Everybody has their price? Right?
No. Some people wouldn't sell certain things for any amount of money.
What about 'loyalty'?
Would you trust someone that would be willing to sell you their loyalty?
The difference between the Shill and the mercenary?
With a mercenary, you know he's taken money to be on the side that's paid him, with the shill, you don't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary

There are many in the presidential elections that are willing to do just that.
Shill's opinions are for hire.
Whether that's directly or indirectly, it's no matter.
They still are willing to do it.
Some will argue that those that do this , do it as a matter of personal belief and commitment to the candidate they believe 'truly' represents this country's best interests.
When you examine what they are endorsing, you find it's the same policies that have devastated the middle class for the last 30 years.
Are there not books where these facts can be found? Certainly, but it's really not 'the best interest of the country' that these shills represent.
They represent the money interests that pay them for their words of support.
Here in the audience, many believe what these shills say.
Journalists fail to hold them accountable for fear they will lose out on the millions that will be spent on advertisements on their networks.
So far, over $1,800,000,000 has been collected , spent, and will be spent on the Presidential elections for President only.
That is staggering.
That money buys a lot of the 'right coverage' that allows a candidate to spin his way to the presidency.
And that's too bad for the American people and for our democracy.
There are ways to fix this mess. Get the corporate money out of our elections. But these laws would have to be passed by the very same people that benefit from the corruption.
Don't plan this happening anytime soon.
So, what's the difference between a GOP Shill and a mercenary?
The product each is selling for the reasons they do.
Given a choice, a mercenary wouldn't sell himself if he wasn't going to make great money. He's risking his life.
GOP Shills? No.
They enjoy spinning their lies, conning the public, and then patting themselves on their backs for their own ingenuity and cleverness on how well they 'did their job, never thinking about those they hurt by the results they achieved and for whom.
Mercenaries have a certain purity of purpose. They take money for a service from someone that's agreed to pay for what they get.
Shills are dishonest. They have to deceive someone to get paid for what they do.
What's the difference between a GOP Shill like Karl Rove, Frank Luntz or any other the 'talking heads' at FOX News and simply being a mercenary?
It's a matter of semantics- 6 of one , half dozen of another.
Both do their job for money.
The difference?
GOP Shills take money from the rich guy to screw the guy in the middle class.
Mercenaries just kill people for money.
And how much money does it take to sell American people a bill of goods that will undermine their way of life?
That price is determined by his influence and effectiveness.
Is any amount of money enough?
It took only 30 pieces of silver for Judas.
Today, that cost has gone up significantly.
Focus groups at FOX News conducted by Frank Luntz aren't cheap.
First, Frank puts together a group that will give the news crew the answer FOX is looking to achieve by selecting these 'independent undecided voters like a prosecutor would select a jury to get the conviction they desire.
FOX's audience takes the results as 'facts'.
How much money does it take to sell your soul to the devil these days?
Many people are willing to have the 'opinion that they do' for a price.
They can 'be had but not too easily and not too inexpensively'.
But hell, with all the unlimited money we now have available since Citizens United was allowed by a Right Wing Rubber Stamp Supreme Court, what else would you expect.
Money has become 'no object' that obstructs the wealthy's agenda.
Besides, campaign donations aren't considered an expense so much as an investment.
It's cheaper to get a pollution friendly GOP Congressman elected than it is to clean up the filth your company's created in our environment.
I thought 'shilling' was illegal.
From Wikipedia:
"A shill, plant, or stooge is a person who publicly helps a person or organization without disclosing that he has a close relationship with that person or organization. Shill typically refers to someone who purposely gives onlookers the impression that he is an enthusiastic independent customer of a seller (or marketer of ideas) for whom he is secretly working.
The person or group who hires the shill is using crowd psychology, to encourage other onlookers or audience members to purchase the goods or services (or accept the ideas being marketed).
Shills are often employed by professional marketing campaigns.
Plant and stooge more commonly refer to any person who is secretly in league with another person or organization while pretending to be neutral or actually a part of the organization he is planted in, such as a magician's audience, a political party, or an intelligence organization.
Shill can also be used pejoratively to describe a critic who appears either all-too-eager to heap glowing praise upon mediocre offerings, or who acts as an apologist for glaring flaws.
In this sense, they would be an implicit shill for the industry at large, possibly because their income is tied to its prosperity.

Have you seen any Republican supporters on your news lately that give you the appearance that they 100% support Mitt Romney's flip flops?
"Oh, he never said that before now.
Hey, we have video recorders, but if the undecided are still undecided now, it must be for a reason.
Maybe they just tuned in and don't have the earlier Romney to do the comparison.
"The term is applied metaphorically to journalists or commentators who have vested interests in or associations with parties in a controversial issue. Corporate owned media outlets of radio and television are often accused of being shills for establishment political candidates.
By limiting the dialogue and discourse between specific candidates and political parties, the media can psychologically limit choices in the public mind and thus assure that only politicians acceptable to the ruling class and corporate structure are elected to public office.
By highlighting the disparities of each candidate, the media appears as an honest broker and fair minded third party to the public, but is acting as a shill for the wealthy investment class.
This methodology was one of Edward Bernays' favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion by the indirect use of "third-party authorities" to influence the public, without their conscious cooperation."
Read more at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill

Semantics- a subject Republicans should study more before they decide what the President meant in the Rose Garden following Benghazi.
Linguistic semantics is the study of meaning that is used to understand human expression through language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics