Political Three Card Monte

The current presidential campaign reminds me of a game I see played everyday on street corners. Three Card Monte is promoted as a game of chance, but is really is a confidence scam.

A dealer places three cards on a cardboard box, usually the Jack of Spades, the Jack of Clubs, and the Queen of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts is the winning card.

The dealer shows the Queen of Hearts to the audience, quickly rearranges the cards on the surface of the cardboard box, and asks members of the audience to place a bet and guess the location of the Queen of Hearts.

Find the Queen and you win the amount you bet. If you guess wrong, then you lose your money.

The crew operating the con game consists of the dealer, shills who are pretending to play in order to draw in innocent victims, a lookout to alert the crew of approaching law enforcement, maybe an enforcer to protect the crew from a disgruntled loser, a distraction to divert the attention of the victim, and the victim known as the mark.

The dealer sets up a make shift table, usually a cardboard box. He makes his pitch to pedestrians. A shill agrees to play. The shill may win to demonstrate how easy the game is. Other shills will become involved in the action, encouraging the game further.

A mark decides it is an easy game to win, and will place a bet. The dealer may allow the mark to win a few bets, while the shills encourage the mark to increase the amount of money being wagered. Once sufficient money is staked, the dealer will use sleight of hand tricks to fool the mark. Or the crew may use shills to distract the mark, for example, a couple starts to argue just as the pot has peaked. Eventually the mark loses the money.

In the context of our presidential campaign, the dealer is the Republican Party. The shills are the Mainstream Media and the Pundit class. The distraction is Governor Sarah Palin. Voters are the mark. The Queen of Hearts are the issues. This is how this con game works.

The Republicans want to win this election, more than any other. The Bush Administration did not undermine the Constitution, did not create an imperial presidency just to turn it over to the Democrats, especially Senator Barack Obama.

President Bush and Vice President Cheney will leave behind dirty secrets, some of them criminal. The Republicans cannot risk the possibility of investigations, for example war profiteering, initiated by President Obama. The Bush Administration needs time, at least four years, for the crimes of the current administration to fade away.

The Republican Party understands it cannot win this election on the issues. The majority of Americans, 80%, believe the country is on the wrong track.

In this instance, the dealer needs to distract the voters, or the mark. Selecting Governor Palin was a brilliant tactical move.

Governor Palin is unknown to the general public, but her profile is appealing, especially to the Republican base. She is the mother of five children. Her oldest son is about to deployed to Iraq. Governor Palin is a member of the National Rifle Association. She is pro-life. She is a self-described hockey mom. Voters connect with the profile.

In selecting an unknown vice presidential candidate, the Republican Party insured it would take weeks for the Mainstream Media to fully vet Governor Palin. While the media researched Governor Palin’s past, the Republicans defined the image of Governor Palin as a maverick, Washington outsider who will help Senator McCain change the corrupt political culture of Washington.

The Palin narrative included her opposition to earmarks such as the “Bridge to Nowhere,” selling the state plane on E Bay, and firing the chef – because having a chef cooking meals for her family at taxpayer expense was extravagant.

The Republicans will argue, with a straight face, that Governor Palin has national security experience because she is the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard. In addition, Governor Palin has foreign policy experience because Alaska is next to Russia.

The public was already infatuated with Governor Palin by the time the media exposed the Palin narrative as a fraud. She did not sell the state plane on E Bay.

Governor Palin did not fire the chef. The chef was transferred to another job title, but continued to cook meals for the governor’s family.

At first, Governor Palin was in favor of the “Bridge to Nowhere,” but changed her position after the bridge became a source of embarrassment. And Governor Palin does not mention the fact she kept the money for the “Bridge to Nowhere.” She used the funds for other infrastructure projects in Alaska.

During her term as governor, Mrs. Palin did not deploy the Alaskan National Guard. In her interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson, Governor Palin displayed a lack of knowledge in foreign affairs that would have derailed the career of any other political candidate.

But the tactic succeeded. The mark is not paying attention to the cards. Voters are paying attention to Governor Palin, the distraction.

Meanwhile, the dealer continues to move the cards, trying to conceal the Queen of Hearts from the voters. The election will be over by the time the mark makes an educated guess.

Where is Senator Obama and the Democratic Party in this con game. Mr. Obama is trying to warn the mark about the deception, but the shills, the Mediacracy and political pundits are drowning out the Democrats with background noise.

In the last 18 months, the Mainstream Media embraced the campaign narrative that Senator Obama was inexperienced, unknown, exotic, and risky.

Governor Palin is as inexperienced, unknown and risky as Mr. Obama, but the Mainstream Media is using a different standard with Governor Palin. She is a great story, the hockey mom who could be vice president.

The mark cannot hear the warnings because the shills have successfully drowned out the good Samaritans who are trying to interrupt the game.

Senator McCain’s judgment and positions are no longer issues in this presidential campaign. Instead, it is about people, who would the voters feel most comfortable with, the maverick POW and the hockey mom from Alaska, or the black couple from Chicago.

If you think issues matter in a presidential campaign, then remember George Bush and Dick Cheney defeated an incumbent party during a time of peace and prosperity.

Americans are placing their good faith in a Three Card Monte dealer who has its own agenda, and does the have the best interests of the country at heart. The mark is about to bet its future on random chance, but in games of chance the dealer usually wins, and the mark does not realize it’s been duped until the con game is over.