Patriot Politics

Remember all the fuss about Dick Cheney’s deferred compensation from Halliburton?  Sure you do!  CBS was all over it in a breathlessly cheap suit.  John Kerry felt compelled to run an ad filled with false accusations on it.  (John’s good at that sort of thing; he practiced on our soldiers years ago).  The left’s premise was that Cheney hatched a Machiavellian plan to pad his personal bank account by starting a little war in Iraq and giving all its related contracts to a company that was still paying him.

The Office of Congressional Ethics (that would be an oxymoron, no?) weighed in, saying deferred compensation is a continuing financial interest.  Byron York bemoaned that Cheney’s decision to accept deferred payments gave the Democrats the opportunity to “attack and attack and attack.” And they did.

So. . . what are we to make of Davey Axelrod, the champion for the uninsured, whose fingerprints are all over a health care proposal that robs from the rich to cover the poor?  Well, plenty, as it turns out.

Politico summarizes some handy little payouts to Axelrod’s consulting firm (where his son still works, natch) from coalitions (Healthy Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care) that support his new boss’s legislative agenda. Everyone who’s anyone is in these coalitions, dont’cha know!  PhRMa, the AMA, SEIU, AARP, and even Pfizerand GlaxoSmithKline.

The coalitions aren’t sayin’, and of course they’re not required to, but the ad campaigns came in at about $24 million, which AKPD split with another firm that has Obama ties: GMMB Campaign Group.  (Go ahead, click on GMMB’s link and the first thing you’ll see is this:  Who we work for says a lot about who we are.  LOL)

Since AKPD Message and Media still owes Davey a few bucks, and cash flow being what it is, well . . . there’s those pesky dots that are always connecting. From Bloomberg.com:

Axelrod was president and sole shareholder of AKPD from 1985 until he sold his interest after Obama’s victory, government records show. The firm owes Axelrod $2 million, which it’s due to pay in installments beginning Dec. 31. Axelrod’s son, Michael, still works there. He didn’t return a phone call. The firm’s Web site continues to feature David Axelrod’s work on the Obama campaign.

Radiovice furthers the story with a definition of Beltway Insurance (not the kind you and I qualify for):

On top of that, the sole shareholder of AKPD Message and Media prior to the sale in December was David Axelrod himself, so he cut a deal with himself and the new partners to ensure he got $2 million after he left.

and good, coordinated public relations strategy:

“Campaign manager of the year” and AKPD senior adviser David Plouffe’s name and resume is now the main focus on the AKPD Web site. He’s the guy who sends out e-mails for the Organizing for America (OFA) political wing of the Obama White House.

Say, check out the latest email here. Gosh, it sure looks like it’s coming from the President himself!  How DO they do that anyway?

There’s a long history of turning the heat up inside the Beltway’s kitchen, and we think it’s kind of funny how the long knives Byron York referenced years ago can turn on the wielder.  Attack, attack, attack.  Even funnier will be some of the facial expressions and verbal contortions as this little brouhaha unfolds.  Or maybe not.

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