About that Saxby Chambliss memo …
October 29, 2008 at 9:23 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsJesus, a guy goes to City Hall for two hours and a shitstorm erupts. Well, here’s our take on what happened.
So there’s this internal memo of very questionable origin floating around that’s purported to be from a top political consulting firm. And it’s addressed to a PAC that’s allegedly pushing for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. On Monday morning, the scandalous document puttered out of our fax machine with no name attached. (You can read all about the memo — hell, even read the memo itself — here.)
In it, tales of doom are told. The most frightening of which is that post-debate poll numbers showed Libertarian Party nominee Allen Buckley eating into Chambliss’ support. Lest something is done to ruin Buckley’s standing with undecided voters, the document says, the incumbent Republican could surely face a runoff or even lose his seat to Democratic nominee Jim Martin.
Dear God, please — say it ain’t so.
But just like we kind of thought when we received the memo, the fax smells like bullshit. In fact, it smells just as bad as the bathroom of the store from where it was faxed — I know because I drove all the way out there to ask employees if they had any recollection of who sent the damn thing!
At first glance, the memo looks believable, but on a second or third read you start to notice that’s filled with spelling and grammatical errors — presumably not the trademarks of McLaughlin & Associates, a political consulting firm that regularly conducts work for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. And whose employees are still at work at 10:45 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Like they were last night when I spoke to one whose name appears to be forged on the memo. Erick at Peach Pundit has more firsthand details as to why he thinks the memo’s a fake here.
Plus it’s just way over the top. Even if you believe political consultants put puppies in burlap sacks and throw them off cliffs do mean things, the wording is too cartoonishly conniving to believe. “Our operatives will leave no stone unturned,” the writer says, referring to opposition research on Buckley. “A complete review of his income tax records, marriage records, student records and criminal records, as well as detailed financial information, must be obtained ASAP.”
Employees of the firm both on the phone and in e-mail said someone had copied their letterhead and forged the document. They steadfastly denied the memo was their handy work. They even offered to meet with me in the legal setting of their choosing!
Mr. Wheatley,
As the CEO and Partner of McLaughlin & Associates, I am writing to officially inform you, as [another employee] has told you the memo that you alleged is from us, but refuse to show us, is a forgery. If you print it, we will have no choice but to sue you for libel and damages to our business. I am referring this matter to our attorney for potential litigation. Thank you.
Well, that’s always fun to read! There was similar interest from a Libertarian source of mine:
Could this [memo] be what we discussed last night ?
Please send me a copy of the whatever it is that you have.
The Libertarians need to know !
Do you think Allen is in danger ?
But from where we stand, the memo is fishy. It reads more like a trick rather than a paid piece of advice. It’s one of those things you want to believe in — kind of like pro wrestling. But then it dawns on you that it’s just a bunch of dudes who are focusing their energy in the wrong places.
But at least it made the U.S. Senate race — which up until this point has been a cacaphonous confusionfest about who voted for more tax increases and pork projects — a little bit interesting. Whoever wrote and faxed the document is surely watching this whole thing implode. We’re all eating it up because we love insider baseball tinged with a hint of chichanery. Regardless, the U.S. Senate race continues on and will eventually be decided.
Now I’m gonna go see my friend perform improv. Y’all have a good night.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:27 am
you’re too young to be getting religion.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Victor,
I’ve told you a million times. I’m 74 years old.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 am
[...] About that Saxby Chambliss memo … By Thomas Wheatley Bookmark [...]
November 6th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
[...] but it turns out it was Buckley who came closer to that projection. This sounds strange, but maybe that fradulent memo that caused a commotion for about 14 hours had some good [...]