There are people who have the job of being political hacks. Of being assholes. I get that. I don't have a problem with these people. It's their jobs to argue for things based on what the politics is. I don't think they should be obeyed, but their existence doesn't bother me.
The problem isn't that people listen to political hacks, the problem is that they assume they're right. You know, "the politics of mortgage relief is bad" trumped "the politics of people being thrown out of their homes and the economy being horrible is bad" based on this kind of advice.
The point is, I get that the sociopaths are in the room. But don't necessarily obey them, and more than that...don't necessarily assume they really know what they're doing. They're sociopaths, after all.