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Friday, January 11, 2008

Exclusive: Interview with GOP 'Oppo Man'

This coming Sunday’s New York Times Magazine includes a Q and A with a once-shadowy character named Stephen Marks, here billed as a GOP political “Oppo Man.” Naturally he has a new book, called “Confessions of a Political Hitman.” In the interview he objects to being called “unsavory” and claims, “opposition researchers perform a needed public service. The voter has a right to know the history of any candidate.” He says he sleeps well at night and has “no” qualms about his work.

He even defends his 2000 spot that juxtaposed footage of Al Gore with Al Sharpton urging college students to “off the pigs.” Marks admits it was “nasty and negative , but it was accurate, just like the Willie Horton ad that finished off Dukakis.”

Will there be less negative campaigning this year, as candidates are now promising? “I doubt it. Negative campaigning is part of Americans politics’ collective DNA.” And he disagrees that Republicans are better than Democrats at it. But he claims he has retired from that type of work, while retaining his consultant business: “I want a calmer, more normal life, not looking through countless records just to find that some candidate has a porn-related Web site.”

Meanwhile, everyone's favorite "hit" of the day: Huckabee this morning saying Fred Thompson needed to take some Metamucil.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why does the Friday preview always have to be Deborah Solomon's latest look at herself, barely acknowledging a subject? She's tainted goods, and was way before the latest tussle.
Even previewing the funnies would be more informative.

EvilPoet said...

"Today we must look to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, as a metaphor of our national character and aspiration, its symbol a thirty foot-high cardboard picture of a slot machine and a chorus girl. For Las Vegas is a city entirely devoted to the idea of entertainment, and as such proclaims the spirit of a culture in which all public discourse increasingly takes the form of entertainment. Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death." -Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post! - Stephen