Later on, as a political hack in London, Wordsworth did ally himself with English Jacobins such as Wollstonecraft's future husband William Godwin, but his approach to politics was hardly dictated by dispassionate Godwinian rationalism.

ECONOMIST: British poets

Enter President Lyndon Johnson, a political hack who grew up thinking wealth creation meant shaking down Austin car dealers and Fort Worth oilmen and who figured investment in the future meant having enough wallet whipout to fund a vote scam.

FORBES: Digital Rules

Like graffiti artists, hackers hack to leave their mark -- and occasionally to make a political statement, too.

CNN: The digital century: Software and the Internet