Wednesday, September 24, 2008

"SaysMe.Tv", Despite It's Claim to the Contrary, Is an Obama Mouthpiece

Necessary background material for this post located at the Jawa Report:

From the Glass City Jungle blog:
I’ve been getting unsolicited emails from a company called SaysMe.TV Here is the first one that I received with what is in bold was the subject line:
"www.OhioSavesAmerica.com - a new way to help Obama
www.OhioSavesAmerica.com
you can run your own ads on tv.. the last 5 seconds will read “Paid for by: YOUR NAME” - Tell your friends to watch
Pick the cable network… time slot… ad… and zip code…
For $100 you can run 6-7 ads in Ohio… be the difference for Obama…"
I went online and looked at their website where they claim that they are not partisan.

When you visit the Ohio Saves America site that was created by Says Me Tv, it’s impossible to state this is non-partisan:

"There are 40 days until Election Day. You don’t want to wake up on November 5th and have John McCain as your President. Four more years of war. Four more years of a declining economy. Four more years of insufficient health care and neglect for Americans everywhere. Four more years of failure, embarrassment, and inefficiency. Ohio Saves America is registered by:

Sunshine Direct the same company that owns SayMe Tv.3524 Barry AvenueLos Angeles, California 90066 United States.

[There is also an advertisement on the 'Ohio Saves America' website for "SaysMe.Tv" - Non-partisan, my foot...]

I wrote Brendan Biryla, pointed out to him that what he was sending was not only unsolicited, but that if his company was claiming to be non-partisan the emails he was sending out gave a different impression. I asked him to remove my email from the list. He never responded…Now this morning, to more than one of my email accounts came this email with the subject line in bold:

Incredibly damaging video of Sarah Palin!



It’s not incredibly damaging, it’s incredibly misleading. They took a few seconds of this speech that is out there that Palin gave to the Alaskan Independence Party Statewide Convention March 2008, this is the original video:

And then turned it into this:



Read in full at the Glass City Jungle blog.

The second video was originally released on YouTube by a fellow named Ethan Winner. After the Conservative blogosphere noted that Mr. Winner works for a company associated with Barack Obama's campaign manager, questions arose as to whether the Obama campaign was involved with the YouTube video smear. Mr. Winner immediately removed the video from YouTube and deleted his account after the blogosphere revealed that he was the producer of the video. The video was then posted on YouTube again by SaysMe Tv.

There is a slight variation between Mr. Winner's video and the SaysMe Tv video. The voice-over seems to be identical but the wording is slightly different [in one video the voice-over says Palin was a supporter of the Alaskan Independence Party, in the other video it says she was a member of the party, there is no evidence to either claim], which raises questions about Mr. Winner's involvement [or perhaps the Obama campain's involvement] in the the newly revised ad. Read the Jawa Report for the full details. You may need to read some of the Jawa Report's previous posts on the matter for additional background.

According to Wired.com, Lisa Eisenpresser, SaysMe.TV's CEO, says "the company reports customers' payment information to the Federal Election Commission whenever an ad promotes a particular candidate." So, apparently, it will be possible to find out who posted the newly revised Sarah Palin video when the FEC report is filed.

Lisa Eisenpresser says that "donors who have reached the maximum $2,300 campaign contribution can buy ads using SaysMe.TV to "their heart's content." Plus, the company pays a royalty to whoever creates the commercial.

However, let me re-emphasize that despite the company's claim to the contrary, SaysMe Tv is a partisan hack - a mouthpiece for the Obama campaign - as clearly illustrated by the email which the company sent to the Glass City Jungle blogger and the video it posted on YouTube - after it received the video, presumably, from Mr. Winner or an Obama employee.