“Liberal Democrat” Lanny Davis gets skewered in the New York Times. A taste:
When advocates for poor women with infant children began to question if all the federally subsidized baby formula sold in the United States should include fatty acids known as DHA and ARA — which are supposed to make the formula more resemble breast milk — Mr. Davis was hired by Martek Biosciences, the Maryland-based company that makes the additives.
No one was arguing that these additives were dangerous, but there was debate as to whether they were effective.
Mr. Davis stepped in, sending around an e-mail on Capitol Hill claiming that the legislation that would have mandated more research on the additives was being pushed by “lactivists” who want to force women to continue breast-feeding. The provision was dropped.
Lanny also lobbied for the corrupt leaders of the Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea, because “[W]hat am I supposed to do if the leader of a country comes to me and says he wants to get right with the world, and get right with the United States?”
Amir_Khalid
@ Lanny Davis: A good opening for your answer might go: “Well, first you’ve got to clean up your act.”
Paris
“[W]hat am I supposed to do if the leader of a country comes to me and says he wants to get right with the world, and get right with the United States?”
Tell him to get right with God, MoFo
SGEW
Much as I dislike Lanny Davis and his clients, I still like the idea that everyone has a right to a zealous advocate. Even if you’re a monster and your advocate is Davis.
And, if anything, it kinda serves these odious tyrants right to have such incompetent (and expensive!) counsel.
David
I wonder how much Lanny Davis was paid to support Gbagbo.
The BBC reported yesterday that Gbagbo’s forces have gone around and started marking the homes of people who oppose him staying on after he lost the election.
DJShay
Lanny Davis. Ewwwwww.
Veritas78
I will have a good day, knowing how much Lanny Davis is stewing over this article right this minute. When you constantly lie down with dogs, you don’t just get fleas—you become indistinguishable from the dogs who are humping you.
SGEW
@David:
According to the linked NYT article, he had a “$100,000-a-month contract.”
pdf
I’m intrigued by the idea, demonstrated in the article, that Davis is actually bothered that people think poorly of him for being the sociopathic piece of shit he is. Most other sociopathic pieces of shit, like, say, James Carville and Mary Matalin, are, well, sociopathic; they don’t care what you think. Davis seems to want to take dictators’ money and still be well-liked, which is interesting to me. I would like to see him do a BBC interview, because he might actually cry, and seeing him cry would make me laugh.
cathyx
Mr. Davis stepped in, sending around an e-mail on Capitol Hill claiming that the legislation that would have mandated more research on the additives was being pushed by “lactivists” who want to force women to continue breast-feeding. The provision was dropped.
Yes, because we all know why God put breasts on women. For men’s ogling and fondling pleasures.
WereBear
Goes to show how even people who are soulless shills don’t want to be thought of that way.
I recently read John Douglas’ book on the BTK killer (not for the faint of heart) and even this sick psychopath made excuses for his behavior to himself. He told himself a murderous rampage now and then kept him from doing an even bigger massacre, or going crazy on his wife & children. Way to rationalize.
Making excuses seems to be part of our DNA.
(I used the BJ link to find the book… if you buy it from there it supports the blog. I’ve gotten so many good book tips from here, and I try to remember to Amazon it with the left hand sidebar link.)
c u n d gulag
“Lactivists!”
And here I was thinking Ol’ Lanny only kept ‘abreast’ of the latest lingo, I didn’t know he was creative to come up with something. Maybe he’s handled the “Hooters” account before or something.
I’ll be here all weekend, folks.
I recommend the veal, and don’t forget to tip the waiters and bartenders!!!
Jim C
We can kvetch all we like, but the bottom line is that Lanny Davis sleeps very well at night – just like a well-breast-fed baby.
Gina
@Veritas78: You owe me a new keyboard xD
Gin & Tonic
@David:
He was interviewed recently on an NPR or similar radio program, and said his retainer was $300k. But I think that was for three months, which would jibe with the $100k/mo quoted above.
David
The BBC said that Gbagbo was threatening genocide, they used the word “genocide.”
Gbagbo supporter, Lanny Davis should be shunned.
WereBear
I know this is a popular viewpoint. I simply don’t agree.
He sleeps on 600 thread count sheets in a fine room; I have no doubt of that. When someone worships Mammon they always live in the temple they build to it.
But I have some knowledge of the ends of their lives due to my contacts with those who work in hospice care. And no matter their wealth or accomplishments, such people face the end with the admission that they have always been miserable, panicked and paranoid. They cannot be soothed or supported and they leave this plane terrified of what comes next.
