WASHINGTON -- Political campaigns are increasingly staffed by people whose sole job is to figure out how to destroy the opposition. They tend to be young, ambitious and partisan. But are they soulless?
The Huffington Post wanted to know whether amid all the political mudslinging, opposition researchers and campaign operatives ever stopped to question their life choices.
The answer, according to Eddie Vale, vice president of the Democratic opposition research firm American Bridge, and Tim Miller, executive director of the GOP opposition research firm America Rising, is no. Like everyone whose work is their passion, an opposition researcher enjoys doing it, even if it means sifting through C-SPAN footage on a Sunday night in hopes of catching a congressman picking his ear and eating the wax.
"I do get a high, because it is fun," Miller said, recalling what it was like breaking ear wax-gate.
“It’s like your chosen field, the same way as why does a basketball player like to play basketball," said Vale. "My basketball career peaked in like fifth grade when everyone else kept growing and I stopped.”
“I know how that is,” responded Amanda Terkel of The Huffington Post, who along with Margaret Talev of Bloomberg News, joined the panel, the latest installment of our series Drinking and Talking.
Watch the video above.
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