I'd like your help planning the next phase of our campaign against Ford

While the gay groups meet with Ford on Monday, I want to meet with you.

At this point, I've not been invited to the meeting with Ford. I asked to attend, and have yet to hear back. Until I hear otherwise, I'm continuing to prepare Phase 2 of the campaign against Ford, which I'd like to launch shortly. To do that, I need your help and collective brainpower.

As we already know, Phase 1 of the campaign has been a success. In less than a week, Ford's renewed foray into bigotry has exploded in its face. The print and on-air media have covered the story of how Ford is pulling its gay advertising and ceasing its support for gay events, because of pressure from an extremist gay-hating organization that uses the "research" of known hate groups to demonize gays in a way that even the Southern Poverty Law Center has said "echoes Nazi Germany." The gay community and our allies are aware of this betrayal, and they're angrier than they've been in years.

Phase 1 has been a success. We got our message out there, got the media interested, shocked Ford will the magnitude of our anger (and our reach), and now they're doing damage control, big time.

For Phase 2 I want to up the ante.

I'm thinking of what Colin Powell said about the Iraqi Army during the first Gulf War: "First we're going to cut it off, then we're going to kill it." Our goal is quite simply to inflict maximum pain on Ford in as short a time period as possible in order to force their quick capitulation. Unlike our illustrious president, I do not believe in declaring war by slowly increasing the level of pain over a period of months or years. I, like Colin Powell, believe in attacking the enemy with overwhelming force from the beginning, and never letting go until we've won. In other words, they won't know what hit them, and by the time they do, it will be too late.

That's not to say I'm opposed to a long drawn out campaign - remember it took a year for us to take down Dr. Laura, and we did. All I'm saying is that you don't dribble your strategies out slowly, you give 'em all you've got from day one.

With that in mind, I'd like your advice as to what comes next.

I had a long meeting today with "Joe in DC" and "Rob in Baltimore." We also conferenced in one of our StopDrLaura.com co-founders, grassroots goddess extraordinaire Robin Tyler. Robin is the one who with virtually no budget (we're talking perhaps a few thousand bucks, max) coordinated simultaneous StopDrLaura.com protests in 34 US and Canadian cities, yes, all on the same day. We've prepared a detailed outline of multiple simultaneous attacks that can be launched quickly and devastatingly. But I wanted a chance to get more ideas from you guys to fill in the strategy.

Overall, we think there are at least three sides to Phase 2 of the campaign:

1. Paid Media
2. Grassroots
3. Viral

1. Paid Media

Paid media means buying ads. My questions for you would include where to buy the ads, what publications and what cities, what the message of the ads that will most influence Ford (or our other audiences), and what the goal(s) of the ads is/are. Who is the target audience for the ads, and why? Is it a gay audience, a straight audience, Ford's financiers in New York City, Washington politicos who are being asked to bail Ford out, Ford's competitors, Europeans and Australians, all of the above? Are the ads timed with any specific event like, oh, say the 2006 International Auto Show in Detroit come mid-January? Should we run ads abroad?

2. Grassroots

Meaning, protests, leafleting, etc. Where, what and when. Again, who's the target audience and what's the goal of the protests? Can you come up with some original protest ideas that would wow the media and help guarantee coverage of our story while at the same time inflicting maximal damage on Ford? What unique kind of protest actions can we come up - for example, the Salvation Army protests drop a piece of paper in their buckets saying you would have donated if they weren't such bigots. Is there any clever idea like that we could do with Ford? Do we protest at the auto show, if so when and how, in what manner, with what messages? What about getting a group of folks together who recently bought Fords and holding a press event where you try to return them to Ford? The Superbowl is at Ford Field in Detroit on February 5, is there any way to take advantage of that? The Academy Awards are coming up on March 5, should we use our friends there to send a message to one billion people watching around the world (we've done it before)?

3. Viral

Viral means, well, coming up with ideas that will sail across the Internet for free. Examples: Creating our own video spoofs of Ford's ads; creating a Michael Moore style video of someone trying to return their Ford car. Imagine following him with a hand-held camera for his trip to demand they take the Jag back.

