Leave it to The Greenville News editorial board to view the historic nomination of Barack Obama strictly through their partisan prism. Nearly 40 million people watched the Democratic presidential nominee’s acceptance speech last week, the size of the viewership alone speaks to the historical significance and the wide spread interest in Barack Obama. Yet The Greenville News editorial headline read, “Obama Makes History, inspires Democrats.” The editorial published in the Sunday, August 31st edition of the paper went on to say that Obama’s speech “inspired the party faithful.” I would say that’s an understatement of the power of his speech on Thursday night. The editorial severely underestimated the level of ire on behalf of the American public toward the current administration. The NY Times/CBS News Poll taken in mid August found that 66% of voters disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president, 80% view the current state of the economy as very bad or fairly bad and 67% feel it is more important to provide health care coverage for all Americans than to hold down taxes.

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Quote of the day

The U.S. military is in the process of hiring a public relations firm to help it carry out “information operations” in Iraq, “to counter insurgent misinformation tactics.” An Army public affairs officer said the goal of the work is to communicate “with people in Iraq in as many ways [as] possible what we’re trying to do to help them, and what we’re trying to do to prevent people from using these ruthless roadside bombs that blow up people in streets, in schools, and synagogues.” The one-year contract may be extended for up to three years and cost up to $300 million. “Public affairs executives speaking on background said the contract has elicited a lot of attention from Washington agencies because of its potential size,” reports PR Week, “but that firms with previous experience working in dangerous, high-security environments in Iraq — such as Lincoln Group, The Rendon Group and MPRI — would have an inside track on winning the bid.”

Source; PR Week, August 21, 2008  summarized by www.democracyinaction.org

Here’s an idea, rather than spend $100 million on PR, let’s get the hell out and spend the money on health care for our war veterans!

Roxanne

“The United States is spending more money than ever on private security contractors in Iraq as thousands of troops return home amid steady declines in insurgent attacks.” Over $1.2 billion will have been spent this year on “contractors, who protect diplomats, civilian facilities and supply convoys.”

A Washington law firm “filed a lawsuit yesterday against KBR, one of the largest U.S. contractors in Iraq, alleging that the company and its Jordanian subcontractor engaged in the human trafficking of Nepali workers.” The firm says 13 Nepali men were recruited for kitchen work in Jordan only to have their passports seized upon arrival and “told they were being sent to a military facility in Iraq.”

www.americanprogressaction.org