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Confessions of a Political Hitman: My Secret Life of Scandal, Corruption, Hypocrisy and Dirty Attacks That Decide Who Gets Elected
Describes the author's role as a political hitman who dug up scandal on opposition candidates for the Republican Party, his growing disillusionment with politics, and what goes on behind the scenes in American political campaigns.
389 pages, Hardcover
First published January 22, 2007
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August 12, 2023
I’m very very late to the party in reading and reviewing Stephen Marks’ book. From what I can tell, it is now long forgotten and can be bought used on Amazon for just 1 dollar. That makes me a little sad for the author, because in my opinion it is a fun, interesting memoir by a political hack reminiscing about his glory years.
This book is very mid-1990s- and early-00s specific, and anyone unfamiliar with new-millennium Americana may not recognize many of the political figures or references, so I can see how it is now deemed dated or irrelevant. And yet, almost ironically, Mr. Marks’ memoir is also unintentionally brilliant in that it predates – and predicts – just how low and flauntingly corrupt US politics would sink during and after the 2016-2020 Trump administration.
As the author himself writes, “There’s another element to the Bill Clinton years that, as far as I know, no one has brought up until now – that is how the scandal changed the nature of American politics forever in unprecedented ways...I still strongly oppose much of what Clinton did as president, particularly in the area of his being responsible for having lowered the bar for what Americans now expect from their leaders in the personal integrity department.”
With these words in mind, I argue that “Confessions of a Political Hitman” deserves a second look by anyone interested in what caused the toxicity of the post-2016 US political landscape. In the same way that John Perkins re-released The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man with 15 additional tell-all chapters, a re-release of this book, especially as required reading in poli-sci courses for the next generation of politicos, is warranted and I hope Marks and his publisher Sourcebooks will endeavor to do so (but I doubt they will even ever see this review, so whatever).
Now for the personal:
I knew Stephen Marks from Patrick J. Buchanan’s second presidential campaign. I remember the very day in May of 1995 he was hired at our McLean headquarters, and I also remember the day he was fired. In the brief few months that he worked on that insurgent campaign, Marks and I became buddies, but we permanently lost touch after he left because this was in a time before cell phones and email; he was a gun-for-hire who lived out of hotels. I didn’t even know he had written this book until just the other day - 15 years after its publication!
I also remember vividly when Pat’s sister and campaign chairman, Angela Bay Buchanan, gave Marks the ultimatum to either resign along with his disgraced boss (campaign manager Guy Rodgers, a Christian Coalition operative who Bay suspected of trying to sabotage Pat’s campaign) or go to the very back of the office to work the phone banks and lick envelopes with the retired granny volunteers. Marks was bitter about this, but decided to ride it out.
Little did I or anyone else know he was secretly compiling a dossier of evidence about Bay’s fundraising shenanigans.
Marks stuck out like a sore thumb in that Virginia office (which was 90% southern, blonde, and religious) due to his fast-talking Brooklyn accent, his olive complexion and oily black hair, his cheap suits and his ugly ties. He also came from an RNC background, which “Belligerent Bay” (her well-earned nickname) was openly suspicious of, proving she had good instincts, not just because Marks ultimately betrayed her but because the RNC later sided with Bob Dole once Buchanan became a credible threat to the Republican establishment.
So instead of utilizing “Oppo Man’s” well-paid skills as an opposition researcher, he was sent to the minimum-wage doghouse until finally leaving in shame (Marks wrote that he quit but I recall he was part of a mass firing, which we referred to as Bloody Friday, by Bay of anyone not considered fall-on-your-own-sword loyal to her brother; 50% of the staff were let go on that day).
But Marks had his revenge when he handed over all his due diligence to the FEC...except for the fact that they ultimately didn’t use it; Bay was never prosecuted. So then Marks, in 1999, decided to sell his story as a 6000-word “expose” to Penthouse Magazine (I’m guess more-respectable publications had previously rejected his submission).
That article was also pretty much ignored, probably because Pat was a footnote at that point and also probably due to the fact that the magazine it accompanied was brimming with clitori. But Marks got the last laugh on his arch-nemesis, as his expose ended up hurting Bay’s reputation in D.C. enough that she never again worked in politics or government. Today she is a real estate agent.
