12 Stepper

Exile, you must not have been around many people in AA, or other 12-step programs. When reading "How to Rig and Election", I kept thinking back to recovering addicts I've know. They all keep journals where they meticulously record the harm they've done to others. But, in the back of their minds, they're all still jonesing for a drink. "How to Rig an Election" is Raymond's recovery journal, but he can't suppress some of the glee that he felt about all the clever things he did while he was indulging his addiction.

A good recovery journal can be a fun read, and Raymond's is better than average. He's got a sense of humor, and he doesn't take himself too seriously. I generally shy away from political books because they're dull, padded and repetitious. Aside from the courtroom account at the end, Raymond's book is a interesting and lively read.

I think "sociopath" is a bit tough, but Raymond is definitely amoral. His account is that he wanted to be a salesman, heard about a program at Baruch College for political operatives, and thought "hey, that would be cool". Throughout the book, he says little about the ideology of his candidates, except when he's mocking it. For him, candidates are like laundry detergent or razors, another product to be sold.

It's hard to blame Raymond alone for his cynical attitude. It was clear from the book that the Republican party has completely internalized the tactics used by Nixon in '68 and '72. Back then, Nixon's use of Madison Avenue PR professionals was so scandalous that a best-selling book ("The Selling of the President") was written to express the establishment's shock and horror over his mass-media tactics. Today, focus groups and clever ads are routine.

Similarly, Nixon's "dirty tricks" were front-page news. Now, those sorts of tactics are at least tacitly accepted. Raymond's account may lack remorse simply because he feels that he was playing the game the way it is played today.

If my "don't hate the player" talk falls on deaf ears, consider this: Perhaps an openly amoral political operative is preferable to one who covers his ambition with a veneer of ideology. I would have found Raymond's book far less enjoyable if he began with a discussion of his commitment to "family values" or something similar. Better an amoral optimizer than a mealy-mouthed hypocrite.

Your second point is worth a longer discussion, so I'll save that for later and throw out a couple of other topics.

I found Raymond's attitude towards the faithful rank-and-file quite revealing. For example, he has nothing but contempt for the right-to-life true believers. I'll bet that a lot of Democratic operatives feel the same way towards the netroots.

Haley Barbour is certainly an interesting cat. I wonder why Republicans can't find more smart operators like him to revitalize their party's internal machinery.

Finally, I was disappointed to learn very little about the New York Republican party. It seems to operate and an entity unto itself, disconnected from the national party.

My two main impressions of the book

I have two main impression about the book "How To Rig An Election" and its author Allen Raymond.

1. I was a bit surprised by Raymond's unapologetic amorality. He didn't seem at all perturbed by the idea that the point of government was simply to raise money and keep getting elected. And his efforts to hide the fact that he's a sociopath with the constant references to his family weren't all that convincing. Is there a variant of the phrase "deathbed conversion" that describes people who find Jesus (or whatever) only when they're about to go to jail?

2. All these politics tricks seemed like Mickey Mouse stuff that only makes a difference in close elections. In the end, all the northeastern Republican foolishness is being swept away by the larger trend towards political regionalism. The Republican party is now the party of the south. Nearly every Republican you see on tv speaks in a southern accent the general outlook of the national party just doesn't fly in the northeast. The party is dead in New England (there is a total of one -- ONE -- Republican house member in all of New England) and on its way to dying in New York State (we could have as few as three Republican House members out of 29 when this election is done). I have a bit of an issue with political operatives -- on both sides -- who act like their snake oil is some kind of a magic balm. And I have even more of an issue with the way the press lionizes them. This goes just as much (or more) for James Carville as for Karl Rove. That's what pleases me most about Obama's campaign -- that it focuses on big systematic change, increased voter registration, increased turn out, new modes of raising money, actual outreach to grassroots, etc. In the end, these things change the political landscape in a way that a few nasty mailers can't.

In a way, I fear this is typical of our society. CEOs are lauded for coming with new gimmicks -- of both the marketing and accounting variety -- rather than for actual innovation. The solution to every misstep seems to be "rebranding".

Welcome to Rochester Book Club

We will be discussing various books, most to do with politics.