And finally, what else? What other ideas are we missing? For example, targeting Ford's Board of Directors? How should we do that? Targeting Hollywood - someone suggested we ask our friends in Hollywood to never again feature a Ford car in any of their films. College recruiting - have people protest Ford whenever their recruiters appear on college campuses. What other unique ways can we get media attention and put pressure on Ford at the same time?

The sky is really the limit here. We've got a regular reader base of around 100,000 people a day on this blog, and add to that my database of gay activists around the country and world, our StopDrLaura.com contacts around the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and beyond, the readers of the other top blogs who would surely help us out on this campaign, and that doesn't even factor in the assistance the top gay groups could offer as a part of this campaign.

The only thing we're missing is your genius input.

Let's make Ford suffer even more than Paramount when they hired Dr. Laura, even more than Microsoft when it stopped supporting gay civil rights, and even more than America Online when it outed a gay sailor. In each and every case our opponent never knew what hit them, and we won.

Let's make this campaign one of our best ever.

PS I'll be posting again about this in the morning, and linking to this post, so don't worry about people not seeing it in the morning. Read the rest of this post...

Republicans say if anyone questions Alito's ethics they'll bring up Chappaquiddick

Not kidding. The White House's team working on Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court are now threatening Senators, including Kennedy and Biden.

From MyDD:

The GOP team working with the White House to win confirmation of conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is putting out a warning to Alito's Democratic critics: Question his ethics and character at your own peril. In their sights: Sens. Edward Kennedy and Joe Biden. "We're absolutely prepared to have an ethics debate with Teddy Kennedy," says one insider who mentioned the "C" word: Chappaquiddick. "Questioning Alito's credibility and character will be hit back hard," said one of the Alito supporters.

Right, so if anyone asks Alito why he lied three times under oath to the US Senate when he said he would recuse himself from specific cases, then didn't, the Republicans will bring up Chappaquidick.

Call me crazy, but I'm not sure it's a very wise political tactic to threaten to personally attack any Democratic who asks legitimate questions about why Alito lied under oath.

I smell desperation. Read the rest of this post...

Possible do-it-yourself anti-Ford protests

From a DailyKos diary - not sure if they were thinking of Ford when they wrote this, but reader Mitch wrote me that this is an interesting way to protest Ford. From DKos:

According to weekend estimates so far, Brokeback Mountain is in the all-time top ten in per-theater sales, and is #1 for a non-animated film.... 13,000 people standing in line at each theater waiting to get tickets ... seems like a perfect opportunity to hand out literature.

Interesting idea. Do you think is taking unfair advantage of Brokeback Mountain, or a great idea for piggy-backing nicely on a message the film is already trying to send? Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Watching Harry Potter on ABC Family :-) Read the rest of this post...

Oh my God.

AMERICAblog reader RickBoston alerted us to this actual content from the Web site of the extremist gay-hating organization Focus on the Family:

Dr. Dobson's Newsletter: June, 2002
Can Homosexuality Be Treated and Prevented?

Dear Friends:

Chapter 9 of my latest book, Bringing Up Boys, provides a definitive explanation, I believe, regarding the origins of homosexuality. Let me quote the following excerpts, which should be of extreme importance to every parent who is raising one or more boys. I pray that this discussion will be helpful in that context.... The letter that begins this excerpt contains some disturbing expressions from a 13-year-old boy. Please read with discretion.

The Origins of Homosexuality

A few years ago, I received the following scribbled note from a very troubled youth. He wrote:

Dear Dr. Dobson:

I've been putting this off for a long time so I'm finally writing you a letter. I am a thirteen year old boy. I have listened to your tapes [Preparing for Adolescence] but not the complete set. I did listen to the one on sex though.

Getting to the point, I don't know if I have a serious problem or a passing? (I don't know the word for it). All through my life (very short) I have acted and look much more like a girl than a boy. When I was little, I would always wear finger nail polish, dresses, and the sort. I also had an older cousin who would take us (little cousins) into his room and show us his genitals. I'm afraid I have a little sodomy in me. It was very hard for me to write what I just did. I don't want to be homosexual but I'm afraid, very afraid. That was hard to write too. Let me explain further.

Through my higher grades in school (I'm in seventh grade) kids have always called me names (gay, fag etc.), and made fun of me. It's been hard. I have masturbated (I guess) but gone too far. When I was little (not that little) I tried to more than once to suck my own penis (to be frank). That sounds very bad and looks even worse to read it. I pray that nothing is wrong with me.

Very recently I have done such acts as looking (maybe lusting, I pray so hard that I wasn't) at myself in skimpy underwear. Whenever I wear it I feel a like sexual sensation. Yesterday in the bathroom (in front of the mirror), I wiggled my body very rapidly, making my genitals bounce up and down. I get a little bit of that feeling mentioned above as I write this. After I did this, I immediately asked forgiveness of God, went in the shower but did it again there....

I'm afraid if I am not straight (that's much easier to write) I will go to hell. I don't want to be not straight. I don't try to be not straight. I love God and want to go to heaven. If something is wrong with me, I want to get rid of it.

Please help me.

Mark

I was deeply touched by Mark's letter.

I'll bet you were.

Then we learn the following lesson on how to keep your son from becoming a homosexual - Dobson quotes an anti-gay "doctor" who says he"cures" gay people:

Meanwhile, the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger.

Read the rest of this post...

RNC running online ad bragging that they want to keep our troops in Iraq while Dems want a withdrawal

Good. Every day the media announces that another ten US soldiers have died in Iraq I want ever American reminded that the Republicans are to blame for this disaster, and that the Democrats wanted us out of there long ago.

Hell, I'd have paid for that RNC ad out of my own pocket.

By the way, while we're debating who is an isn't a real patriotic American, I'd like to know why RNC chair Ken Mehlman isn't volunteering to serve in Iraq. I assume there's nothing stopping him, right?

More on this issue from Kos. Read the rest of this post...

"60 Minutes'" Mike Wallace's son is an idiot. Sad.

Apparently conservative family values no longer include respecting your parents. Sad.

From the uber-conservative tabloid Newsmax:

"Fox News Sunday" anchorman Chris Wallace says father Mike Wallace has "lost it" - after the legendary CBS newsman told the Boston Globe last week that the fact George Bush had been elected president shows America is "[expletive]-up."

"He's lost it. The man has lost it. What can I say," the younger Wallace lamented to WRKO Boston radio host Howie Carr on Friday.

"He's 87-years old and things have set in," the Fox anchor continued. "I mean, we're going to have a competence hearing pretty soon."

Wallace Jr. quickly dispelled any notion that he was joking. When Carr suggested that his comments were likely to be covered by NewsMax, he responded: "You know what? Fine. Go ahead. Call them. That's fine. I'll stand by that."

Returning to the topic of his father's competence, Wallace Jr. explained: "He's checked out. I don't understand it," beyond the fact that Wallace Sr. has "problems with the war."

"I don't know why he said what he said," he added.

On Thursday, the elder Wallace told the Boston Globe that if he had the chance to interview President Bush, he'd ask:

"What in the world prepared you to be the commander in chief of the largest superpower in the world? In your background, Mr. President, you apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. . . . The governor of Texas doesn't have the kind of power that some governors have. . . . Why do you think they nominated you? . . . Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?"

Still, despite his criticism, Wallace Jr. seems to have inherited some of his father's shoot-from-the-lip-style.

Asked about DNC chair Howard Dean's recent prediction that the U.S. would lose the war in Iraq, Wallace told Carr:

"We are in a war. We do have 150,000-plus American soldiers over there. I mean, it's Tokyo Rose, for God sakes, going on radio saying we can't win the war."

No Chris, Tokyo Rose is a Republican who throws our troops' lives away like a dirty old kleenex for a war that's a lie and a disaster, rather than volunteering to go over and fight themselves. Read the rest of this post...

Auto industry analyst not happy with Ford

From StreetBeetOnline.net:

December 8, Washington DC's Metro Weekly reported: "When asked if the advertising was being discontinued because of the threatened AFA boycott, (Ford spokesman Mike) Moran said, 'Ceasing advertising is an outgrowth of those meetings.'" (emphasis added)

That's ugly and pathetic. Caving in to a grop that promotes intolerance and hate is never, in any way, understandable or defensible. What makes it an especially bitter pill is that I know a lot of people at Ford that I like personally, and for whom I have great personal respect. This is not their behavior, nor is it their mindset. Nonetheless, Ford has, as a corporate entity, behaved in a craven, cowardly fashion.