Something that tempers my blood pressure when I think of Cheney.
alwhite
And people wonder why some folks think there is no difference between the Rs & the Ds? Between scum like Davis & those that Blew Dogs the Ds are allowing their brand to be destroyed. Somehow the actual Democrats have to find a way to give the DLC an enema and flush these waste products out of their system.
kay
This particular for-profit college loan credit bubble-scam is going to crash. People can’t pay these loans back, anymore than they could make those ridiculous second and third mortgages. They’re borrowing tens of thousands of dollars.
Ain’t no way. Not with a lifetime of 9 dollar an hour jobs. And the new GOP Congress are not going to act.
That’ll be Lanny’s legacy. The for-profit college loan crash.
cmorenc
To his credit, Lanny is an ardent “green” advocate in Washington.
He’ll be a fierce advocate of anything for enough green.
I Tunch Myself
Probably a little mean to say, but he seems like the kind of guy who would rape his mother for a fair price.
Faux News
Wow! What a douchebag. I look forward to Lanny being the lobbyist for the Burma SLORC (?). I’m sure those harmless, playful generals running the country are simply misunderstood. Can a person be a douchebag and an asshole at the same time? If so Lanny fits the bill.
Carol
One more reason I’m glad Hillary lost. At least he’s now a thug for hire instead of actually running some facet of government. Thank you Obama.
GregB
Can we return to the time tested tradition of pelting odious cretins like Lanny Davis with rotten tomatoes, lettuce and eggs every time they step out in public?
This odious prick should never be able to step outside without dodging a fusillade from all sides.
cmorenc
@WereBear:
Does this hold for people who are truly complete sociopaths?
numbskull
Mistermix, I’m not clear on why you chose the ARA/DHA story as the one to highlight. I don’t see that that is nearly as egregious as the actions of some of Lanny’s other clients covered in the Times article. There’s data that indicate that DHA is beneficial to health; there’s probably a good argument to be made for its inclusion in formula. It’s not as ‘evil’ as what some of his other clients are doing.
OTOH, the “lactivist” argument that is presented as having prevailed is weak and insulting to the other side, and possibly to women everywhere. It clearly appealed to the bunch of old white men who write laws, though, and so Lanny was just being an effective advocate for his client, awful as that is.
Maude
Davis quit Ivory Coast. Prolly has something to do with the fact that the banks cut off money for his client.
TBogg
@GregB: We could advocate for his death but that would be divisive so let’s not go there.
rikyrah
he is a loathesome toad
agrippa
Not all ‘Liberal Democrats’ are above average.
Nellcote
linky
GregB
Well, I was thinking more of a vaudeville style pelting of rotten food, but then again I remember that Ann Coulter thought that pies were the gateway to Stalinist executions.
So I take my advocacy back.
If I see him in public I’ll just call him a pud.
daveNYC
What, so after a few decades of living the coke and hookers lifestyle, they get to spend a few weeks being afraid of what happens when they die? I don’t know if anyone reads OOTS, but a few toons back, one of the bad guys made the point that while he’ll probably die a violent death in the end, he’ll still have spent fourty years living like a king prior to that. And that’s in a setting that has three different flavors of Hell.
Mike
Lanny J. Davis jerk
[email protected]
600 13th Street, N.W., Suite 600 | Washington, D.C., 20005 | +1-202-756-8211
Assistant: Maddie Melendez
[email protected]
Soon to be joined by Melanie Sloan, formerly of CREW.
(I deleted my CREW bookmark on the grounds of being sellouts)
liberal
@numbskull:
As a dad of twin toddlers, I’d agree this is a rather weak pick.
As for lacktivists…I came into fatherhood very supportive of the position that women should be encouraged to breastfeed. I still support that position in the abstract, but frankly, huge chunks of the pro-breast community are totally wacko.
liberal
@WereBear:
Reminds me of my favorite line from “The Big Chill”.
liberal
@Mike:
I think Sloan’s move is some kind of firebagger conspiracy to make Glenn Greenwald look good for quitting his relationship with CREW.
AAA Bonds
@SGEW:
What I find fascinating is that almost everything I’ve heard out of Lanny’s hole is a repackaging of the defense of attorneys who take reprehensible clients in an adversarial system. “Well, what am I supposed to do? Say no to the guy? Doesn’t everyone deserve a voice?”
And that’s the thing: it is justifiable to take an evil client in an adversarial court system, because without rigorous representation, the system doesn’t work, and may even break down from lack of confidence.
But, for good reason, nobody is legally guaranteed the right to their own Washington lobbyist. This makes Lanny Davis not just a shitbag, but a weasel as well.