High stakes grifters

Alex Pareene digs deeper into the big con of the conservative media machine. Fleecing the rubes is not about advancing the conservative agenda.

The problem this presents for the movement, beyond the threat of eventually bankrupting the people who give it power, is that the business of money-making, for consultants and media personalities and Herman Cains, is at this point getting in the way of the business of advancing conservative causes. The groups exert massive influence, and they only ever push the Republican Party to get more extreme. Apocalyptic hysteria is much more effective at getting people to open their wallets than reasonable commentary. There are a lot of people whose livelihoods depend on keeping lots of conservatives terrified and ill-informed. The groups that exist to raise funds raise more funds when they endorse the crazier candidate.

Exactly. They back the most crackpot cons because the money is in the fight against the evil librul agenda, not in winning the battles. If they actually won control then they would have to deliver on their utopian promises. Which they obviously can't do. But as long as it looks like they're fighting, they can raise funds for their imaginary war forever.