Lincoln: Republican slush-fund

the nytimes trots out a faux-cynical multi-page piece about Lincoln Group:

"The company's rise, though, has been built in part by exaggerated claims about its abilities and connections, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former Lincoln Group employees and associates, and a review of company documents."

oh yeah. the am.military was taken in by a "boyish-looking" swindler. poor fucking am.military.

Nope. Lincoln is a part of the repug slush-fund that they love so much.

the closest the nyt can get to spilling the beans is:

"Lincoln formed a partnership with The Rendon Group, a Washington company with close ties to the Bush administration, and won a $5 million Pentagon contract to help inform Iraqis about the American-led effort to defeat the insurgency and form a new government. "

how about doing some fucking real reporting, nyt - it's the abramoffal thing all over again. do you need to be reminded of abramoff's m.o.? a little memory-jogging? Abramoff was sooooo january.

here's josh marsahll, referring to my work in a post called "Ahhh, the seamless global web of mumbojumbo.":

"But while the DOD is hiring the Lincoln Group, the Lincoln is subcontracting the work to BKSH, the PR firm run by Republican uber-operative and spinmeister Charlie Black.

Actually, if you're looking for phony stories about how well things are going in Iraq, I guess a Republican talking head like Charlie Black might be a pretty good better. So this might be an example of shrewd governmnet contracting.

And if you wonder what Charlie Black knows about bamboozling Iraqis, don't worry because he must have picked something up when he was working for Ahmed Chalabi before the war."

or this, also from me:

"as it happens, "BKSH has experience on the Iraqi front earned from work for Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress." - its a small fucking world."

or this, also from me:

"(BKSH MD) Peckham worked as senior policy advisor to former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on defense, intelligence and international trade issues, as deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs to Secretary Jim Baker and as an aide to national security advisor Brent Scowcroft"

or perhaps the fact that Lincoln sub-contracts to BKSH *and* hires BKSH as their lobbyist might do it for you:

""The Lincoln Group also has Republican links. Among lobbyists registered to represent it are Charles Black". the wheels on the bus go round and round. Lincoln subcontracts to BKSH, and then BKSH represents Lincoln!"

or how about the fact that christian bailey was a co-founder of a group called Lead21 and that

"another founder, Price Roe, of Lead21 "worked for the Bush 2000 presidential campaign in Karl Rove's "strategery" group")"

or how about Duf Sundheim, another of Bailey's mentors - his club, The Lincoln Club:

" is now recognized as one of California 's most effective political support organizations, having raised more than $7 million for Republican causes and candidates, including President George W. Bush."
[and]
"The membership of The Lincoln Club is a “who’s who” of business and community leaders who have had a powerful impact on Republican politics for the past 20 years." (link)

sheesh!

Billmon has done two great posts (here's one) on lincoln as well. incidentally, we actually correspnded over it, and he said that whenever he hears BKSH, all he can think is 'baksheesh'.

indeed. it sounds like everyone who covers the Lincoln story is on the take. (or the toke.)

so basically, Lincoln is an obvious repug slush fund - and the nyt narrative is 'oops - the military got swindled'

sheesh. make it stop.