CARTOON: The Celebrities & Democratic Consultants Who Cashed In On The Billion $$$ Harris Campaign

Who’s so loony to give a rip who George Clooney endorses? Not those dealing with the reality of trying to survive and provide for their families in a corrupt economy in a crumbling society.

Cartoon by Mark Taylor / DeMOCKracy.ink

Instead of endless lecturing and pontificating on the virtue signaling of pronouns, how about demanding the protection of the human rights of Palestinian children and hurricane relief for North Carolina families abandoned by a government that sends an unlimited flow of 2,000-pound anti-personnel bombs to slaughter more children in Gaza.

By Mark Taylor
DeMOCKracy (11/16/24)

Of the many tone-deaf, arrogantly ignored issues and missed opportunities of the disastrous Harris/Walz campaign, the cringeiest was the dependence upon Hollywood celebrity endorsements. Such vacuous, entitled tutelage has increasingly become central to Democratic Party national campaigns as the party has moved further and further from the real-world, day-to-day realities and needs of poor and working class Americans.

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THE PITCH: “Hey, okay, so you may not be able to afford groceries and your utility bills, and healthcare and that’s really sad, but we have Oprah coming out here in a couple minutes to cheer you up and get out the vote! So exciting, Feel The VIBE!!!!”

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Well, with 2024, enough!

Enough with the celebrity endorsements, you arrogant, dumb Democrats. Who’s so loony to give a rip who George Clooney endorses? Not those dealing with the reality of trying to survive and provide for their families in a corrupt economy in a crumbling society.

Who really benefits

Really, what does some self-indulged, ego-besotted, overpaid celebrity know about an underpaid store clerk not being able to afford groceries or a delivery driver having the electricity turned off or an unemployed mother wondering where the money for her child’s corporate medical co-payment will come from.

This short video gives a taste of how deluded arrogant Democratic Party leaders and their vapid celebrity enablers have been.

The report below from the Sludge newsletter details who benefited from the millions rolled out for celebrity endorsements and events and the maggoty crew of consultants who profit off Democratic campaigns while also managing corporate campaigns to undermine public education and healthcare for all. Remember where your money really goes the next time you get a fundraising pitch from the DNC.

Enough with the goddamned blue-hair-dye platitudes

Democratic Party celebrity obsession is ultimately focus on the self. Enough with the goddamned blue-hair-dye platitudes! Stretch your woke myopic self-obsession outward to care about whether your neighbor can feed her kids or how that single father down the street can afford childcare for his two kids as he takes on extra shifts to meet his jacked up apartment rent.

Instead of endless lecturing and pontificating on the virtue signaling of pronouns, how about demanding the protection of the human rights of Palestinian children and hurricane relief for North Carolina families abandoned by a government that sends an unlimited flow of 2,000-pound anti-personnel bombs to slaughter more children in Gaza.

Instead of pierced noses, how about Democrats concern themselves with their party’s support of piercing childrens’ skulls with American-made sniper bullets and piercing their spines with fragments from anti-personnel rockets.

Instead of snide purity testing snippy put-downs, how about — for at least one damn moment — taking the focus off yourself, Democrats, to care about making the world better for all, all around the world. And for the children not yet born.

How about telling the Democrats in Congress to stop their insane, ghastly, ever-escalating war mongering that has us literally on the cusp of global annihilation every single day.

How about, Democrats, holding your arrogant, corporate-owned Democratic Party accountable and maybe scrape up a tad of genuine humanity and solidarity for the victims of this government both here and globally?

And Democrats wonder how Trump won? How could he lose? The best thing his campaign had going for it was the celebrity-studded, navel-gazing, arrogant, “Feel Our Vibe” Democratic campaign and all the self-absorbed millionaire hypocrites behind it.

Have the Democrats learned anything from 2024? So far, no

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KA-CHING!!! The Top Recipients Of Harris Campaign's Billion Dollars Of Spending

Like Canal Partners Media, Bully Pulpit has worked with business interests that are misaligned with some Democratic Party policy positions. The company was paid almost $760,000 in 2018 by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a nonprofit that was formed to resist Democratic efforts to create a universal health care system.

