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49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"All's Fair" goes beyond the strange bedfellows of politics., December 5, 1999
This review is from: All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President (Paperback)
For anyone interested in how opposites attract and presidential campaigns are won or lost, "All's Fair" is one of those "must-read" books well worth the time spent in its somewhat long 478 pages. With able assistance from Peter Knobler, America's favorite political odd couple of James Carville and Mary Matalin explain how they kept their relationship together while simultaneously working against each other's professional goals. As you may recall, the Democratic Carville helped manage President Clinton's successful bid for the White House in 1992, while Republican Matalin was a major figure in the reelection campaign of President Bush. The two have since appeared frequently as commentators on NBC's "Meet the Press," and even in an antacid commercial In this account, however, Carville and Matalin avoid most of the pitfalls of the typical partisan memoir by using an even-handed "he said/she said" approach that usually provides equal time for these two very different people. Although the subtitle is "Love, War, and Running for President," those looking for intimate, melodramatic details of their weird alliance will be disappointed. Both Carville and Matalin do an admirable job of maintaining their individual dignity and conjugal privacy. Indeed, 80 percent of "All's Fair" is about the difficult business of public life. Only 20 percent concerns their personal feelings. And yet, that 20 percent gives this story a human dimension often lacking in more conventional election histories. This book makes several other things clear: * Carville may be the more colorful and quotable media critic (he has very valid points about pack-journalism, polls, and press self-indulgence) but Matalin is far more astute and perceptive about how the editorial news-gathering process operates. She understands how reporters try to be fair; he jokes darkly about "feeding the Beast." * Matalin tends to get bogged down in political minutiae. At least in the '92 race, Carville had a better gut instinct for how the average voter feels and thinks. * Women still are not getting the freedom and respect they deserve in their careers. It's obvious that, at the office, Matalin had to deal with the stigma of her association with Carville to a much greater extent than Carville ever was questioned about Matalin. There is definitely an unfair double-standard in effect. * Maybe the best chapters are those that cover "a day in the life" of each organization. It's there that you really get a sense of the fears and hopes all those civic-minded campaigners had as they struggled to sort out a daily flood of information overload. * If this brilliant husband-and-wife team can ever agree on a candidate, watch out! He (or she) will win in a landslide.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For every political junkie in America, June 17, 2000
This review is from: All's Fair: Love, War and Running for President (Paperback)
James Carville and Mary Matalin are always entertaining to watch on television, no matter what they're talking about, so there was no way this book could have been anything less than massively entertaining. It works outstandingly on two different levels -- first of all, it's a blow by blow of the 1992 presidential election, with a lot of the background scuttlebutt and the inside information. You get a real sense of how disarrayed the Bush campaign was, how amazingly the Clintonistas got over some of their hassles. Secondly, though, it's a profoundly in-depth look at the way in which two people who supposedly could have nothing in common develop love, and in that sense it's very touching. James Carville's puppy-dog slavishness to Bill Clinton reads a little off-key now that Big Bill is coming to the end of his eight controversial years (Monica was still in the future when this book was written), but all in all this is a wonderful book.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful book by two master strategists, July 25, 2004
Even though the Clinton vs. Bush campaign was 12 years ago, this book is well worth a re-visit. The book is relatively long but I found every page of high interest.
Mary Matalin's sections on the Bush re-election were wonderful reading and I am an avowed liberal. She perfectly captured the patrician nobility of Bush Senior and the campaign that destroyed itself. From the disasterous reign of John Sununu as Chief of Staff, the tragic death of Lee Atwater, the paralysis of Margaret Tutwiler, the insanity of Ross Perot, the mean-spiritedness of Patrick Buchanan, the shrill defeatism of Rich Bonds, and the often confused and muddled voice of an out of touch President, George Bush, the characters are vividly drawn and almost sympathetic.
Carville on the other hand is masterful in his analysis of the consciousness of the American Everyman. The strength of Carville's strategy is common sense played offensively. He respects the middle class American sense of irony and skepticism trying to move toward optimism and problem solving.
Even though the book is 478 pages long, it is really a fast read. Both Matalin and Carville are witty, strategic professionals with years of experience. I didn't get the book to read a sappy love story and I was glad the book focused on the considerable professional experiences of this couple rather than on their fledgling romance.
Carville's desciptions of Bill Clinton do the man justice as a flawed but brilliant leader. Matalin's desciptions of George Bush do the man justice as a man who believes his class, gender, and race was destined for leadership but he just can't navigate the reality of the average American experience.
Where both Matalin and Carville converge is in their perspectives on Patrick Buchanan, a mean hateful old man, and Ross Perot, a crazy old man.
Besides a blow by blow detailed story of the Clinton vs. Bush campaigns from beginning to end, the book is full of political wisdom and strategy.
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