_05.txt

"We want to get a firsthand account and look at the progress being made over there," the 45-year-old conservative Republican said in a telephone interview from Michigan where he was on business. "You never hear about the good news from Iraq." (and apparently we never hear the good news about Istanbul either)
____________________________________________

Now here are a few brave photos that I'm sure gave Kaloogian a first hand account of the progress :eyes: :

on edit: my bad, apparently these pics were taken in Florida...I explain my mistake down thread. :)





The rest of the pictures include shaking hands with soldiers and pics of the big tent baracks...they had to totally rough it and sleep on Army issued cots! Can you believe how brave they were? Not only did they tour Istanbul, but they slept like real soldiers...green blankies and all!

[lostexpectation]

6. some of those photos are florida

[Fleshdancer]

10. oops, you're right....

The link for the centcom bbq was listed on this page http://kfbk.com/jacor-common/globalphotos.html?eventsection=&eventID=30922&first=0 with this written on top: News Talk 1530 KFBK's Mark Williams visits and talks with soldiers fighting the war in Iraq. Hence my mistake.

These should be from Iraq:







:shrug:

[formercia]

7. Stafford Companies?

on the banner. Obviously pimping for someone there.

[SoCalDem]

8. Kaloogian has "lied" about his whereabouts before

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2194954&mesg_id=2195044

[VOX]

11. Oh, good work, SoCalDem!

**IF** Howie ever even crossed the Iraq border, you can bet he was airborne -- in and out, zip. No ground pics. :rofl:

[RedEarth]

12. Interesting....thanks for posting

[BuyingThyme]

13. I would be interested to know if he had any reason to believe

that anybody from him group ventured anywhere near "downtown Baghdad."

[caligirl]

14. DOD partly funded the Truth Tour

SpinWatch reported on July 6, that the "Truth Tour" was also in part sponsored by "the newly created Office of Media Outreach, a taxpayer-funded publicity arm of the Department of Defense."

http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=78

[The Wielding Truth]

16. Wow.

[leveymg]

17. This is a non-stop DOD-GOP money train. Just like Abramoff and MZM

FIRST, Here's an article on Abramoff's ties to big NSA domestic surveillance contractors and how he funneled their money to the GOP. http://www.dailykos.com/admin/story/2006/1/25/132559/979

Abramoff's NSA and Domestic Spying Scandal
by leveymg
Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 11:25:59 AM PDT
The National Security Scandals of Jack Abramoff - Part II

(Pt. 1, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/24/121156/129)

While Jack Abramoff's scandalous rip-off of Indian tribes is well know, his role as a GOP fixer for NSA and CIA contractors has gone virtually under the radar screen. Abramoff's lobbying activities raise serious questions about the role of his corporate and foreign clients in compromising highly sensitive NSA and Capitol Hill communications networks, in domestic spying and in other illegal national security-related activities.


leveymg's diary :: ::
We now learn that Abramoff is at the center of a much wider web of criminal activity involving private-sector NSA contractors and GOP lawmakers. Abramoff served as a conduit between the NSA and private companies that have become the focus of multiple criminal prosecutions and national security investigations, including the abuse of prisoners abroad, and alledged spying on Capitol Hill lawmakers by Abramoff clients.

SNIP


SECOND Here's another on MZM's role as a DoD-supported in-house shop for GOP dirty-tricks and intelligence cooked to order:


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/23/8418/64300

MZM: Private One-Stop Shop for Domestic Dirty-Tricks
by leveymg
Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 06:04:18 AM PDT
Corrupt MZM defense contractor doing its own oversight?.

It's the entrepreneurial offspring of the commercialization of intelligence. We now see private contractors bribing Congressmen, operating spy agencies, and staffing the commissions charged with investigating their own abuses. Behold, the one-stop shop for political dirty-tricks.

