It was at that moment that he knew that he had the crowd and before long he would have the weight of public opinion behind him as well. “Don’t castigate me Justice, rail against the system! Your energy, talent and influence are wasted by putting me in the box as Public Enemy #1. If it wasn’t me running, it would be someone else giving you and the voters some tired shtick about them doing it for love of country, enduring freedom, and whatever else is poll tested.” Justice attempted to cut in, but Sammy smelled blood in the water and continued to rant on.
“Yes, I love my country and I am a red blooded proud American that is unequivocally proud of what it means to American! You know as well as I do that nothing is more American than being an opportunist and sometimes this means placing obstacles that don’t align with the end game in storage.”
“So by obstacles, do you mean morals? Is it your contention that morality is disposable or optional to you? It sounds a lot like exploitation if I didn’t know any better Mr. Hustlemore” Justice chimed in, sensing an opening.
“Exploitation? I thought this was a talk show, not a sitcom Justice.” Sammy was caught off guard by this exchange and he instinctively leaned towards Justice with eyebrow arched to drive home his point. “Exploitation is what I am running against. I’ve made it abundantly clear what my intentions are. Let me tell you something about the people that support me and fund my campaign, they are real Americans, true patriots who love their country, it is because of this that I know that Americans like to live vicariously through their heroes and sometimes those heroes are the underdogs, who through the sheer force of will are able to come out on top.
That is what I represent, this why the voters gravitate towards my candidacy, this is why I am ahead in the polls, this is why I am running and these are the ingredients that will leave me victorious on Election day.” For a split second it was as if all of the air was sucked out of the room, when he jolted up in his seat when the audience erupted in a round of thunderous applause.
Justice sat there shell shocked and tried to regroup herself as she felt large beads of sweat forming on her forehead, when divine intervention struck and she saw her producer give her the commercial break signal. “Alright Mr. Hustlemore, that was a mouthful as always, but we need to go to commercial break, we’ll continue with your self-promotion onslaught when we come back!
Shun P. Writes... dot com 
This is nice satire. I like the name “Hustlemoore” for Sammy the Hustler, and “Justice” for the reporter who longs to show the public who and what Sammy really is. There is nice irony in the thought that perhaps by being honest about his selfish intentions, he will endear himself to voters. Perhaps they will say amongst themselves, “Hey, that rascal Sammy – he’s a selfish rogue and totally without scruple, but at least he’s honest about it!”
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Exactly Kate! I figure that this is the next step for pols… Taking it right to the idiot box and endearing themselves to the voting public, where they will gladly support him in an effort to live vicariously through him. So twisted… But I can see the reality in it all!
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