The Buchanan chapter of Marks’ book is its best, not just because it was professionally edited at Penthouse and fact-checked by First Amendment attorney Victor Kovner, but because Marks had the “utter contempt” (his words) to shame by name certain Buchanan staffers he had a chip on his shoulder about, including, in the book’s much-needed bit of comic relief, 25-year-old Timothy Haley, the tobaccy-chewing chicken farmer rumored to be 50-year-old Bay’s paramour.
What he doesn’t mention, but which I recollect, is that short-statured Stephen resented the hulking, handsome Haley for sleeping his way up to the position of Assistant Campaign Manager – a position Marks expected for himself under Guy Rodgers. But Marks can take some comfort in the fact that *nobody* on that grassroots campaign liked Tim Haley, not just because he was a smug jerk, but because Haley was allegedly Bay’s boy-toy and therefore untouchable; not even Pat’s top lieutenants could can him, as much as they might have wished to.
Bizarrely, Marks gives Pat’s treasurer Scott Buchanan (no relation) Mackenzie a free pass on the campaign’s financial improprieties that Marks exposed in his Penthouse essay and writes about more in depth in this book. Marks blames everything squarely on Bay, which is mystifying considering that Mackenzie oversaw literally everything having to do with money, mailings and matching funds.
In spite of the fact that Mackenzie was a miracle worker (or borderline criminal depending on which side of history you are on) in raising all the low-dollar donations that would sustain Pat Buchanan through 1996, Mackenzie’s fundraising methods were as shady as his personality; the Political division, which worked out of another office, nicknamed anyone in Mackenzie’s treasury “The Vampires” due to their skulking behavior and aloof mannerisms.
Bay and Mackenzie spent the better part of each day that year in secretive closed-door meetings; indeed, they were thick as thieves dating back to their many years together running the treasury department of Ronald Reagan’s 1970s presidential campaigns and, later, in the White House (yes, that’s Bay’s signature on 1981 American currency).
It wasn’t much of a surprise to any of us, then, when a March 1, 1996, Wall Street Journal investigation, followed by an even more scathing New York Times piece on March 4, about Bay’s side-hustle earning commissions on media buys for the campaign on top of her already-very-high salary ($112,000) suggested that she and Mackenzie (who earned an even more-insane $222,000 salary, paid for entirely by all those blue-collar “peasants” sending in $5 checks) had a lucrative grift going.
Marks writes that “I liked Scott a lot” in one sentence, but then in the next, “What I saw in the treasury group was...not only FEC laws broken, but other multiple laws being broken...and an ethical atmosphere somewhere between the toilet and the sewer.” Seeing as how every aspect of Treasury was under Mackenzie’s purview, it is irresponsible at best and dishonest at worst for Marks to absolve Mackenzie of any involvement in Bay’s unscrupulous fundraising tactics.
Either way, Scott B. Mackenzie’s grifting ways eventually caught up with him. In 2020 he was sentenced to federal prison – mug shot, orange jumpsuit, leg-shackles and all – for a number of illicit “Scam PACs” that he operated in the decades following Pat’s presidential campaign.
According to multiple news outlets, “Scott Mackenzie – one of Washington’s most prolific and controversial political fundraisers – has served as treasurer of more than 50 federal political action committees. At least a dozen of these purported to raise money for political and social causes, but they spent most of the money they raised from unsuspecting donors on (their own salaries, and on their mistresses)”.
Which brings me full-circle back to this book itself:
Despite the sexy title and intriguing premise, there’s really not many “confessions” in Marks’ memoir. Every political scandal he references was a matter of public record; his job was simply to go to the courthouses and compile the proof. If he ever donned a trench coat and gloves, G. Gordon Liddy style, to rifle through his opponents secret files in the dark, Marks isn’t admitting it here. One gets the sense that he is holding back on the real juicy anecdotes that he gleaned first-hand, either out of some misguided gentlemanly decorum, or because he is legit afraid of being assassinated by an actual hitman. And he admits as much – “This book only scratches the surface” – which comes across as slightly disingenuous.
If the other chapters had been as rich in detail and dirt as the Buchanan chapter, Marks’ book probably would have made waves in Washington the same way that John Perkins shook Wall Street, and taken down a number of corrupt D.C. insiders (maybe also Scott Mackenzie long before he could rip off all those other countless donors over the next two decades). Even Marks’ own admissions as a “womanizer” – including hooking up with a teenage waitress (in a southern state where it was legal) when he was in his 40s – are rather bland. If Marks had delved into more lurid detail, it might have made the remaining 300+ pages more engaging.
