by Joan McCarter
The gods of sloppy e-mailing smiled upon HuffPo today, when GOP communication strategists accidentally included the outlet in a series of e-mails crowing about the fantastic PR that Bobby Jindal got today. The specific news report that had party operatives celebrating was a local Fox Channel 8 report on an event held by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal calling on President Obama to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. "Watch the video -- you can't beg for a better package than that," writes a top Louisiana GOP spokesman to a communications staffer at the Republican National Committee. "Good perspective on moratorium from the gov and locals." The package is, to be sure, a PR coup. Jindal, local officials and workers worried about the effect of the moratorium rip into Obama, pleading with him to reconsider. Peter Duet, in a thick Louisiana accent, tells the assembled crowd that he is a single father and that his daughter recently asked him why he works so much at Port Fourchon. "Baby, so daddy can take you to Wal-Mart and buy you toys," he says, explaining that he won't be able to buy his daughter toys -- or food, for that matter -- if Obama doesn't reverse his decision. "This is literally all that is being talked about in the Gulf -- gives good perspective," writes the RNC official, looping in a number of other RNC operatives, along with HuffPost. In every crisis is an opportunity, but only Republicans could be making political hay out of the destruction of the Gulf Coast ecosystem and the way of life of fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, tour-boat operators, restauranteurs, and many more by attacking Obama. There's no question that the oil industry has been important to the region's economy. There's also little question that the oil industry is now in the process of destroying a huge chunk the Gulf economy. You could also conclude that the GOP communication strategists might as well be Big Oil communication strategists. These e-mails show that the Republican National Committee certainly shares the goals of Big Oil--lifting the moratorium and damn the Gulf Coast and all of its people.
continued at Daily Kos....
