这篇文章讲述了政治顾问这一行业的兴起，布什，奥巴马团队那些选战专家们的祖师爷祖师奶奶Leone Baxter 和Clem Whitaker如何从二十世纪三十年代开始如何研究发展如何操纵民意的。

先翻译其中给我印象最深的一段：

“Voters are basically lazy, basically uninterested in making an effort to understand what we’re talking about,” the Nixon adviser William Gavin wrote in a memo. “Reason requires a higher degree of discipline, of concentration; impression is easier,” he wrote in another memo. “Reason pushes the viewer back, it assaults him, it demands that he agree or disagree; impression can envelop him, invite him in, without making an intellectual demand. . . . When we argue with him we demand that he make the effort of replying. We seek to engage his intellect, and for most people this is the most difficult work of all. The emotions are more easily roused, closer to the surface, more malleable.”

尼克松的顾问威廉盖文在备忘录里写道：“选民们基本上是懒惰的，基本上也不愿意努力理解我们说的那些东西。”他在另外一份备忘录里写道：“思考和推理需要高度的纪律性和专注，但给他们留下一个肤浅的表面印象则容易得多。思考和推理让选民踌躇不前，让他们望而生畏，思考和推理强迫选民最终同意或者不同意某件事。与此相反，一个肤浅的表象则很容易把选民包容进来，引诱他们入瓮而无需要求他（她）智商有多高。当我们和一个选民摆事实讲道理的时候，我们实际上要求他努力去回应我们，我们试图去借助他（她）的智慧，对大多数人而言，这比什么都难。鼓动选民的情绪要容易得多，选民的情绪很肤浅而且“可锻造的”得多。”