My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.

Political consultants are pugilists masters in the dark art of negativity. Which is why it's surprising to hear Democrats such as Steve McMahon and Republicans like Rich Galen urging their presidential candidates to be more well positive.

The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate consultant pundit and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops.

This aesthetic quality then is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers good politics from bad and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.

One of the things that I think you see sometimes in politics is a certain degree of caution. It's usually advised by consultants who don't want to see you march to the end of a limb.

Now I'm a failed political consultant. But sometimes fiction has a way of capturing people's imagination in a way that non-fiction doesn't. Conservatives typically haven't written much fiction - specifically political thrillers - over the years to educate inspire and mobilize people on issues of great import but we ought to.

I am about to get involved with the biggest cancer hospital in Norway. They are building a fitness center to work with patients. I will be a consultant.

I delivered lectures and I was also a consultant for international companies in finance both private equity and big venture capital funds.

There were IBM logos designed for the film and there were IBM design consultants working with Kubrick on the layout of the controls and computer screens.

A life can get knocked into a new orbit by a car crash a lottery win or just a bleary-eyed consultant giving bad news in a calm voice.