The more things change, the more they stay the same. No matter which candidate you love or hate, remember the following words, still pertinent and applicable 36 years on. From Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, p. 162:

Total candor with the press--or anyone else, for that matter--is not one the traits most presidential candidates find entirely desirable in their key staff people. Skilled professional liars are as much in demand in politics as they are in the advertising business... and the main function of any candidate's press secretary is to make sure the press gets nothing but Upbeat news. There is no point, after all, in calling a press conference to announce that nobody on the staff will be paid this month because three or four of your largest financial bankers just called to say they are pulling out and abandoning all hope of victory.

When something like this happens to you quickly lock all the doors and send your press secretary out to start whispering, off the record, that your opponent's California campaign coordinator just called to ask for a job.

Labels: hunter, politics