PR team behind Bergdahl naysayers denies political hit job
Source: NY Daily News
‘Republican strategists’ were reported to be responsible for arranging media interviews for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s former military comrades. The press campaign was facilitated by former Bush and Romney adviser Richard Grenell, who denied any political motivation.
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A partner at the communications firm scheduling media interviews for soldiers critical of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl denies launching a politically motivated hit job.
In a series of media interviews, Bergdahl’s military comrades have attacked the reputation of the rescued soldier, accusing him of deserting his post in an act of sympathy for the Afghan people. His critics also claimed as many as six soldiers were killed searching for Bergdahl in Afghanistan, after he disappeared in 2009.
The New York Times reported that “Republican strategists” were responsible for the press job, and one of them was later confirmed by BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray as Capitol Media partner Richard Grenell, a former George W. Bush and Mitt Romney adviser. Grenell took to Twitter to dispel claims of political roots for his work, saying he asked his firm to offer “pro bono services to the young soldiers” who had served with Bergdahl.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/pr-team-behind-bergdahl-naysayers-denies-political-hit-job-article-1.1815280
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TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)I wonder if those soldiers are aware they are being exploited--I also hope they're not the ones who are supplying fallen soldiers' names as Bergdahl's "victims" before the fallen ones' families can even be contacted by the Pentagon. That's a crime to me, or should be. Unconscionable.
uhnope
(6,419 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)They exploited Bergdahl while he was in captivity (pretending they wanted him home, because of course, anything less is crazy--but it plays well politically, yellow ribbons and all), they're exploiting him OUT of captivity to attack Obama, and they're exploiting his platoon mates now. "Good" soldiers can't be discredited or even questioned without political fallout, and "bad" soldiers should be left to die at the hands of the enemy.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)What the hell happened to journalism? No more, gone, deceased, done. Sad, sad, sad. Corporate media tried Bowe B and convicted him at the same time screaming about the "I" word against Pres O. Attacked his father. How sick the GOP party have become.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)because of this vicious campaign being coordinated against him.
However the military decides to proceed any semblance of a normal life for Bergdahl or his family has now been destroyed.
Half-Century Man
(5,279 posts)Instead of callous disregard of human life through budget cuts and attempts to discredit government; this is direct character assignation because of who brokered the prisoner trade.
Some days, I think the kind of people who flock toward the GOP would use the military as suicide bombers for budgetary reasons.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Ugh
freshwest
(53,661 posts)
TeamPooka
(24,223 posts)
herding cats
(19,564 posts)And lay the hit job at the feet of a non-Republican partner, then he shouldn't have been a lead contact.
Buzzfeed reported that Grenell's partner at his firm, Brad Chase, confirmed that they were behind the public relations campaign (Grenell also sent out a tweet explaining his firm offered "pro bono services" to the soldiers). Chase disputed the Times' characterization of his firm as "Republican strategists" because he is not a Republican.
But a radio producer who booked one of the soldiers told Buzzfeed that Grenell was their point of contact for the appearance. Two other reporters confirmed to Media Matters that Grenell put them in contact with the soldiers.
David Zucchino of the Los Angeles Times, who posted an article late Monday quoting Bergdahl's critics, said he had reached out to Grenell, who personally helped him contact Evan Buetow, a member of Bergdahl's platoon.
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On June 1, Grenell appeared on Fox News' America's News Headquarters to attack the decision to make the prisoner swap and cited the concerns of one of the soldiers in question.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/06/03/fox-news-contributor-behind-pr-campaign-for-sol/199565
Someone's loyalties are showing.
Note this piece from the WaPo back in 2012 when Grenell had just been appointed as Romney's foreign policy spokesman. He was in a pit of hot water for having posted some over the top hate filled posts on his twitter in the past, so he just scrubbed all the evidence off his feed.
He has also served as a spokesman for former San Diego mayor Susan Golding, former New York governor George Pataki, then-congressmen Mark Sanford (later known as the “Appalachian Trail”-hiking governor of South Carolina ), and Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.). He also worked for Gingrich and the George H.W. Bush reelection campaign in the early 1990s.
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The liberal Village Voice in 2003 detailed complaints about Grenell — anonymous ones, albeit — from the press covering the U.N. accusing him of being overbearing.
But even in that report, at least one journalist defended Grenell as a skilled communicator just doing his job.
“I recognize that he is a master of spin,” said Raghida Dergham, the U.N. correspondent for the Arab newspaper Al Hayat. “But I find him accessible, knowledgeable, and never condescending. We argue, but he never yells at me.”
In his story about Grenell’s Twitter scrub, the Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone quotes longtime Reuters reporter Irwin Arieff calling Grenell “the most dishonest and deceptive press person I ever worked with.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/who-is-richard-grenell/2012/04/24/gIQA9xnleT_blog.html
Not exactly what I'd call a trust worthy person. He's out for himself and he sees this as a little favor for his Republican buddies which will help secure his loyalties and further pad his pockets in the future. With zero regard for the damage he's done to Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his family.
All this is supposed to be overshadowed by the fact that his firm has a partner who once worked as press secretary for Steve Young's campaign in California's 48th congressional district special election in 2005?
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)I wonder if he was behind Romney's Benghazi/Cairo political attacks on Obama in 2012--Romney was so fast out of the gate on that, Stevens hadn't been confirmed dead yet.
herding cats
(19,564 posts)He left the campaign in late April or early May, before ever really getting started. His Twitter controversy over misogynistic comments played a roll in his being Etch-A-Sketched, as did I'm sure his being both gay and a supporter of gay marriage.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)