And I’m saying this not to be snarky but because I think Marks has an opportunity to re-release this book with updated content and incriminating details (“NOW WITH MORE POWER-FIGHTING DIRT!”) in 2024 ahead of Trump’s history-making incarceration. Undeniably, all the dirty politicians who Oppo Man investigated back in the 1990s and early-aughts played a big part in clearing the path for all the even-more-immoral scum who are currently in office:
e.g. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, purportedly a former call-girl who blackmailed her clientele in the US Senate into helping her get elected; Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a verified sex trafficker of underage prostitutes whose wealthy father paid his son’s way out of an FBI indictment; and even corrupt DINO Dems like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who continue to vote against insider trading laws for Congress because her finger is so deep in that juicy cash-pie.
As Marks alludes to in his epiphanic conclusion, the political left and right are now more ideologically extreme than ever, and also more arrogantly corrupt and brazenly criminal than ever. Political hit man Stephen Marks should be out there right now taking down all these elected and appointed crooks; we need him now more than ever because American democracy is literally on the verge of a fascist takeover by the likes of Donald “Orange Mussolini” Trump, Ron “DeFascist” DeSantis, “Moscow Mitch” McConnell, “Corrupt Clarence” Thomas, et al.
But instead, Marks has gone into hiding following his embarrassing campaign for the U.S. House to represent Florida's 27th Congressional District; he lost that Republican primary in 2018 with a pitiful 2700 votes. There’s no shame in losing, Stephen, but personally I don’t think you ever had the star power of a politician. You are the man behind the man behind the man – the dirt digger – so get back to work!
This book is very mid-1990s- and early-00s specific, and anyone unfamiliar with new-millennium Americana may not recognize many of the political figures or references, so I can see how it is now deemed dated or irrelevant. And yet, almost ironically, Mr. Marks’ memoir is also unintentionally brilliant in that it predates – and predicts – just how low and flauntingly corrupt US politics would sink during and after the 2016-2020 Trump administration.
As the author himself writes, “There’s another element to the Bill Clinton years that, as far as I know, no one has brought up until now – that is how the scandal changed the nature of American politics forever in unprecedented ways...I still strongly oppose much of what Clinton did as president, particularly in the area of his being responsible for having lowered the bar for what Americans now expect from their leaders in the personal integrity department.”
With these words in mind, I argue that “Confessions of a Political Hitman” deserves a second look by anyone interested in what caused the toxicity of the post-2016 US political landscape. In the same way that John Perkins re-released The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man with 15 additional tell-all chapters, a re-release of this book, especially as required reading in poli-sci courses for the next generation of politicos, is warranted and I hope Marks and his publisher Sourcebooks will endeavor to do so (but I doubt they will even ever see this review, so whatever).
Now for the personal:
I knew Stephen Marks from Patrick J. Buchanan’s second presidential campaign. I remember the very day in May of 1995 he was hired at our McLean headquarters, and I also remember the day he was fired. In the brief few months that he worked on that insurgent campaign, Marks and I became buddies, but we permanently lost touch after he left because this was in a time before cell phones and email; he was a gun-for-hire who lived out of hotels. I didn’t even know he had written this book until just the other day - 15 years after its publication!
I also remember vividly when Pat’s sister and campaign chairman, Angela Bay Buchanan, gave Marks the ultimatum to either resign along with his disgraced boss (campaign manager Guy Rodgers, a Christian Coalition operative who Bay suspected of trying to sabotage Pat’s campaign) or go to the very back of the office to work the phone banks and lick envelopes with the retired granny volunteers. Marks was bitter about this, but decided to ride it out.
Little did I or anyone else know he was secretly compiling a dossier of evidence about Bay’s fundraising shenanigans.
Marks stuck out like a sore thumb in that Virginia office (which was 90% southern, blonde, and religious) due to his fast-talking Brooklyn accent, his olive complexion and oily black hair, his cheap suits and his ugly ties. He also came from an RNC background, which “Belligerent Bay” (her well-earned nickname) was openly suspicious of, proving she had good instincts, not just because Marks ultimately betrayed her but because the RNC later sided with Bob Dole once Buchanan became a credible threat to the Republican establishment.
So instead of utilizing “Oppo Man’s” well-paid skills as an opposition researcher, he was sent to the minimum-wage doghouse until finally leaving in shame (Marks wrote that he quit but I recall he was part of a mass firing, which we referred to as Bloody Friday, by Bay of anyone not considered fall-on-your-own-sword loyal to her brother; 50% of the staff were let go on that day).
But Marks had his revenge when he handed over all his due diligence to the FEC...except for the fact that they ultimately didn’t use it; Bay was never prosecuted. So then Marks, in 1999, decided to sell his story as a 6000-word “expose” to Penthouse Magazine (I’m guess more-respectable publications had previously rejected his submission).
That article was also pretty much ignored, probably because Pat was a footnote at that point and also probably due to the fact that the magazine it accompanied was brimming with clitori. But Marks got the last laugh on his arch-nemesis, as his expose ended up hurting Bay’s reputation in D.C. enough that she never again worked in politics or government. Today she is a real estate agent.
The Buchanan chapter of Marks’ book is its best, not just because it was professionally edited at Penthouse and fact-checked by First Amendment attorney Victor Kovner, but because Marks had the “utter contempt” (his words) to shame by name certain Buchanan staffers he had a chip on his shoulder about, including, in the book’s much-needed bit of comic relief, 25-year-old Timothy Haley, the tobaccy-chewing chicken farmer rumored to be 50-year-old Bay’s paramour.
What he doesn’t mention, but which I recollect, is that short-statured Stephen resented the hulking, handsome Haley for sleeping his way up to the position of Assistant Campaign Manager – a position Marks expected for himself under Guy Rodgers. But Marks can take some comfort in the fact that *nobody* on that grassroots campaign liked Tim Haley, not just because he was a smug jerk, but because Haley was allegedly Bay’s boy-toy and therefore untouchable; not even Pat’s top lieutenants could can him, as much as they might have wished to.
Bizarrely, Marks gives Pat’s treasurer Scott Buchanan (no relation) Mackenzie a free pass on the campaign’s financial improprieties that Marks exposed in his Penthouse essay and writes about more in depth in this book. Marks blames everything squarely on Bay, which is mystifying considering that Mackenzie oversaw literally everything having to do with money, mailings and matching funds.
In spite of the fact that Mackenzie was a miracle worker (or borderline criminal depending on which side of history you are on) in raising all the low-dollar donations that would sustain Pat Buchanan through 1996, Mackenzie’s fundraising methods were as shady as his personality; the Political division, which worked out of another office, nicknamed anyone in Mackenzie’s treasury “The Vampires” due to their skulking behavior and aloof mannerisms.
Bay and Mackenzie spent the better part of each day that year in secretive closed-door meetings; indeed, they were thick as thieves dating back to their many years together running the treasury department of Ronald Reagan’s 1970s presidential campaigns and, later, in the White House (yes, that’s Bay’s signature on 1981 American currency).
It wasn’t much of a surprise to any of us, then, when a March 1, 1996, Wall Street Journal investigation, followed by an even more scathing New York Times piece on March 4, about Bay’s side-hustle earning commissions on media buys for the campaign on top of her already-very-high salary ($112,000) suggested that she and Mackenzie (who earned an even more-insane $222,000 salary, paid for entirely by all those blue-collar “peasants” sending in $5 checks) had a lucrative grift going.
Marks writes that “I liked Scott a lot” in one sentence, but then in the next, “What I saw in the treasury group was...not only FEC laws broken, but other multiple laws being broken...and an ethical atmosphere somewhere between the toilet and the sewer.” Seeing as how every aspect of Treasury was under Mackenzie’s purview, it is irresponsible at best and dishonest at worst for Marks to absolve Mackenzie of any involvement in Bay’s unscrupulous fundraising tactics.
Either way, Scott B. Mackenzie’s grifting ways eventually caught up with him. In 2020 he was sentenced to federal prison – mug shot, orange jumpsuit, leg-shackles and all – for a number of illicit “Scam PACs” that he operated in the decades following Pat’s presidential campaign.
According to multiple news outlets, “Scott Mackenzie – one of Washington’s most prolific and controversial political fundraisers – has served as treasurer of more than 50 federal political action committees. At least a dozen of these purported to raise money for political and social causes, but they spent most of the money they raised from unsuspecting donors on (their own salaries, and on their mistresses)”.
