This White House will Have a Long Memory.....

June 22, 2001 6:33 PM

This White House will Have a Long Memory..... "To join the coalition, you must agree to support the Bush energy proposal in its entirety and not to lobby for changes to the bill... Should the bill change, you must support the changes in the legislation or drop out of the coalition. If you are caught attempting to lobby behind the back of the White House, you will be expelled from the coalition. I have been advised that this White House 'will have a long memory.'" -- Fundraising memo for the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, a month-old trade group consisting of representatives from the various energy industries. The letter puts the admission to the group at "a very low price" of $5,000.
posted by brucec (11 comments total)

Elephants usually do.
posted by allaboutgeorge at 6:52 PM on June 22, 2001

Stereotypically, elephants are also easily scared into running, and are lured by peanuts.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:06 PM on June 22, 2001

I want to err on the side of caution and wait for some real journalistic teeth to get a hold of this one before commenting. All we know right now is a blurb taken out context by the DNC, and the fact that the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth has your typically corporate spin-o-rama lovefest website. Yes, special interests run Washington.
posted by machaus at 7:09 PM on June 22, 2001

Read that memo aloud to yourself with a Darth Vader voice. It's fun!
posted by dong_resin at 7:47 PM on June 22, 2001

"You have failed me for the last time, Captain."
(Sen. McCain strangles and drops to the floor)
posted by dong_resin at 8:02 PM on June 22, 2001

"I have been advised that this White House will have a long memory. -- It is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress, and the president is not as forgiving as I am, commander."
posted by ZachsMind at 9:33 PM on June 22, 2001

Regarding "real journalistic teeth": Here's the Washington Post story on the memo.
posted by jjg at 9:37 PM on June 22, 2001

Does anyone else find it entertaining that the guy's name is Valis?
posted by sad_otter at 10:33 PM on June 22, 2001

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that.
posted by jjg at 11:09 PM on June 22, 2001

(From the WashPost article above)
Valis is a well-wired Republican . . .

Well-wired? As opposed to a Republican with faulty wiring? Or maybe it means he's an informer for the FBI? Or that he's on meth? All of the above? I love lazy newspaper writing . . .
posted by feckless at 8:36 AM on June 23, 2001

Hmmm, I wonder how many people are blind enough to believe that the DNC doesn't operate in exactly the same way. I'm not saying that it's right, I just feel that trying to whitewash this as a Republican-only tactic is pretty stupid. Oh, by the way, articles like this also make it MUCH easier, quicker and cheaper to get the word out than advertising or direct mailing - I'm sure that Dubya is very pleased with the work you're doing...
posted by RevGreg at 5:05 PM on June 25, 2001