Customer Reviews

All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and the Truth

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was surprised by this book. The most important thing to note, that you might not get from other reviews, is that this book is just as much an indictment of the media as it is an indictment of the President. Bush is presented as the ultimate spinster of course, but the media is his all-too-willing enabler. What the authors don't explicitly say, I don't think, but which they definitely imply, is that in an age where everything that Rice and Ridge and Frist and Daschle and Bush and Kerry and all the rest say, on CNN, on ABC -- anywhere -- is simply a prepared talking point that is almost always either designed to A) skirt an uncomfortable issue, or B) serve as misleading spin; in such an age purely objective journalism has to end, it is no longer enough, it is simply the enabler of democracy-destroying propaganda. To grind my own ax for a sec: who in their right mind wants to hear yet another Bush cabinet member get on CNN and say something we all know is a focus-grouped half-truth, and yet again see Wolf Blitzer accept this spin without pointing out the person's intellectual dishonesty? Who else is sick of seeing spin passed along un-commented upon in the New York Times and the Washington Post? Yet, the media wonders why so many people my own age would rather tune in to The Daily Show a day later and see Jon Stewart make fun of both the spinster, and the reporter who was nodding along.... Which viewer is actually less educated? This is a book that will hopefully do much to help correct this problem. Far more than any other book I have seen it details not only the Bush administration's spin, but also all the ways in which politics in general has become a cynical marketing campaign. It's all here, facts, citations: no spin. The authors state they have been involved in Democratic organizations, but they hit Democrats hard, too. They report, you decide.

This is the definitive book of the year to counter political propaganda, equivocation and dishonesty. The authors run the definitive anti-spin, non-partisan website that is growing in popularity and is long overdue as a source of truth in today's ridiculously self-serving political arena. To know the source of this book (see spinsanity.com) is to appreciate the merciless and noble pursuit of truth. No person nor his ideology is spared critisism. From Bush, O'reilly and Hannity on the far right to Moore on the far left, half-truths, out-right lies and distortions are exposed, explained and corrected.

This book is a continuation of this pursuit of truth regardless of party affiliation or ideology. Unlike many other Anti-Bush books, this book is not biased and has no partisan agenda. Indeed the book even goes after Kerry to let readers know what the real message is: Politicans twist and select facts to promote a cause and counter an opposing one. Unfortunately for Bush, he has inadvertently set himself up as a prime target. The book goes after the Bush lies without embellishing or exaggerating and does likewise with Kerry in so far as is possible at this point.

Personally, I hope this book helps to further promote truth in politics, to encourage partisan readers to re-elvaluate their blind loyalty and most of all, to push the general public to DEMAND better information from candidates and the general media which, as the book points out, is a guilty party in aiding and abetting through sheer laziness and profit potential thru sensationalism.

This book is an invitation to the real no spin zone and it isn't pretty. Blind partisan fanatics would do well to learn the reality behind the rhetoric which drives their blind support.

This book coldly and logically put what I have felt and suspected of our gov't and media for some time into an undeniable limelight. This book reveals the new methods used on the media by PR centric Politicians to "Spin" issues till unrecognizable, undebateable non-issues.

Sparing their readers from Michael Moore or Ann Coulter styled rhetoric, Ben Frtz, Bryan Keefer, and Brendan Nyhan cut to the core of what may be one of the largest threats to an informed democracy.

This is a book every Poli Sci, PR, and communications major should read!

Everybody, average voters and journalists alike, MUST read this book! Ben Fritz, Bryan Keefer and Brendan Nyhan, of Spinsanity.org, provide a valuable service in scutinizing the tactics that the Bush administration and their media machine have been using to mislead the American public, taking dishonesty to a new level. The authors, who scrupulously avoid any partisan rhetoric in their argumentation, describe in detail the tactics that the Bush team has used, the origins of these tactics, and the spurious claims that they have been used to advance. The administrations greatest hits on the truth are all there, from how they sold their tax cuts to how they sold Iraq to how they questioned the patriotism of their critics. But most importantly, the authors show how this administration's PR team has exploited the weaknesses of our national political media. These guys point out how the President and his team frame the debate by relentlessly staying on message, repeating the same talking points over and over again. To the best of my knowledge, the only other "news" organization to make an issue of this tactic is Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." That alone speaks volumes about the state of the media in America today and how the Bush team has exploited it.