By Donald Shaw
Sludge (11/13/24)

After raising more than $1 billion, the Kamala Harris campaign is expected to end up with millions of dollars of debt once it’s done paying vendor invoices. The debt will likely get passed along to the Democratic National Committee and could burden the party as it works to rebuild after its catastrophic election season. 

President-elect Donald Trump is already scoring political points over the Democrats’ debt issues. Over the weekend, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Whatever we can do to help them during this difficult period, I would strongly recommend we, as a Party and for the sake of desperately needed UNITY, do. We have a lot of money left over in that our biggest asset in the campaign was ‘Earned Media,’ and that doesn’t cost very much.”

You’ve probably heard already about some of the Harris campaign’s most outlandish splurges, like the $1 million it paid to the media company of surrogate Oprah Winfrey, or running ads on the Las Vegas Sphere, or spending six figures to build a set for the “Call Her Daddy” podcast while declining to appear for free on the Joe Rogan podcast. 

But these expenditures are peanuts compared to where the bulk of the billion-plus in spending went. With the campaign’s disproportionate dependence on paid media over the Trump campaign’s earned media strategy of podcast appearances and organic social interest, Democratic media consultants have been paid hundreds of millions by the Biden and Harris campaigns, money that is enriching the firms’ founders and partners through commissions. 

These Democratic consulting firms typically have their own revolving door ecosystem. They are often led by former Democratic Party officials or former staffers for Democratic elected officials who leverage their experience and connections to get a piece of the party’s election cycle spending splurges. 

Media Buying and Analytics LLC

The Harris campaign’s largest vendor was the creatively named Media Buying and Analytics LLC, a front company for the Canal Partners Media firm. 

Media Buying and Analytics LLC lists an Atlanta UPS store on its invoices that can be accessed through the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), and it is registered in the state of Georgia by what appears to be a law firm based out of a suburban office plaza. However, some FCC filings show the firms are linked and Canal Partners Media’s president confirmed the tie to Business Insider in 2020. 

Formed in May 2019, Media Buying and Analytics LLC has overseen more than $280 million in ad production and placement spending for the Harris campaign, and that total is expected to increase once Federal Election Commission disclosures covering the final phase of the campaign are filed. 

Canal Partners Media’s president is Bobby Khan, a former chief of staff for Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and former chair of the Georgia Democratic Party. Khan formed LUC Media in 1993, and his firm merged with Abar Hutton Media in 2013 to form Canal Partners. Abar Hutton Media was formed by Barbara Burr and Shelli Hutton, who remain with the firm as partner/buyers. 

In addition to its work for Democrats, Canal Partners works for businesses and trade associations, including work that directly counters Democratic policy objectives, which may explain why it conducted its Harris work through a shell company. In 2022, it worked for a Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) front group Rare Access Action Project to help it run ads opposing the Biden administration’s policy allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, reported journalist Andrew Perez. In 2017, it worked for Uber as the company was lobbying for permission to operate in western New York state, a policy that was opposed by unions. 

A review of nonprofit tax documents show that Canal Partners Media has been working in recent years for charter school groups Families for Excellent Schools Inc. and Success Academy Charter Schools, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York, and pharmaceutical industry group Association for Accessible Medicines. 

Gambit Strategies

The Washington, D.C.-based digital firm Gambit Strategies was paid $122 million for media protection and placement by the Harris and Biden campaigns, as of the middle of October. Founded in 2021, Gambit Strategies specializes in digital persuasion and mobilization, and does not work on fundraising. 

Gambit Partner Megan Clasen was a senior paid media advisor to President Biden’s 2020 campaign, and according to her bio she began her career in advertising working with brands including Samsung and AT&T, and then in 2015 joined Hillary for America’s digital advertising team. The firm’s other partner, Patrick McHugh, was previously the executive director for Biden’s chief outside group in the 2020 cycle, Priorities USA, including a super PAC, a dark money nonprofit, and a charitable foundation. Gambit was paid $17 million by Priorities USA Action during the 2022 midterm cycle, according to OpenSecrets, before the super PAC was relegated to a minor role in the 2024 cycle and replaced with Future Forward.

