Well They're Not With Me, At Least

At the risk of pre-panning a book I will probably read anyway, I find this teaser deeply alarming:

Political research is about searching for evidence of both hypocrisy and nobility on front porches, in smoky conference rooms, and in courthouses, bars, deer camps and roadside cafes. It can be grueling, corrosive, satisfying and entertaining by turns…After we’ve completed our research we submit a report to beleaguered campaign staffers who typically stay on the phone all day, subsisting on coffee and fast food, and who, during the rush of the season, have more interest than time.  Campaign people are generally hard to impress, though the fact that a gun appears as a prop in [one of our reports] is remarked on, favorably in some quarters, because it indicates that we left no stone unturned…Whether or not the information gains traction is beyond anyone’s control because the electorate–you, your family, your friends and enemies–can be a fickle bunch. There’s also the question of the efficacy of the delivery. Either way, we rarely hear what happens after we leave town.

Let’s be clear, there are some salvageable bits here.  I like the appeal to efficiency, the press of time, the unreliability of one’s clients.  

I do NOT like a lot more:

The glamour job on a fundamentally boring and nerdy profession. Smoky conference rooms?  Deer camps?  The private investigator’s board is that way, guys.  These are “campaigns,” where we “research things,” using “Lexis-Nexis” and going to “courthouses.”

Gimmicks.   A GUN icon in your conference reports?  Really?  It’s either going to poll well or it won’t.  A hammy vaudeville act doesn’t make you any better at your job.

The cloak and dagger act.  For the record, I identify myself as an opposition researcher and leave my card with any curious employees at the local courthouse.  If the target is surprised, more luck to the researcher s/he hires who gets to charge more for the rush job.  If not, it’s free advertising.  Research is about revealing information.  There’s nothing secret about it.

Amazing how someone can work in a business for “nearly two decades” and fail to grow up.