CBS News’ New Right-Wing PR Chief: “I Never Said Democrats Are Evil”
CBS News kicked up a big controversy over the weekend when the news broke that the network had hired as its new public relations chief one Jeff Ballabon, a conservative Orthodox Jew who helped Bush’s reelection campaign in 2004.
Things got hotter when liberal Jewish activist Ira Forman wrote on The Huffington Post that he recalled Ballabon saying that Democrats are “inherently bad people” when the two debated each other in New York a decade ago. HuffPo’s piece also pointed out that Ballabon once called President Obama “incredibly dangerous.”
Ballabon, whose new title is CBS News’ senior vice president for communications, is denying he ever said those things about Dems, however.
“I never said Democrats are evil,” he told me by phone just now. “My mother is a Democrat.”
Asked whether he would have any impact at all on editorial content at CBS, Ballabon said: “No.”
But Ballabon wouldn’t comment further, and he declined to say whether he still thinks Obama is “incredibly dangerous.”
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I never said Democrats are evil. My mother is a Democrat.
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So, I guess he must get it from his father, then?
Greg…have you seen this?
“If you’re looking for a New Yorker with deep ties to the Christian right-you know, the folks running America-Mr. Ballabon is your man.”
http://www.observer.com/node/50572
That sounds just peachy, doesn’t it? Perhaps he’s invoved with the Southern Millenialist Institute for the Termination of Everything (SMITE)
He said it would have no impact on editorial content. I’ll bet 60 Minutes does a complete makeover, though. And Ann Coulter or people like her will become regulars on their morning show. In fact, I wonder what CBS programming Ballabon would consider “editorial”. At the Movies, perhaps?
Guess I’ll stop watching CBS then. No big.
Our so-called liberal media strikes again.
Tie to Abramoff and Norquist:
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“The Senate report, compiled by the Finance Committee’s Democratic staff, was issued Thursday with the assent of committee leaders of both parties. The report scrutinizes whether non-profit groups were improperly used as extensions of for-profit lobbying.
The report said Jeffrey Ballabon, then executive vp of public affairs for Channel One, wrote in January 1999 to Abramoff and to another lobbyist at the firm Preston Gates, where Abramoff worked, asking for support for arguments that Channel One saves tax dollars. Ballabon suggested favorable treatment by Abramoff associate and well-known conservative Grover Norquist, and by month’s end The Washington Times had published a favorable op-ed under Norquist’s byline, the report said.
Days later Abramoff in an e-mail to Ballabon suggested payment to Norquist’s organization, Americans for Tax Reform, according to the Senate report. In April, Abramoff suggested a $3,000 payment to Americans for Tax Reform as the price for a policy brief the group wrote portraying Channel One as a tax-saving service, according to the Senate report.
In May 1999, Abramoff wrote to Ballabon suggesting “5 pieces for $10K,” referring to payment for favorable op-ed and think-tank treatments of Channel One. According to the Senate report, Ballabon responded: “yup—I have not forgotten (was it $10?—I wrote it down—whatever it was, she’ll get it.”)
In a later e-mail exchange, the two discussed payment of $49,000 “to support public programs,” according to the Senate report.
Ballabon left Primedia in 2004, the company said.”
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/print/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003254277
This guys talks a lot! One begins to wonder who has put our new friend in place at CBS and what other behind-the-scenes spears are turning towards Obama.
***
“Many who fear – legitimately – the approach a President Obama (with Democrats in control of both houses of Congress!) would take to the Middle East believe that President McCain is the solution. While it is true that McCain could not possibly be worse than Obama from the standpoint of Israel’s security, it is a mistake to think that McCain is anything like George W. Bush. If Israel has a very tough and aggressive leadership which takes concrete and painful steps to stabilize the region and protect its interests, then it likely will find McCain a good and rock-ribbed ally. Israel’s political star rose in America precisely because it was unapologetically aggressive about protecting Jewish and Israeli interests – whether in unilaterally declaring statehood, capturing Eichmann, launching war preemptively in ‘67 and against Iraq’s nuclear infrastructure in ‘81, refusing to negotiate with terrorists and engaging in daring raids like Entebbe and in exacting punishment, like after Munich – and the list goes on. ” http://www.jrtelegraph.com/2008/07/jeff-ballabon-i.html
Intentionally misquoting himself. He isn’t accused of saying Democrats are evil, he said our President, Barak Obama, was “incredibly dangerous”.