This book is well written and quite accessible. A real page turner; each chapter left me wanting to know more. This book is essential reading.

I thought this book was very interesting and insightful. Being in Marketing myself I see how politicians are using proven marketing techniques to promote their cause. It's fascinating to see how effective it has become in this age of sound bites and quick empty news stories. This book brings this all together and exposes it for what it is, a P.R. strategy that manipulates facts but still falling short of all out lying. What makes this book so timely is the current scandal with the Swift Vote For Truth ads. Once you read this book you'll look at why those ads are running and understand why and how they are effective. You are shown how it's not about the facts, but how much you can twist the facts to support your claims without lying. This book is more critical of the media and how they report these stories than any specific politician. The writers do a great job showing examples of how this has been used though out the past administrations and how it has been honed to the crafted tool we see everyday on cable and network TV. I can understand that there are those who think this is an anti-Bush book, but I didn't see any lies on behalf on the writers, I see well researched facts that support their views. It becomes clear that politicians understand that this is how politics work and use it to their advantage. We the people are only now starting to see how we are manipulated by both the press and the politician. I can see in the future a marketing or pubic relations class on how these techniques controlled the world and how they used it. This book is simply talking about what both sides have discovered and are using. They simply point out that the Bush administration is the best and most effective at it. Don't knock the messengers for saying how it is, if anything, you can learn and understand how the media and politicians are controlling this country. I can guarantee that once you read this book you will never watch the news the same again.

With considerable intelligence, the Spinsanity.org resident writers Fritz, Keefer, and Nyhan take on the Bush administration and the increasing use of spin in political discourse. While other books have accused the administration of dishonest rhetoric in its selling of the 2000 campaign, the tax cut, the environment, and the Iraqi war, none that I am aware of are so well-researched, well-balanced (they note that the Kerry campaign has adopted many of the current administration's tactics), or are so aware of the dangers of the decline of political discourse in America. They trace the growth of this phenomenon, but also realize that none of Bush's "predecessors engaged in such a nonstop barrage of PR-driven policy deception. In less than four years Bush has redifined the way in which presidents sell their policies to the public" (237), and they demonstrate Bush's "willingess to engage in day-to-day dishonesty on nearly every major issue he has addressed" (237).

At least as important, the authors take the media to task for their unwillingess to confront the administration with its spin, saying that while journalists "are eager to highlight political conflict or personal scandal, they have generally failed to fact-check the everyday dishonesty that this White House has made standard operating procedure" (239). The result of this negligence is an environment where good citizenship is difficult--if not impossible--because the public is so "poorly informed," "they can't realistically make informed judgments" (240). The authors are not without hope, although solution they offer is a considerable challenge: "to be skeptical, oppose dishonesty in all its forms, and support those who hold political figures accountable" (255). While I would hardly call the book optimistic, it does suggest ways in which average Americans can improve the situation. I highly recommend that Americans interested in getting informed read this book.

The authors of this book, founders of www.spinsanity.com, typically spend their time countering spin in a nonpartisan way. Their website highlights examples of spinning from both the left and the right. However, since the president is, quite literally, our country's leader, they believed it was appropriate to examine how this administration is playing fast and loose with the truth in unprecedented ways.

What they quite clearly show is that this administration has repeatedly blurred the line between fact and fiction, raising public relations, marketing and selective use of data to an art form.

Three easy examples:

1. Pushing the '01 tax cut, the president gave the example of a single Mom working as a waitress, raising two kids, on income of $22,000. Bush said that under his plan, she'd pay no federal income taxes. The spin was that she probably hadn't been paying any prior to his plan.

2. Bush claimed there were over 60 existing stem cell lines available for research. The spin was that while he was technically correct, only about 20 were viable at the time, the other 40+ may or may not develop into viable lines.