But the story isn't yet complete. The San Francisco chronicle reports Ford will meet with leaders from 19 gay rights organizations this coming week. I'd like to hope that Ford has seen the light and will use that meeting as a platform from which to announce it has reconsidered its position, and that it will reinstate at least a small portion of its advertising in gay-oriented publications as a show of good faith and to demonstrate that Ford won't give in to threats of blackmail and boycotts. I doubt that will be the case. But I'm going to keep hope alive and watch as this story continues to unfold.

My position will remain clear and unchanged: I'm disgusted by anyone who bows to the bullyboys of intolerance and bigotry. And I'm hugely disappointed and appalled by Ford's corporate behavior thus far.

Street Beet also has as segment on TV in Detroit, and is watched/followed by a number of auto execs. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

What's up? Read the rest of this post...

Viveca Novak tells her story

She's already told Patrick Fitzgerald...still sorting through what it means:

Here's what happened. Toward the end of one of our meetings, I remember Luskin looking at me and saying something to the effect of "Karl doesn't have a Cooper problem. He was not a source for Matt." I responded instinctively, thinking he was trying to spin me, and said something like, "Are you sure about that? That's not what I hear around TIME." He looked surprised and very serious. "There's nothing in the phone logs," he said. In the course of the investigation, the logs of all Rove's calls around the July 2003 time period--when two stories, including Matt's, were published mentioning that Plame was Wilson's wife--had been combed, and Luskin was telling me there were no references to Matt. (Cooper called via the White House switchboard, which may be why there is no record.)

I was taken aback that he seemed so surprised. I had been pushing back against what I thought was his attempt to lead me astray. I hadn't believed that I was disclosing anything he didn't already know. Maybe this was a feint. Maybe his client was lying to him. But at any rate, I immediately felt uncomfortable. I hadn't intended to tip Luskin off to anything. I was supposed to be the information gatherer. It's true that reporters and sources often trade information, but that's not what this was about. If I could have a do-over, I would have kept my mouth shut; since I didn't, I wish I had told my bureau chief about the exchange. Luskin walked me to my car and said something like, "Thank you. This is important." Fitzgerald wanted to know when this conversation occurred. At that point I had found calendar entries showing that Luskin and I had met in January and in May. Since I couldn't remember exactly how the conversation had developed, I wasn't sure. I guessed it was more likely May.

She lets us know that Luskin is not happy with her...and Time let us know she's on a leave of absence. Read the rest of this post...

Big LA Times profile of Crooks & Liars, our favorite video blog

Check it out. (stupid free registration required, just fyi)

For political junkies, must-see TV once meant sitting through hours of "Crossfire," "Hannity & Colmes" and "Meet the Press," hoping for the occasional gem. Nowadays, to catch Robert Novak turning the air blue on "Inside Politics" or work yourself into an apoplectic lather over our politicians' latest truth-challenged utterances, you can point your browser to http://www.crooksandliars.com , the brainchild of 47-year-old West L.A. musician and liberal-Democrat John Amato. Since last fall, he has been serving up political dish from a decidedly blue-state perspective with daily posts of video and audio streams. Amato, who turned to blogging after an injury scotched his saxophone career during a hiatus from a reunion tour with Duran Duran, currently is receiving between 100,000 and 200,000 hits on the site per day and has even done a few original interviews. We pried him away from his computer for questions from the mainstream media.

Read the rest of this post...

Five more soldiers killed in Iraq

I missed the chapter on mounting US deaths in the Bush's "Plan for Victory":

Five American soldiers were killed in rebel attacks in and near the capital, including one who died in a suicide car bombing on Friday against a group of soldiers in the Abu Ghraib neighborhood, the American military command said Saturday.

The bomb attack also wounded 11 soldiers and an Iraqi civilian, the military said in a brief statement.

Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Morning Open Thread

Here's a link to the guest lists for the Sunday Talk Shows. That should keep us busy this morning. Read the rest of this post...