It has emerged in recent years amidst the mania for gov't outsourcing of counter-terrorism, particularly information technology services related to electronic surveillance. Private DoD and Homeland Security contractors have a vested interest in locating and amplifying "threats". This creates a monetary temptation for tailoring the intelligence product to match the expectations of government clients, including the outright falsification of intelligence.

Take, for instance, Wade Mitchell's MZM, a corrupt defense contracting firm tied in with the Cunningham bribery scandal, which recieved millions to develop surveillance technologies for the Pentagon's new domestic spy agencies. TPM Muckraker reports the following disturbing developments:

MORE below

leveymg's diary :: ::
On background, it should be noted that Laura Rozen's War&Piece column of December 11, 2005, "Wade, Wilkes and Bad Intelligence?" identified Mitchell Wade's MZM defense contracting firm as a culprit in faulty intelligence generation that led to the invasion of Iraq. http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003244.html

A source cited by Rozen identified MZM as the private contractor cited for support of an errant CIA Iraq WMD assessment used to justify the Bush Administration's argument for war. An MZM analysis erroneously concluded that aluminum tubes ordered by Saddam Hussein were intended for use in a clandestne nuclear fuel enrichment progam that didn't exist. Now, Rosen comes up with the extraordinary find that consultants working for MZM and other intelligence contractors staffed the Robb-Silberman Commission that investigated the faulty Iraq WMD findings.

SNIP


In response to: caligirl (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-29-06 03:27 PM
Response to Original message
14. DOD partly funded the Truth Tour
SpinWatch reported on July 6, that the "Truth Tour" was also in part sponsored by "the newly created Office of Media Outreach, a taxpayer-funded publicity arm of the Department of Defense."

http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=78

and

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x785264
KrazyKat (1000+ posts) Wed Mar-29-06 01:57 PM
Original message
Re FAKE PHOTO: It's not just Howard Kaloogian, it's BIG right-wing players
It's Move America Forward, and it's Russo Marsh & Rogers, the Sacramento-based political public relations firm with major right-wing ties. Move America Forward is an astroturf political action group that RM&R uses to woo big-money financiers of right wing candidates and causes.

While it feels good to nail Howard Kaloogian, that phony "downtown Baghdad" photo used on his Web site has a stream that runs right to the heart the right wing.

Per WordsHavePower blog, 8/2/05, "Prior to taking on Kurdistan as a client, RM&R's most recent activity in Iraq was its involvement with Howard Kaloogian's "Truth Tour". Kaloogian has been a shill for Russo, Marsh and Rogers ever since the firm developed the Move On America website..."
- - - - -
http://whpsocal.blogspot.com/2005/08/pr-for-civil-war.h...
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
PR for the civil war
Republican PR Firm Helps Divide Iraq
Proving once again that the war in Iraq was designed not to make America safe, but to make Republican businesses rich, word came out yesterday that the Kurdish Regional Government had hired California based public relations firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers (RM&R).
<snip>
- - - - -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Move_America_Forward
<snip>
Move America Forword was established in May 2004 by former Republican assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and Melanie Morgan, a talk show host at KSFO 560 AM, both of whom now serve as Move America Forward's co-chairmen. Move America Forward's website was paid for and run by Russo Marsh & Rogers,<1> a Sacramento-based political public relations firm with strong ties to the Republican Party. Sal Russo, a principle in Russo Marsh & Rogers, served as advisor for the "Recall Grey Davis" campaign and serves currently as "Chief Strategist" with Move America Forward. Russo also worked on the political campaigns of Ronald Reagan, Alfonse M. D'Amato, George Pataki, Jack Kemp, and Orrin Hatch.

