I saw the "1.95" price tag too... I assume there is some complex upsell once they hook you in? I believe this is the same group that George W gave his first speech too after his presidency?

Get "motivated" for what?

http://www.citypages.com/2010-05-19/news/get-motivated-speakers-want-to-inspire-you-and-take-your-money/

Get motivated? Don't they know which city they're in? "Sleep 'til 11."

We were overloaded with ads for this about six months ago, where their politics are much more popular than in Portland. The idea is that the $1.95 is just a nominal fee, and out here, they were offering that as a group price. Bring in your officemates for that price, and all get high-pressure sales pitches to buy their individual motivational programs. All of those motivational programs, I might add, are much more expensive than the first hit.

Since we don't have a Scientology Center in downtown Dallas (last time I checked, we had enough of an insane cult with the First Baptist Church of Dallas, and they don't handle competition well), I'll put it this way. You know how the Scientologists offer you that "free IQ test" to get you in? This is the political equivalent.

(On a slight tangent, I'll actually say something good about Laura Bush: she's quite an avid gardener, and I wouldn't be surprised if she was in Portland just to see the roses. She's a regular at my local garden center, and I always figured that any conversation I ever had with her would be like Hunter S. Thompson's famous interview with Richard Nixon. Namely, I could ask her any question I wanted, so long as we stuck solely to horticulture. Nyarlathotep help us all, though, if she asked about my political affiliations.)

Bill Cosby is associating himself with people like that? How very sad.

We saw the billboard adds for this crap all across the southern tier of the US on our cross country trek.
The spousal unit commented, "Who would pay to go hear that bunch?".

"Colin Powell, for crap's sake, who is personally responsible for launching the Iraq war..."

which is what we want you to believe,

best wishes,

Bush43, Cheney, Rumsfield, etc, etc, etc.

I believe this is the most recent offshoot of est and Landmark but I am guessing. And that cabal makes Scientology look lame except for the hit listing.

This is amazing. They are already motivating their critics.

This looks just like the event I attended at the Rose Garden sometime in the early '00s. The entry fee was extremely low, and the headliners included Rudy Giuliani and Joe Montana, who threw several prize footballs into the crowd (I seem to recall that Colin Powell was there as well but I didn't see him). There were also numerous lesser-known speakers, most of whom were more intent on pitching evangelical Christianity than anything else. One even predicted the "death of evolutionary theory" within the next ten years (if he was right, it won't be long now). And yes, there were plenty of come-ons for (much) more expensive "motivational" seminars and products.

Really? Bill Cosby? Not surprised the rest would join in on this "parade of idiots" crap.... but not him! I used to think he was cool. How dumb.

Love Bill Cosby. Very disappointing that he's apparently aligned himself with the rest of these folks for this.

i am going, and i am taking my kids. Really -- great lessons in marketing, if nothing else.