Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Animals I Have Known [Hardcover]

Molly Ivins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2004

The dazzling, inimitable Molly Ivins is back, with her own personal Hall of Fame of America’s most amazing and outlandish politicians–the wicked, the wise, the witty, and the witless–drawn from more than twenty years of reporting on the folks who attempt to run our government (in some cases, into the ground).

Who Let the Dogs In? takes us on a wild ride through two decades of political life, from Ronald Reagan, through Big George and Bill Clinton, to our current top dog, known to Ivins readers simply as Dubya. But those are just a few of the political animals who are honored and skewered for our amusement. Ivins also writes hilariously, perceptively, and at times witheringly of John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, H. Ross Perot, Tom DeLay, Ann Richards, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and the current governor of Texas, who is known as Rick “Goodhair” Perry.
Following close on the heels of her phenomenally successful Bushwhacked and containing an up-to-the-minute Introduction for the campaign season, Who Let the Dogs In? is political writing at its best.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Veteran columnist Molly Ivins, a rare and highly irreverent Texas liberal, is back with a collection of columns gathered from a rich and varied career covering some of the best source material a writer with a knack for whimsy could wish for: politicians. In Who Let the Dogs In, Ivins offers her thoughts on politicos from the Reagan era through the administration of George W. Bush (whom she first nicknamed "Shrub" way back in his early Texas days). While Ivins is of the lefty persuasion, she is far from doctrinaire, which helps separate her from the scores of lockstep pundits on either side: she credits Bill Clinton with being a brilliant politician and condemns the policies of Bush as being terrible for average Americans, but also presents stinging criticisms of Clinton's failed initiatives and defends Bush as being smarter than most give him credit for. Her words are strong, her writing is clear, and her thoughts are well organized. Of course, most people remember a Molly Ivins column for the humor, and we get to witness her firing missiles at low-flying targets like Newt Gingrich and Ross Perot and describing Bush's puzzling lead over Al Gore among men in the 2000 campaign, "One guy played football, went to Vietnam, and is notoriously emotionally distant. The other guy was a cheerleader who got into a National Guard unit through family influence, lost money in the oil business, traded Sammy Sosa and is now sliding through a presidential race on charm. Do I not get American men, or what?" Who Let the Dogs In lacks some of the focus of her Shrub and Bushwhacked simply because it's about a whole generation of political characters as opposed to one memorable Texan, but such broader perspective also affords an opportunity to better understand America's recent history and maybe get a few laughs while doing it. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly

Covering the Reagan years to the present, this collection includes work from three Ivins books (not including Bushwacked) as well as other short published pieces. A proud liberal Texan, Ivins's best stuff hits close to home: she declares her home state "the National Laboratory for Bad Government" and pronounces Bush 43 a product of three Lone Star themes: religiosity, anti-intellectualism and machismo (she thinks the last trait faked). She appreciates the often-dirty art of politics—her heroes include Lyndon B. Johnson, Barbara Jordan and Sam Rayburn, who fought and compromised for the greater good—and praises Bill Clinton in that vein. Of Ronald Reagan, she writes, his charm was "not just that he kept telling us screwy things, it was that he believed them all." She sets her sights on a number of Republicans: Newt Gingrich, she says, had an affair during the Lewinsky drama, and she claims that Rush Limbaugh's satire cruelly attacks the powerless; Bush 41 she deems "a lickspittle even when he has a choice." Though she generally has a gentler touch with Democrats, Ivins is tough on John Kerry in the book's introduction: "[H]e seems to suffer from extreme political caution." Then again, she wants regime change, reminding us, "[T]he next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be in the White House, would you please pay attention?"
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1ST edition (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400062853
• ISBN-13: 978-1400062850
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, interesting, funny and on target - 10 stars, July 26, 2004

By 

MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Animals I Have Known (Hardcover)

What I love about Ms. Ivins is she has a genuine non-mean wit when it comes to criticizing or disagreeing with someone like G W Bush. And this book is no exception. She covers all the political bases so she cant be accused of being just for the liberal side. I am a registered Republican who is more of a Reagan Democrat, who is leaning toward Kerry-Edwards in 2004.

Those she writes about so well and in a way that makes you laugh, wince and think are Dick Cheney, Ross Perot, Ann Richards the former Governor of Texas, John Ashcroft, and Donald Rumsfeld, Jimmy Carter, Barbara Jordon, and Bill Clinton just to name a handful.

While I love the book and highly recommend it, I am also going to buy the book on CD because she is one woman who could read the phone book and make it interesting and hold my attention.

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bulls**t-free feast for the thinking reader, July 24, 2004

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L Goodman-Malamuth "Leslie Goodman-Malamuth" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Animals I Have Known (Hardcover)

As a longtime fan of Molly Ivins, I found this collection to be a treat in every respect. Sure, there's some repetition from her past books, but I found it refreshing to take another look at articles published long before the horrors of September 11, John Ashcroft, and Shrub. For example, take Ivins' loving tribute to the formidable Texan Barbara Jordan. Just to read BJ's assertion, "My faith in the Con-sti-tution is whole, it is com-plete, it is to-tal," sends shivers up and down the spine. Yet Ivins has added a few more anecdotes about Jordan, one politician and professor about whom it is impossible to say too much.

Ivins told her young editor that the concept of a "career retrospective" makes her feel "slightly dead." To the reader, Ivins' work is still bursting with wit, insight, and just plain fun. Her intimate knowledge of government, based on forty-plus years of reporting from small-town Texas to the vagaries of the White House, gives her a unique perspective and a hilarious way of expressing herself. She can even make us snicker at the Nixon years--no small feat.

In my opinion, "Political Animals" is an excellent introduction to Molly Ivins for those who don't know her work, as well as a delectable read for those who do. You keep going, girl.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Molly Ivins for President, January 18, 2005

By 

M. Shaffer (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Who Let the Dogs In? Incredible Political Animals I Have Known (Hardcover)

This is a must read for all political junkies, being a retrospective of Ivins' most memorable articles over her 30-year career of covering politics. She is always an enjoyable read, and her sense of optimism in the face of peril is a laudable trait. And she does think that we are at a time of great peril, but she feels compelled to point out stupidity and corruption and lampoon it-hence, the wit and clear-sighted wisdom that is Molly Ivins.

Christian Conservatives and those who don't vote because they feel that it would not make a difference would be well-advised to read her introduction. She makes the case that Christian Conservatives are being used by the greed-is-good neocons. And for the non-voters, she harks back to a time when people followed politics with greater intensity than people follow sports today--like their lives depended on it-because it does.

I would say, Molly Ivins for President, except we could probably never convince her to give up her noble career as a writer to lower herself into the political arena.