This is going to be short. I don’t usually write diaries, but I think the video clip below is very interesting. What to make of it? I’m not entirely sure. On Wednesday, August 17th, Rick Perry spoke at a Politics and Eggs breakfast sponsored by the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Bedford, New Hampshire. That’s not very newsworthy in and of itself, but what happened as the meeting broke up, I think you will agree, is. Follow me below the orange Danish and check it out for yourself.
Watch the You Tube clip of C-SPAN video shot as the meeting is breaking up. What you will see and hear is a man in glasses, purportedly James Mahoney, Director of Public Policy for Bank of America and member of the Board of Directors of the New England Council, walk up to Perry and say as he passes by, “Bank of America...We will help you out, sir.”
h/t to Tyler Durden and his Zero Hedge blog for putting it on his front page where I could catch it.
You can watch all 43 minutes of C-SPAN coverage of the event with this link to their library archive.
12:39 PM PT: I've only been able to find one image of James Mahoney, Director of Public Policy for Bank of America. It's from a press lease from the UNEP Financial Institute 2005 Global Roundtable. Mahoney is the man in the middle, third from the left or right.
2:04 PM PT: Ben Smith contacted James Mahoney’s office to ask what kind of help he was offering Perry. According to Bank of America spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, the only "help" Mahoney was offering was nonpartisan policy expertise:
Bank of America does not endorse Presidential candidates. The reference was about following up on the substance of the speech about job creation and economic growth. Discussing policy issues that affect our company and our customers is something we do with policymakers of both parties routinely at the local, state, and Federal levels.
So it was
non-partisan political expertise being offered. I guess that's what they're calling it now. Oh well, never mind then.
3:20 PM PT: Coverage is slowly heating up. The story has now made TPM's middle column.