"Bimbo"-gate has claimed its first casualty. Terry Nelson, the top-flight GOP consultant who was political director of Bush-Cheney 2004, has lost his gig as a consultant to Wal-Mart because of his role in helping produce the "bimbo" ad targeting Dem Harold Ford, Jr. Nelson had been hired a month ago by Wal-Mart to help the company develop its new voter-registration drive, but because of Nelson's role in producing the racially-charged ad, Wal-Mart found itself targeted by severe criticism from Jesse Jackson and others who demanded that the company fire Nelson. Wal-Mart media relations director David Tovar just issued a statement saying that Nelson had "sent a letter to Wal-Mart ending its working relationship with our company. We believe this is the right course of action." Moral: It's not good for business to attach your name to ads like the "bimbo" spot.
Not just the morality of it, but let's face it -- WalMart is certainly more than large enough to ignore protests and critics. What this indicates to me is the corporate hedging of bets, the hesitation to be seen as politically aligned with people who might be about to get spanked. I think it's fair to consider WalMart at least as something of a bellwether in this sense, especially in the "red" states, and as such, this may be an indicator that they think the tide is about to turn.
Message to mossbacks: learn to swim.
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