Bully Pulpit Interactive

Founded and led by Obama campaign veterans, Bully Pulpit Interactive (BPI) has been a leading Democratic consultancy and media firm in recent election cycles. As of mid-October, the company had received disbursements of over $101 million from the Harris and Biden campaigns. 

Bully Pulpit’s president is Andrew Bleeker, who was the lead digital marketing strategist for Obama’s campaigns and for Biden’s campaign in 2020. The firm has multiple partners, including Kim Axelrod, former Boeing spokesperson Bradley Ahubuiro, and Danny Franklin, whose bio says his work at BPI has served McDonald's, JPMorgan Chase, Blackstone, General Mills, and other companies. 

In addition to the Harris campaign, Bully Pulpit worked this cycle for several dark money groups in the Harris orbit, including Future Forward USA and Climate Power. A review of Snapchat data shows the firm’s political advertising this cycle focused on swing state users and targeted demographics like “Beauty Mavens,” “Clubbery & Party People,” “Reality TV Fans,” and “Battle Combat & FPS Gamers.”

Like Canal Partners Media, Bully Pulpit has worked with business interests that are misaligned with some Democratic Party policy positions. The company was paid almost $760,000 in 2018 by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, a nonprofit that was formed to resist Democratic efforts to create a universal health care system, according to a collaborative report by The American Prospect and MapLight. Partnership for America’s Health Care Future’ members include the pharmaceutical company group Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), hospital industry group American Hospital Association, and the Healthcare Leadership Council, which counts among its members Blue Cross Blue Shield, Pfizer, and UnitedHealth Group. A review of tax documents shows that Bully Pulpit has also worked for business interests like the US Telecom Association and the Nuclear Energy Institute. 

The largest pro-Harris super PAC, Future Forward, paid more than $6.7 million to media buying firm Waterfront Strategies, an arm of D.C.-based media giant GMMB, as well as $2.9 million to BPI, according to FEC data. Bully Pulpit similarly is one of the top vendors of the Democratic National Committee over the past two decades. In recent years, DNC members have proposed reforms that would increase transparency among party members over the party’s budget and the workings of the DNC Budget and Finance Committee, only to see the proposals rejected by opaque DNC committees. 

Link to story

Read more of SLUDGE DNC coverage here. 

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To The Stars Now Vowing To Flee Trump’s America: Maybe Your Cringe Endorsements Were Part Of The Problem

The cringeworthy Harris campaign made it clear – voters aren’t simply going to do what mega-rich celebrities tell them to.

By Marina Hyde
The Guardian (11/15/24)

I wish celebrities would learn the art of the French exit. But they can’t, which is why Eva Longoria has announced she no longer lives in America. “I get to escape and go somewhere,” she explained. “Most Americans aren’t so lucky – they’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country.” What’s brought this on, apart from the obvious? “Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes … it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now.” Great to learn that Eva dislikes both homelessness and taxes. America’s loss of this major political thinker is some other country’s gain – and this highly called-for intervention reminds us why celebrities should speak their brains even more often. If only into a pillow, or an abyss.

As always in these moments of the silly voters making a silly mistake, many stars have pledged to follow her. We’ll see. Either way, celebrities seem totally unaware that these high-handed statements of first-class migration are not the admonishment to the lesser orders that they are meant to be, and may even encourage them.