Typical right winger, typical liar.
This appears to be the Senate report noted above:
http://www.obligation.org/article.php?recordID=770
Lots of emails between Abramoff, Norquist and Ballabon. Lots of coordinated PR/propaganda planning re Channel One, and a fair bit of money zipping around for favors.
Bernie – I bet you did more due diligence on Ballabon than CBS. Either that or they are relying on the fact that no one else will report the Abramoff connection. Thanks.
Danp…thanks, but my guess would be that this hire was done with full knowledge of the fellow’s past. Actual Senate report in full is here:
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2005press/prb101206.pdf
I guess we had to expect that there’d be commies.
“In email correpsondence about the article, Ballabon decribed the company’s critics as “radical, anti-business operators and academics” and “outside commie agitators.” Ballabon’s idea of “commies” included the PTA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Federation of Teachers.”
http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/politicking/seattle_area_abramoff_scandal
Ballabon hearts Rick Santorum and Brownback. And Tom DeLay, my very favorite human:
“Even as embattled GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff was reported to have turned on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican’s other right-wing Jewish allies are rallying to his defense.
“DeLay is arguably the best friend Israel has in Congress,” said Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, which adamantly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state. “He’s not simply a guy who you go for help. He gets other guys to help. A guy like DeLay will call you [to ask] what can he do.”
Republican activist Jeff Ballabon, head of the conservative Center for Jewish Values, also came to the Republican leader’s defense. “DeLay’s concern for Jewish survival and his active friendship for Israel are deep and personal,” Ballabon said. “They existed long before the Oslo terror war and long before Jewish organizations or fundraisers ever discovered him. Those in the Jewish community who have come to appreciate the depth and magnitude of his friendship ought to stand with him now.”’
http://www.forward.com/articles/3280/
And G. Gordon Liddy hearts Ballabon:
“When Jeff Ballabon tells you he can do something, consider it done, and done well.”
New Gingrich one said, “We are going to change America through the media.” That strategy has been, at least in its effects, visible and obvious for a long while now. The only really interesting thing about the statement is who he meant by “we”.
What on earth were they thinking of when they hired this guy? Unbiased? Hell no! He’s a Yale Educated Lawyer (Same as Bush) a Bush cronie and a Republican activist and a Jew. God, they couldn’t have made a worse choice for unbiased coverage and common sense. Boycott t hem!
“And a Jew”? What ought we to do with him and Al Franken and Josh Marshall and Matt Yglesias and Rick Perlstein and all those other Jews, do you figure, JimS ?
I think we all need to look at how the Democrats were voting during the Bush era. Barbara Mikulski, Ben Cardin, Steny Hoyer and even Joe Biden voted with President Bush on many, many things, even things they should not have voted with him on, (such as the war in Iraq). So, let us have a real dialogue, let us talk about race, and oh, illegal immigration. Have you noticed that MSNBC, NBC, CBS none of these people will say the word illegal immigrant, they prefer “immigrant” even if the illegal was a murderer (Chandra Levey), yea, I want to embrace all of the people in my country today and I want every body to sing *** ba ya! They don’t talk about the “real issues” in America, no we only talk about how we need the stimulus package to “save our country” well, did the Democrats read this package, how irresponsible of our leaders, be they on the left or the right. We need to clean house in 2010 (now the Democrats need a good cleansing of the 20-30 year stints). With a New World Order, we are going to need some need some fresh leaders, don’t you think?
Fantastic blog! I’m so happy I stumbled here through yahoo. gonna have to add this one to the list…