Having read this New York Times article, Tennessee Controversy Shaped by Spin Expert, twice, I’m still in the dark as to the identity of the mystery man in charge of the GOP’s racist ad campaign.
This follow-up piece identifies the author of the commercials as one Scott Howell, a man described as having a “history of bare-knuckled tactics and close relationship with Karl Rove.”
But is the producer the head honcho? This we are not told, only the following,
Yet if angry voters are looking for a place to direct their anger, they may have a hard time.
Mr. Howell did not produce the spot for Mr. Corker, who has disavowed it. He produced it for a quasi-independent organization that is financed by the Republican National Committee but operates wholly out of the committees control or direction.
Does Mr. Howell run that body? Does it even have a name? We are not told.
Maybe the head guy is “Terry Nelson, another consultant affiliated with the spot”? He’s now working for Saint McCain, so it couldn’t possibly be him, could it?
Mr. Nelson’s firm, the Crosslink Strategy Group, employs as a consultant Chris LaCivita, who worked with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that produced negative advertisements about Senator John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign, according to the firm’s Web site.
Is there no level to which McCain won’t stoop? We’re not told that either, although here we can guess.
Back in the day, we had these people called “journalists” whose profession it was to ferret out these sorts of details and make them available to the general public. However, these people were not reliably photogenic so when visual media replaced print, they were gradually replaced with impersonators and spokesmodels.