W for Weird

The DNC just called to fundraise from me. I would rather talk politics than clean the kitchen so I started sparring right away with the most mellifluous sounding man I've ever heard who was not a TV recording. Come to find out that he is on the phone for the DNC trying to raise money to start really pushing back on the Republican hate speech, they claim to be going in a totally new direction, they hear us, we're sick and tired of being attacked....blah blah blah. But the interesting thing is that after I started arguing with him about the DNC's abysmal track record since Dean left, and the lack of leadership from the Obama Administration, and the phony bipartisan shtick, we got really, really, chummy. He claims to have been in international conflict resolution before he gave it up for telemarketing, but his first love was the study of con men, con games, and carney and he found all that training in the con really useful in dispute resolution and mediation. He recomends the movie "Marjoe" and "F for Fake" and the Dime Museum in Baltimore (alas, now defunct) plus some bar he likes with a life size statue of Merrick, the Elephant Man. And he claims to have "done" Carney tricks on the bank of the Mekong with some Khmer carnies since although he doesn't speak Khmer and they don't speak English the language of three card monte and "I can drive a spike through my head" is universal. I recommended Bob Altemeyer's "The Authoritarians" and the blog Quatloos. A good time was had by all. But I told him flat out I wouldn't give money except for targeted ad campaigns against blue dogs, and ad campaigns run by third party groups like Move On.