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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Understanding of Politics the Media Avoids, July 11, 2000
This review is from: The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics (Paperback)
Finding the truth in the media circus of sound bites and bias is like finding an intellect on the Jerry Springer Show. The truth is that the American citizen knows that there are more choices than offered to us by the media. The issues are presented in a very non partisan atmosphere with just enough history and research data to be interesting and to clarify the issues. The title sound like a Republican, but one of the authors is a Democrat. The book is concise and enlightening. They attack the tough issues head on; abortion, gun control, big money in politics, social security, Medicare, tax cuts, etc. This is a must read for every intelligent voter regardless of party affiliation.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
While not at all in depth, eye opening nonetheless!, January 28, 2003
This review is from: The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics (Paperback)
If you're reading this review, you've probably correctly observed the play-pen behavior that politics, candidacy, political journalism, and everything else inside the beltway has become. And if you're reading this review, you may be either in the dark about the specific ailments that've lead to this stranger-than-science-fiction climate of symptoms, or you're pretty sure what the problems are but want to hear the authors take. Whichever the case, you've come to a pretty good place. The two authors (from my understanding, a republican and a democrat, not that these terms mean anything anymore) have written a pretty provacative and insightful book, attempting to 'prove' points as far from conventional fox-news wisdom as the irrelevance of the abortion debate, to PAC's as a healthy part of democracy. In the end, they are pretty convincing on all 15 of their points. The problem, though, comes from the fact that there are 15 chapters, all focusing on the shattering of a different political 'myth.' The result is that while this is an entertaining and eye-opening book, there is no coherence at all. The only coherence, itself inadvertent, was the midsection of the book where there are a few chapters in a row on what the authors feel is the oft-exagerated power of money and special interest on political campaigns and public policy. These chapters are especially eye-opening as they may be the hardest for most people to swallow, but taken togheter they become seriously redundant. If the authors had thought about it more, they should've reduced these 3 chapters to 1 which would've left more room to be more in depth in other chapters. The other fault (or virtue, depending on where you stand) is that while non-partisan over all, this book will likely appeal to the more conservative or libertarian voter. From the authors beliefs against McCain-Feingold campaign reform or gun control as crime reducer to their support of religion as an effective tool in politics to their crushing conclusions that social security as a fraud, most (not all) of their positions are those recently taken up by those on the right. In conclusion, despite the above glitches, this book is witty, erudite, 50% entertaining and 50% informative. Personally speaking, my favorite chapters were 1) that discussing the relative unimportance of the abortion debate to most people (look at polls, it's true), 2) shattering the myths that republicans are for small government and democrats are compassionate, 3) the chapter on the myth of gun contol being a crime reducer (as another reviewer pointed out, very persuasive) and 4) cracking the myth tht tax cuts are good (while I don't agree with their conclusion, another well-argued chapter). As the blurb on the books cover points out, this is a good "self defense manual for voters". A similar book readers may enjoy is "Ten Things You Can't Say in America" by libertarian author Larry Elder, who takes up very similar points.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of "points," little depth, December 7, 2003
This review is from: The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics (Paperback)
It's hard to rate this book, because I simply don't know how much of it to believe. Sure the authors "prove" their points. Writers with contrary points of view, such as Paul Krugman, Michael Moore, "prove" the opposite with their own facts and statistics. Who should I believe? (Read the chapter here on gun control and then read Moore on the same subject; most interesting.)
But the arguments don't convince me. Most seem one-dimensional or simplistic. The authors have a habit of drawing conclusions based on relatively few facts; so many sentence start with "Obviously that means..." or "This clearly shows that..." I feel like the authors predigest my information and do all my thinking for me. Maybe there's more intricate reasoning than what appears here that went into their conclusions, but we don't see it.
For example, one chapter says that throwing money into education does not correlate with higher results. No argument. But after citing a bunch of stats about how increased spending does not yield increased results (Washington D.C. is one of the highest per-capital spenders on public education, yet their test resorts are dismal), the authors never investigate *why* this is: are they saying there's just correlation between money and learning? On *some* level that must be untrue. Or is it that the money, while being appropriated, is not going where it needs to go to be effective? Is there too much pork, or is money just totally irrelevant. Just where do the authors think the money is going, anyway? These questions, obvious to me, are not addressed.
Another chapter talks about how, contrary to public perception, there is little corruption in U.S. politics. As part of their evidence, they cite the proliferation of channels like C-Span and various cable news shows that keep politicians under public scrutiny. They also cite reams of legislation designed to keep politicians honest. Are the authors so naive to believe that politicians don't find ways around the laws, or loopholes within so that the letter is obeyed while the spirit is not? The mere fact that there are more media outlets now than before does not mean there is more dogged, diligent reporting: everyone knows true investigative reporting is being cut to the bone by all the major news outlets, as the corporations that own them go for flash and dash over substance. And do the authors really think that politicians will go about their corrupt deeds while the cameras are operating on C-Span?!? Since this book was written, for example, we have learned that the Bush White House has paid plants who appeared as objective reporters, has fabricated news and planted its own reporters, and has systematically manipulated government data to its own end. While the authors could not have anticipated those developments specifically, they are an illustration of how easy it is to circumvent the "watchdog media." The authors' take on how lots of cable news stations and newspapers means news is really getting *reported* is naive at best and deceitful at worst.
The same is true with the other issues. We are told that looking at statistics reveals a different truth than popular wisdom and media hype suggests. That's entirely believable. But then the book just cites a large number of studies that show results that are contrary to the common wisdom. Disraeli said there are lies, damned lies and statistics, and unfortunately, this book does little more than reinforce that view. So whom do you trust? Odds are, after reading this book, you'll probably just believe what you're comfortable with, or, like me, you won't feel very enlightened at all. I closed this book feeling like a hungry man invited to a buffet who walked away still craving nourishment. The authors may feel they have made their argument and put the issues to rest, but I am far from convinced. But one thing I do believe: if this is as "deep" as our elected officials think about most things, we are in deep trouble.
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