Which brings me full-circle back to this book itself:
Despite the sexy title and intriguing premise, there’s really not many “confessions” in Marks’ memoir. Every political scandal he references was a matter of public record; his job was simply to go to the courthouses and compile the proof. If he ever donned a trench coat and gloves, G. Gordon Liddy style, to rifle through his opponents secret files in the dark, Marks isn’t admitting it here. One gets the sense that he is holding back on the real juicy anecdotes that he gleaned first-hand, either out of some misguided gentlemanly decorum, or because he is legit afraid of being assassinated by an actual hitman. And he admits as much – “This book only scratches the surface” – which comes across as slightly disingenuous.
If the other chapters had been as rich in detail and dirt as the Buchanan chapter, Marks’ book probably would have made waves in Washington the same way that John Perkins shook Wall Street, and taken down a number of corrupt D.C. insiders (maybe also Scott Mackenzie long before he could rip off all those other countless donors over the next two decades). Even Marks’ own admissions as a “womanizer” – including hooking up with a teenage waitress (in a southern state where it was legal) when he was in his 40s – are rather bland. If Marks had delved into more lurid detail, it might have made the remaining 300+ pages more engaging.
And I’m saying this not to be snarky but because I think Marks has an opportunity to re-release this book with updated content and incriminating details (“NOW WITH MORE POWER-FIGHTING DIRT!”) in 2024 ahead of Trump’s history-making incarceration. Undeniably, all the dirty politicians who Oppo Man investigated back in the 1990s and early-aughts played a big part in clearing the path for all the even-more-immoral scum who are currently in office:
e.g. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, purportedly a former call-girl who blackmailed her clientele in the US Senate into helping her get elected; Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a verified sex trafficker of underage prostitutes whose wealthy father paid his son’s way out of an FBI indictment; and even corrupt DINO Dems like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who continue to vote against insider trading laws for Congress because her finger is so deep in that juicy cash-pie.
As Marks alludes to in his epiphanic conclusion, the political left and right are now more ideologically extreme than ever, and also more arrogantly corrupt and brazenly criminal than ever. Political hit man Stephen Marks should be out there right now taking down all these elected and appointed crooks; we need him now more than ever because American democracy is literally on the verge of a fascist takeover by the likes of Donald “Orange Mussolini” Trump, Ron “DeFascist” DeSantis, “Moscow Mitch” McConnell, “Corrupt Clarence” Thomas, et al.
But instead, Marks has gone into hiding following his embarrassing campaign for the U.S. House to represent Florida's 27th Congressional District; he lost that Republican primary in 2018 with a pitiful 2700 votes. There’s no shame in losing, Stephen, but personally I don’t think you ever had the star power of a politician. You are the man behind the man behind the man – the dirt digger – so get back to work!
February 19, 2008
Fascinating and disturbing look at those who perform "opposition research" (political hits) for political candidates, and the impact negative campaigning has on our electoral system. This should be required reading for all Americans. If you are a Democrat, you may not agree with the politics of the writer, and sometimes it can be hard to overlook his bias. But it's worth it for the dish, and especially for his other moments of candor. For example, you may be interested to read that this former hardcore Republican did quite a lot of opposition research during the Lewinsky scandal and now thinks that "no one holds a candle" to the GOP in terms of hypocrisy about "family values."
Lots of interesting, disturbing, and downright scary info in this book. I did some brief work in political campaigns and I think most of what he says is right on the money.
My favorite part of the book (spoiler!) comes at the very end, when the author very offhandedly mentions that he sometimes wore a full ski mask when conducting certain opposition business, like a time he dropped off a Fed Ex package for a politician after 9/11 and after civilians phoned in the information that a man in a ski mask dropped something in the Fed Ex box and the entire block had to be closed down while police searched the mailbox for anthrax. He claims he wore the ski mask due to asthma. Uh huh. Something tells me this guy has quite a few even more interesting stories that didn't even make it into this book.
Check it out.
Lots of interesting, disturbing, and downright scary info in this book. I did some brief work in political campaigns and I think most of what he says is right on the money.
My favorite part of the book (spoiler!) comes at the very end, when the author very offhandedly mentions that he sometimes wore a full ski mask when conducting certain opposition business, like a time he dropped off a Fed Ex package for a politician after 9/11 and after civilians phoned in the information that a man in a ski mask dropped something in the Fed Ex box and the entire block had to be closed down while police searched the mailbox for anthrax. He claims he wore the ski mask due to asthma. Uh huh. Something tells me this guy has quite a few even more interesting stories that didn't even make it into this book.