Prominent Move America Forward campaigns have included lobbying and various media advertisements calling for the recall of former California governor Gray Davis, restricting the distribution of the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 911, the closing of the US-Mexico border (the MAF's “Secure Our Borders” campaign) and the ending of amnesty programs to illegal immigrants (through nomoreamnesty.com), and its recent support of John R. Bolton, an outspoken critic of the United Nations, to serve as the US representative to the United Nations. In August 2005, Move America Forward sponsored a "You don't speak for me, Cindy!" tour to counter Cindy Sheehan's protest at President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch (and the vigils in support of Sheehan that were held around the country).
<snip>

[Wapsie B]

22. It sure is a money train.

Just like feeding time at the hoghouse. I wonder what kind of life that must be? Have no soul, no conscience, and suck $$$ off the rw $ machine.
Think of all the billions that go down the drain each year supporting propaganda artist like this.

[stickdog]

15. I bet that none of them even ventured into downtown Bahgdad.

Any takers.

[file83]

25. I bet you he did!!

Not.

[Scout1071]

18. Exact same people who created the "You don't speak for me, Cindy"

tour that was quickly exposed last fall.

What a bunch of evil, lying bastards.

[Joanne98]

19. Yep! That was them!

[LuckyLib]

20. They're all in bed together. It's one big money train, in every sense

of the word.

[Nikki Stone1]

21. You all should be very proud at catching the Turkey photo

And for the pug operatives to give it to Kaloogian, the guy who started the recall against Gray Davis, just in time for the 2006 election in which Ahnold is fighting for his political life...hmmm...

[AnnInLa]

23. And, from Josh Marshall:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000218.php

Howard Kaloogian's "Truth Tour" to Iraq in July, 2005 was sponsored by Move America Forward, a non-profit, "non-partisan" outfit that Kaloogian founded. You might have never heard of them before, but you certainly know their work. It includes:

-- Producing a series of TV ads late last year that claimed Iraq did in fact have WMDs;

-- Shuttling pro-war protestors to Crawford to counter Cindy Sheehan's "Camp Casey" as part of their "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" tour;

-- a campaign supporting John Bolton's contentious nomination" for UN ambassador - including financing the ad campaign in Ohio that attacked Sen. George Voinivich (R-OH) for not backing Bolton;

-- backing U.S. detention policies at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by selling 'I Gitmo' bumper stickers."

The "Truth Tour" sent five conservative radio-talk-show hosts to U.S. military bases in Baghdad for "a week of upbeat broadcasts."

And according to the WSJ, the group grew out of the successful 2003 recall effort in California.

[BrotherBuzz]

26. Sacramento News and Review has a fantastic overview story on the scam

Support the war!

The war on terror has been good for Move America Forward. It’s brought the conservative activist group notoriety, cash and ratings.

By Jeffrey M. Barker
08 Dec 05


There’s a story that some political campaign consultants in Sacramento tell about Sal Russo. It goes like this: He’s running a statewide campaign for a political candidate a few years back and has just made a “big” purchase of television broadcast airtime to start running a commercial. He invites Capitol news reporters to a press conference at his downtown high-rise offices, where he debuts the witty ad. Result: The next day, the commercial is written up in newspapers throughout the state.

Then, as the story goes, it turns out that Russo actually hasn't purchased TV ads in each of California's major TV markets--as would be expected from such a campaign. Instead, he's only purchased a couple of spots on a station in Chico. That's it.

But, for that paltry TV-ad buy, Russo has earned for his candidate untold tens of thousands of dollars in free ink-and-newsprint media reaching voters from San Diego to Redding. He worked the media.

In his downtown Sacramento offices, just a few blocks directly south of the Capitol dome under which he once worked, the story was recently recounted for Russo.

He quibbled with whether it was Chico, and whether it was just one or maybe a couple of small TV markets, but replied, "That may have happened."

<more>

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=oid%3A45067

It's a long read but well worth the effort to plow through it. Melanie Morgan and Howard Kaloogian are prominently featured in the article and their smarmy ways are exposed. Astroturf in spades!

[Imagevision]

27. Move America Forward, use phoney photo's - (they won't catch on?)

[slipslidingaway]

29. K&R!