SC Forward Progress' "Gordon Gekko" didn't just try to buy the votes of regular South Carolina voters alone. At Mitt Romney's Jan. 11 campaign event in Columbia, he also intercepted Ted Koppel, attempting to buy his vote, too. Gekko wasn't carrying enough money to satisfy the former anchor of ABC's Nightline news program, though. (posted on youtube by SCForwardProgress)After retiring from ABC in 2005, Koppel is now senior senior news analyst with National Public Radio. He's also contributing analyst to BBC World News America, and occasionally contributes to NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
SC Forward Progress released its own video of Gordon Gekko campaigning for Mitt Romney yesterday evening in Columbia. (posted on youtube by SCForwardProgress) Yeah, yeah - the crew's Romney-Gekko endeavor got mentioned by national press and even made it on national television twice ( 1, 2), but this take depicts the demonstration with a little more detail (and a lot more money, too, dontchaknow).
While the whole spiel was sarcastically funny for everyone on both sides, there were times it seemed ... scary.
Folks were approached by someone offering to buy their vote. And some of those people, not getting the joke, thought the offer was serious - and didn't find it wrong.
It was ordinary and acceptable to them, it seemed, and one even came back later to tell Gekko that his previously stated indecision had changed; he was now a confirmed Romney supporter, he told the crew.
Scary people, those Republican voters. Certainly not all of them, mind you; shoot, a poll conducted yesterday found that Romney's support in South Carolina fell from 37 percent to 23.1 percent in just one week. He now leads Gingrich by less than two percent.
For people who like to pull political pranks, South Carolina is currently the land of milk and honey.
Republican presidential candidates are scouring the state campaigning for its Jan. 21 primary, and the competitive bitterness each displays leaves the door wide open for mockery. And that's exactly what a lot of folks are doing in the Palmetto State.
 (photo by SC Forward Progress) Take SC Forward Progress, for example. This left-leaning political group, already known for mocking Rick Perry's campaign announcement from Charleston and doing a sly take on a Herman Cain video, is at it again, making national news Wednesday evening in the process. His "corporations are people" retort to an Iowa crowd last August has since produced a lot of comparisons of Mitt Romney to infamous "Wall Street" character Gordon Gekko ever since. Forward Progress rounded up its own "greed is good" crew to expand on that incident right across the street from a Romney campaign gathering in Columbia. Their very own Gekko greeted attendees as they approached The Hall at Senate's End, armed with (fake) cash to buy the votes of ones who weren't yet fully committed to Romney. The antics got the attention of media present, and wound up on NBC Nightly News that evening.
The same video footage was included the next day on the Jan. 12 Today Show (image below).  photo by NBC's Peter Alexander Other press included the skit on their website coverage of the campaign event, too. Letting Forward Progress add another notch on its belt, a project done at another Romney event last week was referred to on a different national news show last night, too. A photo from a "Dogs against Romney" stab, conducted at the same Charleston event where Sen. John McCain formally endorsed Romney, was included on MSNBC's The Ed Show.
