It's The Con Job, Stupid!
I used to be a con artist. Oh, not in the regular sense of the word: I wasn't one of those guys who pose as furnace inspectors to bilk old ladies out of their savings, nor did I send out e-mails promising illicit African millions in exchange for access to your bank account. I wasn't even one of those lovable rogues like in The Sting, where the guys who got conned deserved it. (Well, maybe a little bit of a lovable rogue.)
No, I was much worse, in some ways, because I conned you not out of your money, but out of your vote. I, dear readers, am a recovering politician.
Politicians work on much the same principles as con men. We rely on your gullibility, on your venality, and on your unwavering insistence on seeing only what you want to see. We play roles, building elaborate back stories and false fronts. We find out what motivates you - your fears and hatreds are most easily manipulated - and work that angle until, come that magic Tuesday, you go in there and pull a lever, punch a chad or darken an oval for who we want.
The dirty little secret of American politics is that individuals may be smart, but people are stupid. And politicians count on that to get their way. It's why so many people in recent elections voted against their own economic self-interest, and why people like Karl Rove, Ann Coulter and the entirety of Fox News thank whatever God is left to them for that uniquely American brand of stupidity.
No campaign of any size is ever truly free of the grift. If a candidate is free of the graft we consider ourselves lucky, so conditioned are we to expect the worst in public life. But two of the three presidential candidates are running a major con job on you at this very moment. It's the current attack on Obama for his comments at a California fundraiser regarding economically disadvantaged Pennsylvanians.
Obama attributed their tendency toward social conservatism and away from progressivism on their loss of faith and hope in their leadership. Unfortunately, he framed their core mores a bit too glibly, perhaps in a botched effort to tailor his speech to his audience. Even more unfortunately, one of my Off the Bus compatriots was present with a tape recorder and an axe to grind.
A week later, the second story off this tape contained the inelegant phraseology. And although the lede was buried so deeply it was found with a wooden stake through its heart and a clove of garlic in its mouth, somehow it survived, rose from the grave and now stalks both the airwaves and the blogosphere.
And so the con began. Both Clinton and McCain unloaded with faux-righteous indignation over how "elitist and condescending" Obama was being towards the good folks of Pennsylvania. The Republicans picked up the meme and ran with it, because they want to face Hillary in the fall, while the Clintonistas ran with it, because they're desperate.
And the media is, of course, running with it because, frankly, they're twice as easy to con as regular folks. (What is the Clinton campaign from start to finish but one big media self-con about inevitability, electability and viability?) So what we end up with is a manufactured "macaca" moment, as everyone willfully misunderstands what Obama has said, and gleefully lies to himself. Which, of course, is the heart of a perfect con. The mark, contrary to common sense, blindly takes what is offered, because it's much more comfortable, even smugly satisfying, to believe your own prejudices rather than your own lying eyes.
And Billary, McSame, the punditocracy and some of you yourselves are truly lying to you. Because however poorly he phrased it, Obama was right! And he wasn't being snide or condescending about it.
It's not unsurprising that neither Clinton nor McCain recognized Obama's tone for what it was: empathy. After you make $109 million in seven years or dump your wife to marry a beer heiress, the empathy shine kind of rubs off you. But even if someone has managed to whisper to them that Obama still has that empathy, they don't care, because there are millions of voters who are just dumb enough to believe the worst when they think they hear it. Because Lincoln was right, you CAN fool some of the people all of the time.
Which is why Hillary will probably cry on cue again this week.
And the con goes on.
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Maybe Clinton and McCain do realize that Sen. Obama is being empathetic but they can't resist the opportunity to sugest that he "doesn't know his place". The latent (or maybe blatant) racism of the last few weeks is pretty hard to take. People who have questions about his patriotism should check out his web site for his position on veterans barackobam
The Clintons take the con game to another level. I'd venture to say they've actually redefined the word. In their own bizarre Land of Make Believe, you are an elitist if you or your spouse doesn't have a Southern accent. They are con artists of the highest order.
Wonderful post. How I wish all americans can see and understand what you see and write about. As you said majority are "dumb"
Keep writing my "friend" you are a true american. I mean very brave and don't vote on fear and prejudice. This is a great piece.
A PERSON IS SMART PEOPLE ARE DUMB PANICKY ANIMALS.
LegalWeed, i heard and read that GOP has promised Clinton a pardon from "campain fraud" and Bank fraud" if she was nominee. and if she 's elected president she could pardon herself/themselves. Does the Supers know about these upcoming cases. YES, the cases are on the docket.
So-if clinton or mccain is president Hillary wins either way. She does NOT CARE about the party, JUST HERSELF. A vote for hillary is a vote for mccain.
fantastic post.
Another great post Chip!
All I have to know is that McCain reportedly wants to run against Clinton. Now why would that be? So that they can make nice on the trail?? Does he think that might make for a closer race?? I dunno, I am just a dumb bell from the puckerbrush.
Why would anyone want to hand the white house keys to the clinton's again? Did they learn nothing from the last time?
You hit the nail on the head. I hope more people read your blog especially the media. Unfortunately, your target audience is low income, jobless, uneducated bunch. I doubt they read. You should get on the radio. Then may be America will wake up.
Oh no, you can't call the voters dumb, you might sound "elitist." Though apparently Bill and Hill used to sit about the oval office and laugh at the poor schlumps who just wouldn't get with their program. Guess that's ok...
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