But then, stars have always been totally unaware of how very little they bring to this particular party. The last few days of the Harris campaign were an increasingly excruciating riot of celebrity bandwagonning. Did the Kamala campaign ask man-born-in-Pennsylvania Richard Gere to make his video for her – or did the actor freelance one out of fear of not having “used his platform”? It was certainly Richard’s most critically misunderstood electoral outing since his address to the Palestinians before their 2005 elections. “Hi, I’m Richard Gere,” that one began, “and I’m speaking for the entire world …”

If anything good were to come out of the wreckage of the Harris campaign, let it be the final death of the idea that showbiz endorsements can help swing elections. They can’t. Not one bit. Not even if it’s Taylor Swift in the 2024 US presidential election, not even when it was Russell Brand in the 2015 British general election, and not even if they have tens of millions of followers. (It does move the dial, however, if you own the platform.) Election issues and politicians swing elections.

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People hate on Trump for cashing in with his merchandise, but isn’t rather a lot of the current liberal media convulsion just another form of Trump merchandise? Off-brand, yes. But still Trump merchandise – and as tacky, intentionally commercial and likely to lead to regret in the end as the official stuff.

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The minuscule amount of positive data we have on celebrity endorsements suggests they might have some effect in getting their fans to register to vote and volunteer for campaigns. I suspect these days that is more than offset by the perception of elitism that actively harmed the Harris campaign and others before it. If anything could turn you hard Maga, it’s watching Lady Gaga sing Edge of Glory at Kamala’s eve-of-polling-day concert – the worst thing she’s been in since Joker II – and then discovering that Oprah, who also appeared, had billed the Harris campaign $1m via her company. This week, Winfrey insisted she wasn’t paid personally, with the Harris campaign simply required to pay for “production costs” on an earlier “townhall” featuring her, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Jennifer Lopez. Hmm. If only there was some billionaire – but the good kind! – or even just some mega-rich folk involved in said event, who could perhaps have picked up the wage bill herself/themselves, rather than siphon it off the campaign.

Grooving the blues

Meanwhile, it is easier to leave Twitter than America, as I think Marcus Aurelius once remarked. In the week the Guardian exited X – though not in the French style – you couldn’t move for people informing you they were herding with almost impossible dignity over to Bluesky.

And it does feel slightly hilarious that huge numbers of people who have spent the past decade-plus shrieking about the evils of social media – usually on social media – have been “liberated” from one platform, only to promptly rush and enslave themselves to another. Really? You can see it all stretching ahead of you – fun period, emergence of Blueskyocracy, the first Bluesky cancellation of someone, the exponentially intensifying purity spiral, followed by legacy titles or legacy humans announcing an exit from that one too. It’s all such a predictable timesuck. Bluesky might be the new email.

Speaking of which, when people ask me for my email, I have to tell them very truthfully that I am so old-fashioned that I only have one – my Guardian one. I always used to follow this up by saying something along the lines of “I know, it’s ridiculous. If I ever stopped working there, no one would be able to contact me.” But now I keep thinking – oh my God! No one would be able to contact me via email! THE MODERN DREAM!

This has felt particularly desirable since the election, when I’ve been drowning in emails from the multiple liberal publications I already subscribe to, stagily rending their garments and assuring me that “we do this for you”. It seems like every cloud has a silver lining – ideally a gold one, with all sorts of titles dreaming of the Trump subscription bump they got last time around. Again: we’ll see.

My unfashionable view is that the world would benefit from less partisan media, not more. Over in the US for the election, I mistakenly kept turning on CNN for news, and was genuinely shocked at the offering since the last time I seriously paid attention to it (admittedly some years ago now). It didn’t really even have headlines on the hour, let alone coverage of “news”, and appeared to be a talking shop that saw itself purely as an active agent for the Harris campaign. To this outside observer, it didn’t seem to be doing anything different from Fox News, except that it was doing it for the other side.

And it doesn’t even work. Retreating into ideas of “resistance” is a big part of how we got here. People hate on Trump for cashing in with his merchandise, but isn’t rather a lot of the current liberal media convulsion just another form of Trump merchandise? Off-brand, yes. But still Trump merchandise – and as tacky, intentionally commercial and likely to lead to regret in the end as the official stuff.

Link to story

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Blunt Reality Check On How Dems Screwed Up

Campaign pollster and consultant Frank Luntz gives Democrats a solid dose of reality on how they screwed up 2024 campaign.

5-minute video