Funding voter opinion

Propaganda costs money too.

“Mother Jones magazine is reporting a hawkish advocacy group connected to the White House has hired a Virginia company to begin test-marketing language [my bold] [my big bold] that could be used to sell a war with Iran.

“The group Freedom’s Watch first made headlines this summer when it launched a $15 million ad campaign in support of the surge of American troops in Iraq.

“The group’s leadership includes former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and Bradley Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to President Bush. Freedom Group recently hired the company Martin Focus Groups in Alexandria, Virginia.

“One participant who was paid to be part of a focus group told Mother Jones: “The whole basis of the whole thing was, “we’re going to go into Iran and what do we have to do to get you guys to along with it.”

via Improprities

To repeat, through to 2006, the Bush administration spent at least $1.6 billion on public relations and advertising campaigns in just over 30 months.