3. Using "average" tax breaks for American families. The spin is that averages can be very deceiving. If Bill Gates is in a bar, the average net worth of that bar's patrons is probably in the tens of millions of dollars. That is, of course, until Gates leaves, when the average will drop precipitously.

The facts and circumstances leading up to, through, and beyond the war in Iraq are given particular scrutiny.

John Kerry is not spared the spotlight, either, as the book was published recently enough that the authors were able to cover the early days of the Kerry campaign.

There are ample examples, too, of how the media have turned from watchdogs into lapdogs, and the importance of changing that sorry trend.

The point the authors are trying to make is that the level of spinning we are seeing from all our politicians right now is threatening the very foundation of our democracy, and must be addressed before it's too late.

Excellent read.

I wonder if people questioning the non-partisan nature of this book actually READ it. It's a shame that such ridiculous ratings have brought down the overall score for this excellent book. This is as scholarly, and non-partisan of an approach as possible when the focus of your book is the President--which implies a certain partisanship. However, the authors go to great lengths to remind us that Democrats are guilty of the same spin tactics. Just check out Spinsanity.org if you disagree.

This book definitely compares Kerry to Bush, offering several examples, and accuses Clinton of the same tactics. How much more do you want?? This book can't be equally about the Democrats, because it's called "All The PRESIDENT'S Spin". The President is Republican. If the author's had given equal time to the Dems, it wouldn't be about the PRESIDENT. Kerry is not the President. It's that simple, at least to me.

Enjoy!

I first discovered www.spinsanity.com about a year ago. At first I loved it. Then I discovered that the writers of spinsanity.com and the authors of this book criticize my heroes just as much as my villains. My problem with that is that what they said about my heroes was just as true as what they said about my favorite villains. Yes, the vast majority of politicians of all stripes spin all the time. All politicians engage in PR and campaign choreography. Few are straightforward and keep their campaigns completely issue oriented. I can only think of two major party presidential nominees in my life time that did; Barry Goldwater and George McGovern. And we all know the results of their relatively straight-speaking and issue oriented campaigns without much choreography or spin.
This book traces the history of how PR became the dominant force in American politics throughout the 20th Century up until the present. These authors, I believe, accurately point out that both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton took the PR business to new heights. Unfortunately, George W. Bush has applied the PR/spin/deception mechanism to virtually every aspect of every policy with a level of sophistication never before seen. This is documented in a water tight and bullet proof case. And they invite readers to notify them of ANY discrepancies.
What is even more worrisome is the possibility that our political system is degenerating into a competition of spin and PR rather than honest and opens discussion of issues. Now that this practice has been accepted by many as "what winners have to do", are we now on the verge of a situation in which regardless who wins, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, that spinning/deceiving is now the accepted norm? Well, anyway, God Bless the people at www.spinsanity.com (even if the do piss me off with the truth sometimes) for doing what the media should be doing if they still had a sense of responsibility.

I have just completed my reading of the book All the President's Spin and I was captivated by it. Although it was clearly a case study of President Bush's use of PR to the benefit of his policies and it could not be construed as favorable to his presidency, the authors equally and rightfully pilloried Senator Kerry and many others throughout its pages.

I was struck by one question after putting the book down.

In all the examples presented, "scorekeepers" might suggest we look for villains to blame. In public relations, as the book amply illustrates, the most important personal characteristic is staying "on message". One might ask who best accomplishes this task. In my opinion, the highest marks for PR do not go to George W. Bush, John Kerry, Karen Hughes, Karl Rove or any other American. I have a nomination for this accolade:

Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf.

Who?

The Iraqi Information Minister, aka "Baghdad Bob". In 2003, we all heard his spin and we all laughed at its patent mendacity as he told us inter alia the tanks in his city of Baghdad were not coalition forces. (see (...)for examples of his preposterous remarks).

My question? Do we really want governmental policies established, shaped and determined by "Baghdad Bob" and his ilk? Or, in recognition of the dangers to the people (demos) in a democracy when systematically disinformed, are we ready to answer Juvenal's question: "Sed Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?" [But who shall guard the guards themselves?]

An excellent read...recommended strongly.