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MSNBC reports: A well-known Washington lobbying firm with links to the financial industry has proposed an $850,000 plan to take on Occupy Wall Street and politicians who might express sympathy for the protests, according to a memo obtained by the MSNBC program “Up w/ Chris Hayes.”
The proposal was written on the letterhead of the lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford and addressed to one of CLGC’s clients, the American Bankers Association.
CLGC’s memo [PDF] proposes that the ABA pay CLGC $850,000 to conduct “opposition research” on Occupy Wall Street in order to construct “negative narratives” about the protests and allied politicians. The memo also asserts that Democratic victories in 2012 would be detrimental for Wall Street and targets specific races in which it says Wall Street would benefit by electing Republicans instead.
According to the memo, if Democrats embrace OWS, “This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street. … It has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”
Here’s an extract from the memo:
They certainly come out of the wood work now, don’t they. $1,000,000.00 it is, to take on #OWS. Get it while the getting is hot. Money, that is. There is no shame when it comes to some people, especially when they are dilettantes. The days are rapidly approaching, when none of this will matter, except perhaps to some person writing a chronology of events. Perhaps it will be for a post doctoral of some sort or another? I wonder, do any of these people who participate realize that they are traitors to everyone who lives in this country, even the ones who hold the strings of power? I doubt it, as these same people have never known loyalty to anything but the $$$$$. It will be interesting to hear what answer these individuals give to their children/grandchildren when they ask: “what did you do for your country, Daddy/Mommy?
The rightists are desperate to combat #Occupy on their own, well funded turf. Part of this plan is visible in their desperate campaign against Elizabeth Warren. It’s good that they have shown their blinkered thinking because it will be valuable evidence to dissuade those within the movement to change a non-violent strategy that has provided so much success.
The #Occupy movement is bigger and more comprehensive than any one election. Keep it amorphous and more difficult to monitor and pin down. The occupied parks were a great rallying point, but it’s too soon to try to occupy ground. Aim to occupy hearts and minds.