Although made in humor, the Romney/Gekko comparison is rather accurate. His Bain Capital sought and purchased different companies, then slashed their payrolls and skipped paying bills - all while continuously putting employees out of work. Six of the companies it acquired went under in bankruptcy, costing over 5,000 Americans their jobs. Bain, which Romney ruled as CEO, raked in hundreds of millions in earnings from those same companies, however. Somehow, in the midst of all that money-making, Romney convinced the FDIC to let Bain Capital squeak out of $10 million in debt.  from www.romneygekko.com
Developing a national reputation for its sometimes elaborate political antics, last week the year-old South Carolina Forward Progress group decided to tone it down to a quick and quiet photo opportunity. . When Mitt Romney spoke at Charles Towne Landing on Jan. 5, Forward Progress just took a spot in the parking lot, resting a stuffed animal atop a car and bearing a "Dogs against Romney" sign, and left about 30 minutes later. That quickie quickly went viral, though. The photo made it to dozens of news websites, including The Atlantic, Politico, The Hill, ABC News and Huffington Post, where it received several thousand facebook "likes" and tweets. And tonight, it went one step further. On its Jan. 12 broadcast, MSNBC's " The Ed Show" used the photo in a take on Mitt Romney and one of his supporters, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Here's the full "Goodnight, Mitt" video:
Yesterday, the group made national news for its last-minute protest at a Mitt Romney campaign event in Charleston. Today, South Carolina Forward Progress took it one step further. Using bits of footage from their “Dogs against Romney” gathering, SC Forward Progress produced a video that also includes news coverage of the Republican candidate’s questionable pet ethics. “Mitt Romney once strapped his dog to the roof of this car for a 12-hour trip,” reads the tagline for the video. “The dogs are ready to fight back.” They’ll have plenty of information to use in that fight, too, thanks to the “Dogs Against Mitt Romney” video. It includes bits of national news coverage from when the incident first became publicly known, and snags an image of a Time magazine article on the subject. “South Carolinians deserve to know about Mitt Romney’s history of animal cruelty,” SC Forward Progress spokesman Tyler Jones says. “He needs to apologize to all the dog lovers in South Carolina and hope the voters of this state don’t treat him the same way he treats his pets.” Although a small presence that lasted only about 45 minutes, the demonstration was covered by national media, where it still remains quite popular, too. One Huffington Post article, for example, has gone viral in facebook postings and tweets. Extending coverage further, a photo taken by ABC reporter Emily Friedman was listed as “ Picture of the Day” by The Atlantic.
Yesterday, the group made national news for its last-minute protest at a Mitt Romney campaign event in Charleston. Today, South Carolina Forward Progress took it one step further. Using bits of footage from their “Dogs against Romney” gathering, SC Forward Progress produced a video that also includes news coverage of the Republican candidate’s questionable pet ethics. “Mitt Romney once strapped his dog to the roof of this car for a 12-hour trip,” reads the tagline for the video. “The dogs are ready to fight back.” They’ll have plenty of information to use in that fight, too, thanks to the “Dogs Against Mitt Romney” video. It includes bits of national news coverage from when the incident first became publicly known, and snags an image of a Time magazine article on the subject. “South Carolinians deserve to know about Mitt Romney’s history of animal cruelty,” SC Forward Progress spokesman Tyler Jones says. “He needs to apologize to all the dog lovers in South Carolina and hope the voters of this state don’t treat him the same way he treats his pets.” Although a small presence that lasted only about 45 minutes, the demonstration was covered by national media, where it still remains quite popular, too. One Huffington Post article, for example, has gone viral in facebook postings and tweets. Extending coverage further, a photo taken by ABC reporter Emily Friedman was listed as “ Picture of the Day” by The Atlantic.
Yesterday, the group made national news for its last-minute protest at a Mitt Romney campaign event in Charleston. Today, South Carolina Forward Progress took it one step further. Using bits of footage from their “Dogs against Romney” gathering, SC Forward Progress produced a video that also includes news coverage of the Republican candidate’s questionable pet ethics. “Mitt Romney once strapped his dog to the roof of this car for a 12-hour trip,” reads the tagline for the video. “The dogs are ready to fight back.” They’ll have plenty of information to use in that fight, too, thanks to the “Dogs Against Mitt Romney” video. It includes bits of national news coverage from when the incident first became publicly known, and snags an image of a Time magazine article on the subject. “South Carolinians deserve to know about Mitt Romney’s history of animal cruelty,” SC Forward Progress spokesman Tyler Jones says. “He needs to apologize to all the dog lovers in South Carolina and hope the voters of this state don’t treat him the same way he treats his pets.” Although a small presence that lasted only about 45 minutes, the demonstration was covered by national media, where it still remains quite popular, too. One Huffington Post article, for example, has gone viral in facebook postings and tweets. Extending coverage further, a photo taken by ABC reporter Emily Friedman was listed as “ Picture of the Day” by The Atlantic.