Check it out.
April 27, 2008
This should be three stars, just for the inside view of political hits perpetrated by this once GOP opposition guru. It's particularly gratifying that he admits that although he still leans right in his politics, the hypocrisy of the GOP is so revolting, it was part of his decision to retire. I should give him five stars just for admitting that although he got into opposition research due to his intense and irrational hatred of Bill Clinton, he now realizes what an excellent president BC was and how truly horrendous GWB is - the man he worked so hard to get elected. Hard to eat crow like that.
But sadly, I have to give only two stars, just because the publishing house of this book was so cheap, it's like the book went straight from the author's computer to press without editing or copyediting. There are lots of typos (misspelling Paul Wellstone's name?) and even missing words! The text was never tightened up, so the author repeats things over and over. So what is an interesting premise for a book just doesn't have the polish that would garner more stars.
Good luck, Mr. Marks, in your next career. You sure burned a lot of bridges.
But sadly, I have to give only two stars, just because the publishing house of this book was so cheap, it's like the book went straight from the author's computer to press without editing or copyediting. There are lots of typos (misspelling Paul Wellstone's name?) and even missing words! The text was never tightened up, so the author repeats things over and over. So what is an interesting premise for a book just doesn't have the polish that would garner more stars.
Good luck, Mr. Marks, in your next career. You sure burned a lot of bridges.
January 13, 2014
I made it to page 242, but I could not take it any more. The author is a small-minded arrogant womanizing, petty little fucker who aided and abetted some of the most egregiously awful people in politics. He sees people as good guys and bad guys, and despite his claim to have moderated his beliefs, he seems to show no regret for his career of dirty trickster. He is unable to see the difference between a sexual pecadillo and the life-destroying, anti-constitutional policies of the republicans he sleazed for.
He has little or no insight in the realities. He still thinks, for instance that Bush won the first election in Florida, rather than having the Supreme Court order the vote count be stopped (subsequent studies showed Gore actually had the votes to win). He thinks that Bush won Ohio the next election because of votes, rather than the horrendous voting suppression and tampering that went on under republican operative Ken Blackwell. He thinks that Guiliani should be the next president (as New Yorkers all know, he refused to move the emergency headquarters to Brooklyn so he would be closer to his mistress, instead keeping it in the WTC that had already been a target in 1993. Those who know him best know that Guiliani is just another narcissistic asshole.)
I can't finish this drivel. The only thing that would keep me going would be to find out which STDs the author caught from all his screwing around, but I guess I'll never know. Whatever he did catch would never be bad enough karma to make up for the evil he put out into the world.
He has little or no insight in the realities. He still thinks, for instance that Bush won the first election in Florida, rather than having the Supreme Court order the vote count be stopped (subsequent studies showed Gore actually had the votes to win). He thinks that Bush won Ohio the next election because of votes, rather than the horrendous voting suppression and tampering that went on under republican operative Ken Blackwell. He thinks that Guiliani should be the next president (as New Yorkers all know, he refused to move the emergency headquarters to Brooklyn so he would be closer to his mistress, instead keeping it in the WTC that had already been a target in 1993. Those who know him best know that Guiliani is just another narcissistic asshole.)
I can't finish this drivel. The only thing that would keep me going would be to find out which STDs the author caught from all his screwing around, but I guess I'll never know. Whatever he did catch would never be bad enough karma to make up for the evil he put out into the world.
July 9, 2008
I picked this up while browsing that bookstore on Grand Ave. in Oakland. I was curious about what experiences a veteran opposition researcher had. This book is written extremely poorly. There are many typos, awkward sentences, badly made arguments, and few insights. The structure of book also leaves a lot to be desired. This guy would've benefited a little from a ghost writer, although his work in general wasn't all that interesting and he just doesn't have all that much to say.
On the other hand, he's worked on a large number of electoral campaigns and it was interesting to see what he was able to dig up. For anyone familiar with this type of research, there are no big surprises. It's all public records research with conflict of interest, hypocrisy, and unpopular decisions as bread and butter products - from court records, tax records/property records, news articles, interviews etc. Nevertheless, it's a very quick read and gives a good flavor of the methods and uses of opposition research in electoral and other contexts (e.g. corporate).
