The purpose, of course, is to dig up dirt on THE ONE’s critics.
From Ben Smith at Politico:
The vast new left-wing conspiracy sets its tone every morning at 8:45 a.m., when officials from more than 20 labor, environmental and other Democratic-leaning groups dial into a private conference call hosted by two left-leaning Washington organizations.
The “8:45 A.M. call,” as it’s referred to by members, began three weeks ago, and it marks a new level in coordination by the White House’s allies at a time when the conservative opposition is struggling for a toe-hold and major agenda items like health care reform appear closer than ever to passage.
The call has helped attempts to link the Republican Party to radio host Rush Limbaugh, and has served as the launching ground for attacks on critics of Obama’s policy proposals. It springs from a recognition of what was lacking in the Clinton years, said Jennifer Palmieri, the senior vice president for communications at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, one of the groups hosting the call.
“[CAP President John] Podesta’s and my experience was in the White House during the Clinton years, and we didn’t have a coordinated echo chamber on the outside backing us up,” she said. “There’s a real interest on the progressive side for groups to want to coordinate with each other and leverage each other’s work in a way I haven’t ever seen before.”
The call is hosted by Progressive Media, a project of the CAP Action Fund and the Media Matters Action Fund. The project began last year as a launching pad for attacks on John McCain, but failed to raise money for television advertisements, and served in the later days of the presidential campaign as a platform for disseminating opposition research critical of his policy plans. White House officials do not take part in the calls.
The calls are led by its top staffer, Tara McGuinness, who will also head Progressive Media’s “communications research and analysis war room” to wage spin and policy wars throughout the day, Palmieri said.
The call has proved particularly effective at coordinating attacks on critics, said Jacki Schechner, the national communications director for Health Care for America Now, a labor-backed alliance of groups that support Democratic efforts to expand health care.
“There’s a coordination in terms of exposing the people who are trying to come out against reform —they’ve all got backgrounds and histories and pasts, and it’s not taking long to unearth that and to unleash that, because we’re all working together,” Schechner said.
……Though White House officials do not participate in the calls, Palmieri said, the new infrastructure is closely tied to the White House. Podesta directed Obama’s transition, and Americans United for Change exists largely to run ads promoting the White House agenda…..
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19846.html
As for ‘unearthing’ pasts:
Podesta:
White House Chief of Staff John Podesta has been one of the principal players behind the Clinton scandals. For instance, in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit concerning the illegal sale of seats on trade missions of the Clinton-Gore Commerce Department, Nolanda Hill, former Secretary Ron Brown’s confidante, testified that it was Podesta, along with Leon Panetta, who instructed Ron Brown to disobey Court Orders of Judge Royce Lamberth. Podesta’s name also has surfaced in the e-mail scandal, where documents show that he was fully apprised of the e-mail problem almost two years ago, but did nothing to put Lamberth’s Court on notice that full document production was not forthcoming.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/2000/printer_494.shtml
Tara McGuinness:
The former MoveOn.org operative was involved in a scandal involving Democrat Amy Klobuchar’s U.S. Senate campaign in Minnessota.
Democrat Amy Klobuchar’s U.S. Senate campaign has fired its chief spokeswoman, revealing Wednesday that she viewed an unreleased TV ad for Republican candidate Mark Kennedy that may have been illegally obtained.
In a prepared statement, Klobuchar campaign manager Ben Goldfarb said that communications director Tara McGuinness was contacted last Saturday by a local blogger who sent her a link to the ad. Goldfarb said the campaign had turned the matter over to the Minneapolis office of the FBI.
“The blogger indicated to Ms. McGuinness that he had gained access to the advertisement by use of passwords,” (Read: Hacked.) Goldfarb said in the statement. “Exercising poor judgment, Ms. McGuinness opened the link, watched the advertisement and asked others on our campaign to watch it.”
At a hastily called press conference late Wednesday, Noah Kunin, who maintains the liberal blog www.blanked-out.com, revealed that he uncovered the ad. He said he was at the Web site of Kennedy media consultant Scott Howell, looking for previously aired examples of his work.
Obama has quite a syndicate doesn’t he? The bulk of the MSM serves as his propaganda wing, and now there’s an auxilliary of leftwing groups working to serve and protect THE ONE from anyone who points out that he’s a fucking charlatan with criminal affliations, and a considerable ‘background and history and past’ of his own.
If you’re against his particular type of “reform”, prepare to be branded an Enemy of the State, by the enemy within.
What the left wing involved in another scandal? Noooooooooooooooooo, really? What? LOL