 photo by SC Forward Progress As a couple of hundred people drove up to the Charles Towne Landing park to hear Mitt Romney speak, they had to pass by a small tongue-in-cheek demonstration first. Protestors organized by South Carolina Forward Progress bore signs reading “Dogs against Romney,” standing next to a stuffed pooch strapped upon a cage that rested on the top of an SUV. The gesture was a sarcastic poke at Romney for his infamous 1983 family vacation. With his family filling the station wagon for their road trip to Ontario, Romney strapped his pet dog in a cage atop the vehicle for the 12-hour drive. After the Boston Globe mentioned the incident in a 2007 article that otherwise praised him, other national media weren’t so merciful, spiking angry responses from PETA and the Massachusetts SPCA, which pointed out Romney’s inconsideration actually violated state law. Many of the persons arriving to hear the presidential candidate speak took the signs with wit, SC Forward Progress says, only getting one angry response, which just so happened to come from Romney’s team. Campaign staff tried to scare away them away, participating protestors say. “I was approached by one who told me I was on private property and that I’d be arrested if I didn’t leave,” said one SC Forward Progress volunteer. “When I told (the Romney campaign representative) that the park is public property, he told me ‘now it’s private property.’ I pointed out all the local police standing around, inviting him to speak with them, but the guy just stormed off.” SC Forward Progress’ latest venture didn’t just get noticed by attendees at the campaign event, which also included Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. John McCain. It also captured the attention of reporters from Politico, ABC News and The New York Times. Other national media, including The Hill and The Huffington Post, ran the story, too. The ABC reporter and Think Progress also tweeted photos of the small demonstration. In August, SC Forward Progress mocked Rick Perry’s campaign, and right across the street from where he made the announcement. The ‘ Confederates for Perry,’ poked at the Texas governor’s veiled threat of seceding the state from the union, which Perry had made at a 2009 Tea Party function. Texas media covered the demonstration. An October video by SC Forward Progress that made fun of a Herman Cain ad got picked up by national media, and even outdid national comedians’ takes on the ad in a ranking by another nationwide news journal. (Incidentally, today’s demonstration had no affiliation with a “Dogs Against Romney” organization, which the participants didn’t know of prior to the event.)
A video made two days ago by a local progressive group has gotten almost as much attention as the ad it ridicules. The Herman Cain presidential campaign recently released a video featuring its chief of staff Mark Block, and the ad ends with a closeup of Block making an intense drag on a cigarette. South Carolina Forward Progress spoofed the ad showing a Block wannabe smoking ... well ... not a cigarette, let's say. While many other comical takes on Cain's ad are circulating about, Forward Progress' made national news. It was included in a CNN feature of such spoofs, right along with others from national network programs such as The Colbert Report, Conan O'Brien, The David Letterman Show and The Tonight Show. See the clip from CNN's "The Situation Room" below. (from CNN) You can see Forward Progress' original video by clicking here. While I still think the guy in this video is just some ugly dope who'll never make it in Hollywood, I'm pleased to know the work of this local organization was included in the ranks of national media.
We're a high-ranking state, that's for sure. But high-ranking in unemployment, under-funded schools and ignorant voters. So what does Gov. Nikki Haley propose we do to improve the reputation of South Carolina? Simple - just lie. (Well, it's worked for her.) Yesterday, Haley issued orders that all state government offices answer their phones by saying "It's a great day in South Carolina! How may I help you?" (All that's missing is, "would you like fries with that?") Haley told The State,"I'm selling South Carolina as this great, new, positive state everybody needs to look at." Well, South Carolina Forward Progress made the video below that reminds us of just how everyone is looking at us to begin with. And how it was garbage from the state's GOP that got us that type of reputation. From SC Forward ProgressWhat's really ignorant about this is the type of phone calls state offices typically get. I feel sorry for staff who, after issuing their scripted message, have to listen to "where is the local unemployment office?" or "why is my Medicaid coverage being denied?" I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.
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