My President Is Cheap Cosmetics

Matt Bai published a fascinating and detail-laden inside look at the Bush/Cheney reelection effort in the New York Times Magazine yesterday, and the bottomline is that Rovians have apparently organized on the Amway model of the pyramid scheme, or Multi-Level Marketing, as it's known, with each precinct captain an independent entrepreneur recruiting other sub-entrepreneurs who'll do their work recruiting sub-sub-entrepreneurs for the cause of passing on the propaganda without question and all in hope of the ultimate reward, an extra cushion in Heaven ... sort of like the Mary Kay Cosmetics pyramid, with a ride in a pink Cadillac of Bush/Cheney as the ultimate motivational impetus.

"...the Bush campaign [has] its own kind of toolbox for recruits. It includes ''7 Steps to 72-Hour Success,'' a brochure that shows you how to create your very own ''magic chart,'' a color-coded time line for every activity in the campaign. Another of the seven steps is to recruit Bush Team Leaders, or B.T.L.'s, as the campaign sometimes refers to them. These are volunteers who are given prizes, like a signed note from the president, for accomplishing six specific tasks, the first of which is to recruit five other B.T.L.'s. Volunteers are also rewarded (with 'a presidential screen-saver') for calling in to talk radio programs or writing letters to the editor on behalf of the president. 'Train volunteers in each of the 7 Steps,' the brochure commands. 'They will be the implementers.' "

There's much more revealing detail and specific strategies for the selling of the president, by the pound or by the ounce.

Amazing stuff! And effective, we suspect. This is what $180 million will buy you. Even if the same money can't make the quagmire in Iraq disappear.

(Thanks to Susan for the tip!)