Cleft Crusty's Article

[MichiganPackerFan]

Our own Cleft Crusty has composed an excellent article that can be found here:
http://www.jsonline.com/packerinsider/66600162.html
(Sorry: JSO Insider subscription required, and I will not post excerpts)

He investigates the Favre Saga in relation to the Packers hiring of Ari Fleischer.

Excellent piece and a must read for those of us who have access. Thanks Cliff errr Cleft!!!

[Cleft Crusty]

The Packers hired Ari Fleischer, and then the word 'Diva' appears as well as an article by a Wall Street Journal writer calling Favre a 'prima donna.' Perish forbid! We'd never heard those words associated with Favre before, had we? Not until Ari shows up on the scene. Well, That's not much from Cliff Christl. He completely failed to mention that Favre appeared on 'Greta' on FOX news channel, If hiring Ari is political and indicates the Packers were going to run a 'smear' campaign, then what does an appearance on 'Greta' signify? Maybe the Packers figured that Favre is a hugely popular guy and they were going to get their asses kicked in any PR battle and they ought to try and get their responses right. There's tons of innuendo by Cliff and only one article by some guy from the WSJ that I ever heard of. Absolutely no evidence that Ari influenced anyone to write negative stuff about Favre. Why would Ari need to? Tons of people were writing and saying negative things about Favre without Ari. Just check the papers in other NFL towns and on the networks - pre-Ari. Plus, having Ari on the payroll linked the Packers to the Bush administration, which wasn't exactly riding high in the fall of 2008. Conclusion: This article by Cliff Christl is an embarrassment.

[Maxie the Taxi]

The Packers hired Ari Fleischer, and then the word 'Diva' appears as well as an article by a Wall Street Journal writer calling Favre a 'prima donna.' Perish forbid! We'd never heard those words associated with Favre before, had we? Not until Ari shows up on the scene. Well, That's not much from Cliff Christl. He completely failed to mention that Favre appeared on 'Greta' on FOX news channel, If hiring Ari is political and indicates the Packers were going to run a 'smear' campaign, then what does an appearance on 'Greta' signify? Maybe the Packers figured that Favre is a hugely popular guy and they were going to get their asses kicked in any PR battle and they ought to try and get their responses right. There's tons of innuendo by Cliff and only one article by some guy from the WSJ that I ever heard of. Absolutely no evidence that Ari influenced anyone to write negative stuff about Favre. Why would Ari need to? Tons of people were writing and saying negative things about Favre without Ari. Just check the papers in other NFL towns and on the networks - pre-Ari. Plus, having Ari on the payroll linked the Packers to the Bush administration, which wasn't exactly riding high in the fall of 2008. Conclusion: This article by Cliff Christl is an embarrassment.

This is what McCarthy calls "self-scouting."

[bobblehead]

Maybe the Pack should hire Van Jones and get some bailout money so they can buy some damn free agents.

[Fritz]

Cleft is better than Clifft.

[MichiganPackerFan]

Cleft is better than Clifft.

Agreed. I enjoy the candor here.

[Smidgeon]

The Packers hired Ari Fleischer, and then the word 'Diva' appears as well as an article by a Wall Street Journal writer calling Favre a 'prima donna.' Perish forbid! We'd never heard those words associated with Favre before, had we? Not until Ari shows up on the scene. Well, That's not much from Cliff Christl. He completely failed to mention that Favre appeared on 'Greta' on FOX news channel, If hiring Ari is political and indicates the Packers were going to run a 'smear' campaign, then what does an appearance on 'Greta' signify? Maybe the Packers figured that Favre is a hugely popular guy and they were going to get their asses kicked in any PR battle and they ought to try and get their responses right. There's tons of innuendo by Cliff and only one article by some guy from the WSJ that I ever heard of. Absolutely no evidence that Ari influenced anyone to write negative stuff about Favre. Why would Ari need to? Tons of people were writing and saying negative things about Favre without Ari. Just check the papers in other NFL towns and on the networks - pre-Ari. Plus, having Ari on the payroll linked the Packers to the Bush administration, which wasn't exactly riding high in the fall of 2008. Conclusion: This article by Cliff Christl is an embarrassment.

So are we suggesting--suggesting mind you--a biased agenda by JSO by omitting details that would have created a less sensational piece? Allegedly (to borrow Mr. Florio's catchphrase)? Or something less sinister?

[MichiganPackerFan]

I feel rather foolish about directing people to the article and praising its author who've I've enjoyed for years, only to have that the authors evil twin (not saying either twin is "good" mind you!) call out the article as "embarrassment".

But cleft, thanks for the follow up remarks, it helps to broaden the view of the story.

