'Fake Lukas van Praag': Goldman Sachs's Notorious PR Chief Gets Lampooned On Twitter

Goldman Sachs's acid-tongued public relations chief, Lucas van Praag, has recently been the subject of a lengthy profile, a host of blog posts and, now, a fake Twitter account.

Van Praag is known for his colorful language and bellicose treatment of journalists, a style that
the Epicurean Dealmaker has suggested might do more to alienate than endear Goldman to the masses: Van Praag's rhetorical flourishes -- which he delivers "with a studied and almost ornate verbal style that conveys the message that not only are you wrong, but also he is smarter and better-educated than you" -- may work well in the United Kingdom, the Epicurean Dealmaker argues, but in the U.S., the style falls flat:

If you doubt me, just look at the inarticulate clods we elect to public office. Most of these morons cannot even deliver a coherent speech, much less bandy about gerunds and subjunctive clauses in the midst of a heated argument. Most Americans would probably try to impeach them if they did. This is just not a country where you can use words like "egregious," "febrile," and "chimera" in public without running the risk of being lynched for general asshattery.

And it's precisely his style that Fake Lucas Van Praag seems to so fancy caricaturing:

"Gather ye snickers while ye may, but investors love our debt whilst rivals rest peacefully on catafalque of mediocrity. http://bit.ly/dy3ecW"

Then there are these gems:

"Lunch: Filet of baby seal, asparagus. Back on my low-carb diet.

"Ahem. Goldman is on Fortune's list of Most Admired Companies. Print is not dead! It serves at the pleasure of Lucas."

Check out Fake Lucas Van Praag on Twitter.

Comments

[huff po fan]

01:30 PM on 03/05/2010

Wondrous!

[jeanrenoir]

12:10 AM on 03/05/2010

Yeah, Goldman's really scared of Twitter. Goldman laughs at "progressives," because Goldman knows how utterly powerless and wimpy they are. They're not a political force to be reckoned with like the relentless Tea Party. I write this as a liberal. Twitter says it all about the pathetic young "progressives" who live in a dream world in cyberspace but never showed up last August to shout down the Tea Party when it counted, and haven't showed up this entire year to find a way to bring REAL pressure in the REAL political world on Congress. So why SHOULDN'T Goldman laugh at these hapless Millennials anyway? The Obama campaign gave them delusions of grandeur, but they, like him, have proven totally impotent in the rough and tumble of real DC politics this year. The right has squashed the "progressives," along with Obama, like so many gnats.

[blastocyst]

08:37 AM on 03/05/2010

They can 'flash-mob' a Starbucks with the best of them however.

[ObamAtomic]

10:44 PM on 03/04/2010

Mocking the people that are feeding him,as-ole!

[sonofsamphm1c]

09:33 PM on 03/04/2010

So once again, to get anything on Goldman Sachs, people have to make it up.

Can't stick with real because they have NO CASE.

[imrusselloliver]

08:58 PM on 03/04/2010

i don't get it. moving on.

[hwhtgr]

08:41 PM on 03/04/2010

This IS the company that ALL the POLITICIANS bow to.

[magibrotherhood]

08:36 PM on 03/04/2010

harpoon ?

[Balzac]

08:13 PM on 03/04/2010

Hilarious.

[almost homeless]

08:12 PM on 03/04/2010

Gold plated liar.

[F4Phantom]

08:42 PM on 03/04/2010

*Winner*

[GlenParked]

07:47 PM on 03/04/2010

Make that Lucas van Prig!

[altohone]

07:33 PM on 03/04/2010

Their actions offend far more than his words.
You expect defenders of criminals to be ugly souls too. Perhaps not as blatantly...

And I'm not sold that this style is any more appreciated by Europeans.

[PhilipTaylor]

06:27 PM on 03/04/2010

WHEN CL1ENTS = V1CTIMS — Do NOT EQUAL REPEAT CL1ENTS!

G0LDMAN VIOLATED THEIR CLIENT'S TRUST AND THAT CAN NOT BE REPAIRED THIS WAY:

G0LDMAN has not just become the 1conic Sc0undre1 of an entire era but how much worse they’ve made things for themselves with a PR policy that’s stiffly the extended middle finger!

Goldman PR man Lucas van Praag’s greatest phrases were compiled on New York magazine’s Website on Monday, Feb. 1.

1. Van Praag uses a dazzling array of of BS!
2. Van Praag message is criticism of the G0LDMAN is Simply Troub1emaking Simp1etons!

You can NOT get very far by simply playing the tough guy to cover your tracks!

Go1dman must convince its C1ients that they are NOT out to CHEAT THEM after years of doing JUST THAT by selling them junk as PRIME QUALITY and then shorting the JUNK to ruin their VERY LIFEBL00D - There Clients!

http://www.observer.com/2010/wall-street/goldmans-rococo-pr-prince

[Eris23Skidoo]

08:11 PM on 03/04/2010

Is something wrong with the "l" key on your keyboard? What's up with substituting the #1 for a lower-case L? It makes your post choppy and less fun to read. I assume you are posting it because you want people to read it. Counterproductive. No offense.

[F4Phantom]

08:43 PM on 03/04/2010

It's a way to defeat the sin-swor-ship filters at Ruffpo. You gotta always Mispe11 1zrael and other words or your posts get deleted.

[PhilipTaylor]

06:24 PM on 03/04/2010

His Philosophy is, "IF YOU CAN NOT INTIMIDATE THEM THEN TRY HARDER!"