We Need a T-Day Invasion: Operation OverLOAD, No Caliphate Left Behind

Seventy-one years ago, thousands of brave American, British and Canadian soldiers stormed the beaches of Nazi-occupied Normandy on D-Day, also known as Operation Overlord. Notice I didn’t say “Germany-occupied Normandy.” Germany, itself, was being occupied by fascists led by Hitler. American and Russian soldiers later freed the German people with victory.

Well, it’s time to pay back the IOU, Germany: Join the U.S., France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Britain, Canada, and Australia (oh hell, maybe even the Russians) and others to stop the terror of the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL or whatever these barbarians call themselves).

Shock and Awe on Steroids.

But, some question, whom is the enemy in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Nigeria, etc.? Answer: It’s the “random folks” firing at you or running away. Pretty simple, especially with our intelligence capabilities. Think about it, our Smartphones and Smart TVs monitor us now.

At D-Day, we had no satellites in space or the incredible intelligence capabilities we have today. But, we had one thing: balls. Let’s find the former (balls, and yes, ovaries) and use the latter (intelligence) to find these scum and wipe them off the map. If the free nations of our world get together, we can do this in months, not years. Zero tolerance. Zero prisoners.

Let’s call it the T-Day Invasion. The “T” of course stands for Terrorism and let’s codename it Operation OverLOAD…No Caliphate Left Behind.

White House Should Hire Baghdad Bob; at least he was entertaining

I believe in the craft of Public Relations, when it is done right, which starts with telling the truth. As I wrote in chapter one of my book, “Tell it like it is, clearly and succinctly. Natalie Wood did not die from ‘excessive hydration.” She drowned. And Tupac Shakur didn’t die from ‘lead poisoning.’ He was shot. The art of being clever or linguistically illusive will compromise the integrity of your organization.”

The Obama Administration has a master’s degree in linguistic illusiveness, from Benghazi to the IRS to Obamacare. But yesterday’s example took the cake; at least for now. Described as a “rookie” White House spokesman, Eric Schultz embarrassed himself and, unfortunately, the craft of Public Relations. Supposedly this White House adheres to a decades-old U.S. policy of negotiating with terrorists: we don’t. At least not publicly. When asked how exchanging five Taliban operatives from Gitmo for soldier and alleged deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl did not violent that policy, Schultz twisted like a Rold Gold pretzel in one of the most painful press conferences I have ever witnessed. It was part Anthony “Show me your” Weiner, part Baghdad Bob.

Rookie Schultz called the Taliban an “armed insurgency” as opposed to ISIS, which he said was “a terrorist group.” When a befuddled ABC News reporter followed up that pathetic answer by asking Schultz why he didn’t think the Taliban was a terrorist group, the young White House PR guy’s head almost exploded until he attempted an answer: “I don’t think that the Taliban (painfully long pause)…the Taliban is an armed insurgency.” And then, when finished, I think Schultz experienced one of those annoying vomit burps.

Schultz had another painful gem while making a fool of himself. He said the prisoner swap was a “traditional end-of-conflict interaction.” Think the Japanese and Germans at the end of WWII. But obviously Schultz had been paying more attention to ProActive zit cream ads than actually reading the news. The “conflict” with the Taliban is far from over.

Just last month, the Taliban went into the Army Public School and Degree College in Peshhawar, Pakistan and slaughtered 145 people, more than 100 of which were children. Don’t know about you, but that sounds a whole lot like garden variety terrorism.

Perhaps as a PR practitioner I should cut Schultz some slack. Hell, maybe this White House has put miniature cattle prods in the ears of its spokespeople and those talking similarly at the State Department. Say the words “terrorist” or “Radical Islam” and you get a massive jolt.

But I am not cutting any slack for Schultz or chief spokesman Josh Earnest or the spokeswomen at the State Department. They all have been a disgrace to my profession and, more importantly, the United States of America. Look for Saturday Night Live to open up their next show mocking this national embarrassment.

Saw American Sniper and my wife wants “to kick Michael Moore’s (blank) ass.”

Just saw American Sniper with my wife. As we walked out of the theater and she wiped away tears, her first words weren’t “what a great movie.” They were: “I want to kick Michael Moore’s (blank) ass.”

If you see it, you cannot objectively say this movie glorifies war or “defends” President W’s decision to invade Iraq as many have suggested in the media. It is gritty, troubling and graphically depicts the horror of war – for the good guys, the bad guys and those – including the kids — sadly caught in the crossfire. But one thing is undeniable: the late American sniper Chris Kyle was and is an undeniable hero in the greatest tradition of our country…the world.

For “filmmaker” Moore to call Kyle a “coward” because he was a sniper, and then double-down on those cowardly comments, led my wife to determine: “Michael Moore – no way – saw the movie”. Or, I surmised, if he did and still believes in what he is spewing, he is more than a coward; he is a traitor, a pathetic one at best.

Perhaps Michael Moore “abandoned his post” in the theater to consult with the enemies of our country, freedom and decency. Again, he seems to be “doubling-down” in his criticism of American Sniper. Perhaps, he is just a cornered rat.

Fascinating in watching American Sniper was the lead-up, as in the mind-numbing number of previews. With the exception of a peek at the new Kevin Costner tear jerker/feel good Black or White, the remaining previews were for up-coming blockbuster shoot-em-and-blow-em-up “super hero” movies coming in months; including Fast and Furious 7^th or 50^th (not sure), two new Marvel Comics movies and a new take on Mad Max – the franchise that launched Aussie Mel Gibson. All these new Hollywood films about “imagined heroes,” led up to the feature film telling the life, times, woe and tragic death of genuine American hero Chris Kyle, directed by the Hollywood actor Hollywood loathes – Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood.

Mr. Eastwood. Clint, if I may call you that? Once again, you made my/our day. To American Sniper detractors – Dinty Moore, Seth Rogen and former Vermont Governor Howard “the Shouter” Dean: if you really believe what you have said on camera, you should be ashamed; Very, very ashamed.

Oh, the movie is great.

Sony Pictures caved; but so were Ford and Honda FORCED to…and folks may die

Sony Pictures caved, but then so has Ford Motor Company and Honda Motor Company. The former was just spineless; while the latters are just stuck in a very bad spot by their air bag supply company, Japan’s Takata. Interesting that both of these debacles are happening on the western shore of Asia.

By now, we all know the air bag crisis that Takata has presented for its customers. But wait; Takata’s customers are not the buyers of Honda and Ford cars. Takata’s customers are the automakers, who have been left holding the bag while the seat belt and air bag manufacturer has acted badly, stupidly and tone deafly. It has put the automakers in a sorry place with their car-buying customers with no help from the folks who have supplied the supposed life-saving technology, but have abandoned their responsibility to take control of the situation – a situation only they (Takata) can come to grips with and fix.

Worse yet – if that is possible — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has acted beyond badly – all the way to dangerous by insisting that faulty Takata air bag modules be recalled on a nationwide scale. This is stupid and dangerous considering the science says those customer most in harm’s way live in hot and humid climates. These customers should be handled first or this country will have a repeat of the 2000-2001 Ford/Firestone tire crisis where a NHTSA-demanded nationwide recall of defective tires – most deadly in hot climates – meant that those in the danger zones had to wait for replacement parts while folks in the northern climates of the U.S. also had their tires replaced.

Again, Ford and Honda are stuck in a fight between their customers and their pathetic supplier Takata. Takata has – rightfully in theory and wrongfully in practice – refused to endorse a nationwide recall of their air bag modules even though company could do so most effectively and put NHTSA on notice as follows:

“Dear NHTSA: We agree to a nationwide recall of our air bag modules in some 12 million vehicles. But, please let us use science and facts to perform triage and first help those customers in harm’s way. We promise to get to everyone, but let’s do Minnesota and Alaska last so that we may save lives in Florida and Texas.” Sincerely, Mr. Takada, CEO and son of the founder.

If Takata was more honest and more proactive, they would not be putting Honda and Ford in such a potentially-deadly bind. Thank goodness that Takata customers Chrysler and BMW have refused to buy into NHTSA’s “nationwide recall” folly that is supported by the plaintiff’s bar and the alleged “safety advocates” — although I fear they will acquiesce, soon, putting more people with Takata air bag modules in harm’s way as they are forced to wait for fix as Jim Johansson in Bemidji, Minnesota, gets a new Takata air bag module in his Honda Accord or Ford Mustang next week while someone in Tallahassee waits a couple weeks. And possibly dies. Sad. And stupid.

CNN Appearance November 19th

Tune in to CNN at 9:30am EST tomorrow morning; I’ll be on discussing airbags and my new book “What Did Jesus Drive”!

FOX Charlotte Good Day Carolinas interview

I was interviewed Tuesday, September 28th on FOX Charlotte’s Good Day Carolinas. I talk about What Did Jesus Drive? and the rash of recalls in the auto industry . Here’s the link http://www.myfoxcarolinas.com/clip/10783434/spinning-a-crisis

Fortune Magazine review of What Did Jesus Drive by Doron Levin

Stepping inside the world of cars and crisis PR

• by
• Doron Levin

• @FortuneMagazine

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Jason Vines, then Ford Motor Company vice president of communications, at a 2001 press conference. Bill Pugliano—Getty ImagesJason Vines spent his career as a corporate first responder to auto company PR disasters. His new book, ‘What Did Jesus Drive?’ looks back on his time at Ford, Chrysler and more.

Few industries are prisoner to the frightening randomness of negative publicity like the one that builds, markets and sells automobiles.

That’s why an automaker’s vice president of communications or public affairs always is – and must be – a worrier. At any moment the phone may ring, signaling a federal safety investigation, an awful review from Consumer Reports or a gaffe from the CEO that sinks the company’s stock.

