Anyone we know?
"A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle or bamboozle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as shills. Confidence men exploit human characteristics such as greed and dishonesty, and have victimized individuals from all walks of life."
What a perfect description of the de facto and de jure leaders of the Republican party. Frank Rich has a terrific piece in today's NY Times in which he exposes Sarah Palin and Michael Steele for what they really are...con artists. Every thing that Palin has done since quitting the governorship of Alaska and since Steele became chairman of the GOP has been about self-aggrandizement and most importantly making money. And they have both succeeded admirably. We should not be shocked that two politicians are in it only for the money. That's axiomatic. What we should be surprised and shocked by is the brazenness and boldness with which these two grifers have set about doing it.
And they have been blessed with a whole new pack of suckers to screw...the Tea Party Movement. Having already been co-opted by the grand scale scammers in the right wing movement, these poor bastards, many of whom are truly angry with the leadership and direction of the country, are so hungry to gain power and respect that they are willing to be used and abused by these two hucksters.
Frank Rich writes:
"When Steele and Palin pay lip service to the movement, they are happy to glom on to its anti-tax, anti-Obama, anti-government, anti-big-bank vitriol. But they don’t call for any actual action against the bailed-out perpetrators of the financial crisis. They’d never ask for investments to put ordinary Americans back to work. They have no policies to forestall foreclosures or protect health insurance for the tea partiers who’ve been shafted by hard times. Their only economic principle beside tax cuts is vilification of the stimulus that did save countless jobs for firefighters, police officers and teachers at the state and local level."
P. T. Barnum said it best. "There's a sucker born every minute." And the corollary to that is there is a shark lurking in the depths waiting for the newborn babe to sink.