corrente

Rex Hammock blogs his meeting with Bush here. (Via Froomkin at WaPo. The meeting was, of course, closed to journalists.) Hammond's blog is pretty interesting, I have to say, with interesting resources on publishing. That said:

Here's the message the White House must have been happy for Rex Hammock to convey:

As one of the participants, I can confirm that nothing was scripted or rehearsed except for the advance people's efforts to put us at ease.

And whaddaya know: Hammock's remarks contain (almost) the Republican slogan (back here)!

[HAMMOCK] "More than anything, I appreciate the steadfast leadership you displayed after September 11 and the message of calm that sent to the American people and businesses.

I guess this could be spontaneous....

But still, it's funny how, if Hammond is writing the entry "in a cab on my way to BWI," he has five paragraphs that read like a transcript of Bush on tax cuts. How'd he get that from his cab?

Smooth move by Rove, however it got made. Gotta respect the guy....

UPDATE Hammock writes that got his invite to the WhiteWash House via the NFIB (who have paid money to Hammock's small business), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican party (or vice versa). He writes:

Oh yes, why me? I was suggested to the White House staff by my friends [clients?] at NFIB, who knew [how?] I was in D.C. for a few days. It turned out that an NFIB alumni was the White House policy person [who?] with whom I communicated most in working out the logistics [which were?].)

And the NFIB is—surprise!—a "conduit for advocacy" for the Republican Party:

The Republican Party, with which NFIB is closely allied, is counting on the group's support. Either through its political action committee or a separate vehicle it will create, NFIB is likely to step up its collections. It then would buy so-called issue advertisements that support the election of congressional candidates who toe the NFIB line, which is anti-tax and anti-regulation. In practice, this would funnel funds from GOP loyalists to aid primarily GOP candidates.

In fact:

The organization also is one of the most Republican-leaning associations in the capital, giving 96 percent of its campaign contributions to the GOP, and supporting a conservative agenda of lower taxes and less regulation.

"NFIB and the Bush administration do walk hand in hand, because we do see eye to eye," says White House Senior Adviser Karl Rove, a longtime NFIB member who made a rare public appearance at the organization's recent Washington summit.

Say, I wonder who the "the White House policy person" Hammock communicated with could have been? And what the "logistics" could possibly have been?

Anyhow, at this point it's clear that this appearance, and Hammock's blog entry, was "spontaneous and unscripted" only the narrowest sense. Looks to me like Rove->NFIB->Hammock. No wonder Hammock "spontaneously" regurgitated the Republican 2004 campaign slogan.

Nice blog, though. And Hammock's small business is a $10 million operation. I'm glad he's successful. He's just totally, totally wrong about Bush, and it's very unfortunate that he lent himself to a "spontaneous" Republican event that clearly seems to be orchestrated to the last detail.

UPDATE Well, well, well. Here's Hammock's bio.

[Hammock] is a veteran public relations, marketing and advertising executive.

So now a Republican PR executive is "confirming" that "that nothing was scripted or rehearsed." Forgive my skepticism....

UPDATE More above.