Imagine the terror at the Ford Motor Co. F 2.46% in 2000 when news began trickling in about Ford Explorers that overturned when their Firestone tires shredded, killing and maiming their occupants. Or when the New York Times and media figures like Arianna Huffington declared war on sport-utility vehicles. Or when Audis, and later Toyotas, were accused of “unintended acceleration.”

For anyone wishing to know exactly what it’s like to be a corporate first responder to public relations disasters, Jason Vines has just written a definitive account, What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity (Waldorf Publishing). For most of his career, Vines, 54, has advised domestic and foreign automakers. He also served Detroit-based Compuware and, for a short stretch, Zondervan, a publisher of Christian literature.

Vines got his start at Chrysler FCA in the 1980s, an automaker so close to the edge of financial ruin that the slightest scandal or panic could tip it into oblivion. Chrysler’s minivan, its big moneymaker, at the worst possible moment ran into trouble in 1988 when its notorious A604 “Ultradrive” transmission started failing. Vines and his colleagues urged a “customers first” program to be open, honest and to replace every defective transmission, no matter the cost, helped avert bankruptcy.

The lessons learned during a career contending with such crises comprise the book’s spine. In 1996, journalists were following an alarming trend that materialized with the advent of front-seat airbags: the tendency of very small children to be hurt or killed when they deployed. (Airbags worked properly to protect larger children.) The solution was simple: Small children had to ride in the back seat. Vines helped orchestrate a media campaign aimed at parents: “The back is where it’s at.”

Recent news from General Motors GM 3.62% , documenting nearly 30 million vehicles recalled after a potentially deadly ignition switch problem was ignored or covered up by GM engineers and lawyers, suggest that safety and other crises are still routine in the automobile industry.

The Explorer debacle cost Vines his job as vice president of public affairs, as well as the job of Jacques Nasser, the CEO who hired him. A lesson learned is that public relations disasters, no matter how adroitly handled, claim many victims that often include the executives who are on the front lines.

Vines recounts how, during the tension-filled days preceding his ouster, he came to suspect that his phone was bugged by unnamed others at Ford whose purpose was to get to the bottom of leaks to the press. (A Ford spokesperson denied knowledge of eavesdropping.)

In today’s world, audio counter measures – or ACM, as corporate security calls it – have been replaced by email surveillance, which can determine leaks just as easily, if not more so, than bugging a telephone.

If anything, corporations today are vulnerable to PR disasters that travel far faster via Twitter than anything that 60 Minutes is able to disseminate. The lessons of transparency, honesty and “customer first” haven’t changed.

In NASCAR capital to do interview on local Fox; SEMA 2014 in Vegas next

Drove 4 hours with Betsy to Charlotte for an interview October 28th, 7:30 a.m. on the local FOX station (appreciate their interest). The drive from Wilmington to Charlotte is so easy and then so brutal as the last 3,000 miles are through suburbs with strip mall after strip mall, 35 to 45 miles an hour.

What Did Jesus Drive? Crisis PR in Cars, Computers and Christianity officially launches November 1, but lots of people already have the paperback and the e-book in their hands and devices. The electronic versions beyond Kindle get loaded in a few days.

Then, it’s on to Vegas for SEMA2014. Keep the faith. Keep telling the truth. Over and out. Jason Vines

What Lee Iacocca and Autoweek’s Dutch Mandel said about What Did Jesus Drive? coming Nov.1

Jason Vines’ book is being described as “unprecedented,” “defining,” and a “light shining on darkness.”

“Jason’s story telling is his honest account of time well spent in a career documenting numerous pivotal events we all want to hear about.” Lee Iacocca.

“Jason Vines lived The Hurt Locker, defusing one public relations I.E.D. after another. To think some of the largest corporations we can name have been this close to pure PR disaster, and yet were saved by the insight Jason earned from decades of corporate cage fights, is truly amazing. What Did Jesus Drive is a deep dive – nay, it is the colonoscopy – into the bowels of business, and it shares stories long known by a select few, or whispered in hallways outside war rooms.”” Dutch Mandel, Autoweek Publisher.

What Democratic Strategist Joe Trippi is saying about What Did Jesus Drive? and Author Jason Vines

“Get me Jason Vines! How I wish as the candidates I worked for screamed, screwed, or gaffed their way into crisis, I had called on Jason Vines. This is more than a corporate PR book – it’s a masters’ class, no holds barred, white knuckle ride of insights and wisdom for anyone whose job it is to communicate for a living. Jack Nicholson’s character in “A Few Good Men” bellowed “you can’t handle the truth” – Jason Vines in raw and real story telling of his own journey explains to every politician, celebrity, corporate communications professional and government agency that has ever faced trouble (yes I am talking about you NFL – read this one Goodell!) why we have such a hard time telling the truth, why that’s the whole frickin’ problem and what we can do about it.” Joe Trippi, Democratic Campaign and Media Consultant.