During a December 10, 2010 appearance on Roe & Roeper's Miracle on Indianapolis Blvd. Holiday Extravaganza broadcast, live from The Venue inside the Horseshoe Casino, which benefitted the USO, GEICO's R. Lee Ermey appearing on behalf of Toys 4 Tots took an opportunity to unload on President Obama, claiming his administration was destroying the country so that it could impose socialism.
I don't have a lot of time, so this diary will be added to as I have the opportunity. Apparently, at a Toys for Tots fundraiser, Geico spokesperson R Lee Ermey expressed displeasure with the administration. Here's the quote in question.
"The economy really sucks. Now I hate to point fingers at anybody, but the present administration probably had a lot to do with that. And the way I see it, they're not going to quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees. So I think we should all rise up and we should stop this administration from what they're doing because they're destroying this country. They're driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us and that's exactly what they're doing. And I'm sick and damn tired of it, and I know you are too. But I know that the Marine Corps will be here forever; this administration won't. Semper Fi."
From Wiki:
Ronald Lee Ermey (born March 24, 1944) is a retired U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor and an actor.
Ermey has often played the roles of authority figures, such as his breakout performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, Mayor Tilman in the Alan Parker film Mississippi Burning, Bill Bowerman in Prefontaine, Sheriff Hoyt in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, and plastic army men leader Sarge in the Toy Story films.
He has hosted two militainment programs on the History Channel: Mail Call, in which he answered viewers' questions about various militaria both modern and historic; and Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey, which focuses on the development of different types of weapons.
Geico email form. Geico contact matrix.
Update: Fiddlegirl in the comments; "Is this guy only a spokesperson, or does he have some kind of higher position in the company. I ask because I have Geico insurance on my motorcycle, and I want to write to the company to complain about this guy." From his website, his disclaimer only goes one way.
R. Lee Ermey.com is not associated with, or a part of The History Channel, A&E Network, eBay, SideShow Toys, The United States Marine Corps or any other government agency. Advertisers are responsible for the content of their ads. We accept no responsibility for errors or typographical errors on their ads. We are not responsible for typos or misspelled words. All offers, products and prices are subject to change without notice.
so I don't know if Ermey "has a piece" of Geico or not. I think it's likely that he's just a hired gun, maybe with a chunk of stock as part of his pay. Of course, you could ask him yourself...
Update 2: Geico history
In the mid-1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, there weren't many people with the foresight and courage to start up a new company. Yet the husband and wife team of Leo and Lillian Goodwin were up to the challenge. Confident that he could create a successful auto insurance business by marketing directly to carefully targeted customer groups, Leo Goodwin hammered out a business plan during his early career in Texas.
In 1936, he put that plan into action, establishing the Government Employees Insurance Company–the company known and loved today as GEICO. Few people realize that GEICO was initially targeted to federal employees and certain categories of enlisted military officers.
Lillian Goodwin energetically marketed the company to this audience (in addition to doing the accounting, setting rates, and underwriting) and within a year, GEICO had written 3,700 policies and hired 12 staff members.
and then a younger Warren Buffett invested in 1951, and the rest is history. Hat tip to dark daze from the comments.
Update 3: A few clarifications are in order. Pam gave a tip of her stylish chapeau to Mediate as the originator of this story. Credit where credit is due.
My objections to Mr. Ermey is threefold, firstly, he's speaking as a spokesman for Toys for Tots who may need to hear from us. (mtftf@toysfortots.org) FSM knows, I've sent them money.
Secondly, I admit it the cheering in response to his rants is annoying.
Lastly, IINAL, but I don't think there's any rule in the UCMJ or anywhere else about what retired military personnel can say in public, once you're not wearing the uniform anymore, you're a civilian. He's retired, not in uniform, he has every right to face a crowd and incite insubordination among active duty personnel. I just think it's in bad taste. I thought it was in bad taste when, during Vietnam, some were saying soldiers should "frag" their officers. Same deal.
Final Update: mtftf@toysfortots.org is the email address for Toys for Tots, sorry if that was unclear.
A lot of people have been defending Geico, since Ermey is "just an actor," but as
kpeddicord points out below, Geico FIRED a guy for leaving a voicemail that offended teabaggers delicate sensibilities.
From the WaPo:
Sometimes you have a headline that makes the rest of the story superfluous, but here's the background. Actor Lance Baxter, otherwise known as "D.C. Douglas," currently known as the man who informs you how much Geico can save you on car insurance, left a message last month with FreedomWorks in which he asked the group how many "mentally retarded" people it had on staff and what it would do when a tea partyer "killed someone." On April 14, FreedomWorks put his voicemail online.
Today, Douglas reports he's been dropped from Geico's campaign. His dramatic news release is here; he claims to have been motivated by "the recent gay and racial slurs slung by Tea Party members at Congressman Barney Frank and Representative John Lewis during the Health Care Reform Weekend," and says he's "open to any attorneys taking on this case pro bono."
I think corporate America should be just as afraid of offending liberals/progressives as they are of offending teabaggers. Sauce for the goose...
Finally, a shout out to the commenters. I started 5 different updates to this diary, and the comments led me into different directions every time. This diary didn't go where I thought it would, it's better than that. Thank you all.
I tip my hat to Pam