On the other hand, he's worked on a large number of electoral campaigns and it was interesting to see what he was able to dig up. For anyone familiar with this type of research, there are no big surprises. It's all public records research with conflict of interest, hypocrisy, and unpopular decisions as bread and butter products - from court records, tax records/property records, news articles, interviews etc. Nevertheless, it's a very quick read and gives a good flavor of the methods and uses of opposition research in electoral and other contexts (e.g. corporate).
April 29, 2009
Like hot dogs, political campaigns can contain a lot of icky things that most of the populace would rather not know about. Enter Stephen Marks and his book detailing his career as an opposition research man, and you get a glimpse of some of the nasty ingredients sprinkled into the hot dog of politics.
The book contained nothing too earth shattering or ground breaking, but nonetheless it was very interesting to see how research is done, and how a calculated ad can turn the tide in the polls.
Stephen reiterated again and again that negative attacks work, and that voters seem to be swayed more by the negatives rather than the positives of a candidate. I still can not help but think that attack ads get carried away, creating distrust in an elected official before they can even step into office. That is just my opinion though.
The book contained nothing too earth shattering or ground breaking, but nonetheless it was very interesting to see how research is done, and how a calculated ad can turn the tide in the polls.
Stephen reiterated again and again that negative attacks work, and that voters seem to be swayed more by the negatives rather than the positives of a candidate. I still can not help but think that attack ads get carried away, creating distrust in an elected official before they can even step into office. That is just my opinion though.
June 30, 2009
This book was fun sometimes but got very tiresome. Marks details his journey from being a republican believer (i.e. democrat hater) in the 1990s all the way to his "awakening" that the republican party is full of hypocrites. The only problem is that he never reaches the understanding that his view of liberals mirrors that of what he discovers of republicans. You're left with him hating republicans AND hating democrats. What he fails to understand is that perhaps - just perhaps - his partisan distaste for liberals was a bit unfair.
Several anecdotes are entertaining and it's a fast read. Unfortunately, Marks peppers the entire book with his heavy-handed bragging or overly conservative commentary. I'm a liberal. I can't help but be bored by the typical "democrats are so phony" hoopla when he's telling me stories about a bunch of republican phonies.
Several anecdotes are entertaining and it's a fast read. Unfortunately, Marks peppers the entire book with his heavy-handed bragging or overly conservative commentary. I'm a liberal. I can't help but be bored by the typical "democrats are so phony" hoopla when he's telling me stories about a bunch of republican phonies.
July 21, 2012
I've done opposition research professionally, so this was of interest to me. The parts where Marks actually discusses his oppo work were somewhat interesting, but padded out with pages and pages about his opinions of various political figures and events, as well as his misadventures with women. He's not an engaging enough narrator to make this material anything but tedious, and I wound up skimming most of it. Also, as other reviewers have already noted, the book really could have benefited from better editing to eliminate embarrassing misspellings - Monica "Lewiniski," "Gennifer" Granholm, etc.
October 6, 2008
well, given the title, it could and should have been better. but it wasn't exactly groundbreaking news that politicians hire people to investigate, smear and discredit their opponents. if you've heard of karl rove, this won't shock you. It is worth reading though. know thine enemy, as i say, and this man and others like him are an enemy to our fragile democracy
April 5, 2008
I thought this book would be much better than it was. I can't remember one memorable anecdote, and I finished the book just a month and a half ago. It doesn't help that this political "insider" doesn't know how to spell "Monica Lewinski" or "Anne Richards."
April 6, 2008
I swear this book was edited by a 2nd grader. I got to 78 pages and finally threw the book done in disgust. So many spelling errors, grammar mistakes, blah blah blah...absolutely aweful.
August 12, 2008
A very entertaining and revealing book about political "opposition research." (2/24/08)
August 30, 2008
Not a great read, but if you're a political junkie, there are some great stories and insights. Yeah, go ahead and read it.
February 17, 2009
Interesting read. Never knew all that went into opposition research. This guy needs a better editor though! TONS of typos/screwed up sentences/mistakes. oh well
June 5, 2009
An excellent treatise built on proof by example. Little risk in drowning in this author's depths.
July 9, 2010
The memoir of an opposition researcher. He expresses some remorse for his life - I found myself wanting to be him by the end. Go figure.
February 25, 2014
Interesting but tiresome
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