[Cleft Crusty]

The Packers hired Ari Fleischer, and then the word 'Diva' appears as well as an article by a Wall Street Journal writer calling Favre a 'prima donna.' Perish forbid! We'd never heard those words associated with Favre before, had we? Not until Ari shows up on the scene. Well, That's not much from Cliff Christl. He completely failed to mention that Favre appeared on 'Greta' on FOX news channel, If hiring Ari is political and indicates the Packers were going to run a 'smear' campaign, then what does an appearance on 'Greta' signify? Maybe the Packers figured that Favre is a hugely popular guy and they were going to get their asses kicked in any PR battle and they ought to try and get their responses right. There's tons of innuendo by Cliff and only one article by some guy from the WSJ that I ever heard of. Absolutely no evidence that Ari influenced anyone to write negative stuff about Favre. Why would Ari need to? Tons of people were writing and saying negative things about Favre without Ari. Just check the papers in other NFL towns and on the networks - pre-Ari. Plus, having Ari on the payroll linked the Packers to the Bush administration, which wasn't exactly riding high in the fall of 2008. Conclusion: This article by Cliff Christl is an embarrassment.

So are we suggesting--suggesting mind you--a biased agenda by JSO by omitting details that would have created a less sensational piece? Allegedly (to borrow Mr. Florio's catchphrase)? Or something less sinister?

I'm not going to impugn Christl's character to say he deliberately tried to sell one point of view by witholding information. I suspect he had a point of view and tried to sell it. But it came across as absurd. I don't know much about math, science, literature, geography, chemistry, etc. etc. (I think that's a song), but I do know that there is this Occams' Razor theory out there that says something about the simplest explanation being most often true. And here it seems that the Packers were making a bunch of PR blunders - trying to pay Favre 20 Million to stay retired, sending a marginally talented offensive line coach off to talk to Favre; having the team executive fly off to talk to him, etc. etc. It seems most likely that Ari was brought in to do what he does best (what all PR guys in all walks of life for all political parties do best) - tighten up the message and stop making PR blunders. Ask yourselves this: what happened to the Packers message coming out of Green Bay after Fleisher consulted. Wasn't it pretty much - It was a football move only, we've gone a different direction, we're happy with Rodgers, we wish Favre well? Over and Over? Seems that way to me. That's what they had to do - concentrate on saying that the decision was a football decision that they thought was best, but hey - no hard feeling because Favre is (at the moment) bigger than the Green Bay Packers.

Plus his argument about 'changing' press coverage is absurd. EVERYONE was talking about the Favre situation - and EVERYONE had an opinion - with many, many people opposed to Favre, but in general the Packers seemed to be getting the worst of it (and up to 'Greta' deservedly so - they were making a bunch of foolish, self-inflicted blunders). It's quite possible that Ari told them that HAVING EVERYONE talk about it, with reports going generally in Favere's favor was bad PR for the Packers. The solution: stop talking about it and 'make peace' as much as possible with Favre.

It seems like a huge lapse on Christl's part to not even suggest very simple alternatives to his completely unsupported conspiracy theory - especially since the alternatives are supported by reality.

[mmmdk]

Cleft is better than Clifft.

Agreed. I enjoy the candor here.

Ditto :D

[gbgary]

i blew-off jso-insider a long time ago. would one of you gentlemen cut and paste the article and pm it to me? huh wouldya huh? thanks!!!

[MJZiggy]

I thought they brought Ari in and he just sort of told them to shut up and they did. Hell, I coulda told 'em that.

[Scott Campbell]

I thought they brought Ari in and he just sort of told them to shut up and they did. Hell, I coulda told 'em that.


Exactly. They were getting killed in the court of public opinion from playing he said she said. They hired Ari. He told them to stay out of the gutter no matter what Bert does. They did, and public opinion began to turn against Bert.

[pbmax]

I thought they brought Ari in and he just sort of told them to shut up and they did. Hell, I coulda told 'em that.


Exactly. They were getting killed in the court of public opinion from playing he said she said. They hired Ari. He told them to stay out of the gutter no matter what Bert does. They did, and public opinion began to turn against Bert.
Except they hired him in May to speak at training camp. Now as Cliffy feverishly wishes, it could be that the relationship was more than that, or they brought him on as a full consultant after the Favre deal broke publicly (June-July) or went from bad to worse. And this could have been done by the secretive and Inquisitorial Exec Committee, over whom Cliffy thinks Harlan ruled with an iron fist in a velvet glove.

But remember one thing. The leaking worked for a while. The timeline they detailed made Favre look like a triple dip waffler. Even though many fail to remember this after bad press during a poor 2008 season, the Packer's got favorable treatment locally (at least JSO and Wisconsin State Journal, didn't read anything but Ted's interview at GBPG). And while ESPN was all Favre all the time, the Packers were also getting pretty favorable coverage from Schefter and Glazer.

The marketing deal was a public disaster. Greta was a setback for the Packers, but it cost Favre as well. No one looked good at this point.

It really turned sour as training camp started and Goodell and Favre were trying to set the date for his return/trade. No one could believe they would actually trade him and not take him back. Nationally, the Packers were now getting killed mostly for the apparent lunacy of the decision to go with Rodgers over Favre. While some (Gene Wojciechowski) were still hammering about the mistreatment of Favre, most were like Wilbon who thought no rational person could select Rodgers over Favre.

If at this point, Fleischer counseled a steady message, no leaks and mostly silence, then it was good advice. If Fleischer planted stories in the Wall Street Journal, then that backfired as by training camp, most people thought T2 and M3 had lost their mind and were enjoying their power and five year contracts.