Customer Reviews

Fanatics & Fools: The Game Plan for Winning Back America

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

To clarify a few assertions from the Publishers Weekly Review, and other readers' reviews that "Fanatics and Fools" only rehashes other so called "anti-Bush" books, this is true in the sense that there is so much material and research to comb through, analyze, and write about so people understand the unprecedented breadth, severity and sheer quantity of the destructive policies of this administration. Inasmuch as there is an enormous amount for various authors to cover, then yes, it does resemble other anti-bush books in that it, too, dissects the misguided behavior of Bush and Co. Her book differs from others, though, in the clever and laugh-out-loud funny way that this is executed, and also in Huffington's well thought out prescription for Kerry to redefine the debate in this country and offer something better and bigger than the failed democratic campaigns of recent years. In short, if Kerry campaigns on the terms that Rove is trying to lay out and plays defense, he will inspire no one, and will suffer defeat in November. If he offers voters a completely alternative form of leadership, redefined priorities, and a new vision for the country, then he can win by inspiring the 50% of voters who have given up on voting in this country, as opposed to the "tried-and-untrue" failed swing voter strategy that has plagued the democrats and kept them playing Republican-lite for years. (This leads to the central thesis of the "Fools" portion of her work).

And to clarify the so-called "tastelessness" of the joke involving premature babies making campaign contributions, this is a perfect example of how distorted humor can become when taken completely out of context. The section was based on an ACTUAL frequently-asked questions memo sent to fundraisers for the Bush-Cheney `O4 reelection committee that covered every minute detail of campaign laws in order to stretch them as far as possible to allow the most unethical but borderline legal cash-collecting possible. The joke was a hilarious hyperbolic satire and far from being tasteless was a brilliant way to point out the ridiculous lengths the Bush-Cheney campaign has gone to beef up its war chest.

In short, read the book and decide for yourself if it is recycled Bush-bashing and tasteless joke-making or refreshing and educational analysis, with a healthy and strong dose of poignant and hilarious satire that most others are too afraid to write.

Arianna Huffington has written a well thought out book that profoundly indicts the current Bush Administration but does so in a way that the most respected political philosophers of today like Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. would be proud.

Basically, Ms. Huffington warns of an America that is so wildly off course due to the detached leadership of George W. Bush that we are getting to a dangerous point in our country's history. She offers the thought that asks how long can the downtrodden be tossed aside before the entire social fabric that hold our society collapses?

Ms. Huffington adds that the amount of people looking for emergency rooms as their health care is increasing at alarming rates. She cites headlines from around the country that note the plight of the working poor and wonders why they are being ignored by our political system.

More importantly, Ms. Huffington calls into question that lack of leadership by the media who've abandoned the task of reporting on how Bush has broken promises to help the poor and children but had rewarded the rich time and again with excessive tax cuts.

Ms. Huffington then calls into question the political rise of Arnold Schwarzenegger and sadly notes that he is nothing but a warmed over George W. Bush who upon taking office made his first action to strip away a cost of living increase for California's poor. She then says that the media has fallen in love with Arnold and is giving him a pass time and again all to the determent of the poor of California as he cuts their social net.

This is a well written book on so many levels that is better than the Franken book as it is less angry and more intellectual. Her book is more of a strategic argument for a new course of action for the Democratic Presidential Candidate of 2004 and the party itself.

In short, this is an excellent political treatise that should be read by all who are looking for a new course for our country.

Arianna Huffington's superbly witty book is particularly significant in view of the fact that she falls into the category of independents that the Democratic Party needs to win back the White House in November. Huffington reveals her epiphany, when Harris Wofford, a former civil rights leader with close ties to Martin Luther King, convinced her in the wake of her criticism that the Americorps program he headed in the Clinton administration deserved her support. Arianna not only reversed course on Americorps, she became an articulate populist who is now one of the most trenchant critics of George W. Bush.

The rationale for Huffington's book is stated in her title, bracketing competing political forces into fanatics and fools. She sharply attacks the Bush administration and the current Republican Party, attaching the label of fanaticism based on what she perceives as destructive policies, 1) in the realm of supporting tax cuts which disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of the rest of America, 2) a jingoistic foreign policy responsible for not only launching a war in Iraq that was unnecessary, but alienating world opinion through a go it alone attitude, 3) shortchanging America's schools, 4) despoiling the environment, 5) leaving America vulnerable to foreign terrorist attack while making bogus claims of making the citizenry safer.

The Republicans are defined as fanatics and the Democrats labeled as fools for failing to mount a cohesive opposition. Huffington delivers a necessary slap in exhorting the troops to shape up after the disastrous 2002 mid-term elections, in which the opposition party failed to provide a clear message and appeared intimidated by boisterous Republican propaganda efforts directed by Karl Rove equating opposition with an absence of patriotism. Speaking as someone with authentic independent credentials of her own, Arianna bluntly tells the Democratic Party leadership that the only way Bush can be defeated is to stir the increasing number of Americans dropping out of the process with a clear and effective message, a concise and sharply articulated alternative to Bush Republicanism. Bush Lite, she argues, will do no more than provide Bush More.

Huffington, who was a candidate in the recent California recall race for governor before dropping out late in the race, provides an intelligent analysis of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the up close perspective of someone who has known him for a long time, becoming acquainted with him initially when the actor supported her ex-husband in his attempt to defeat Senator Dianne Feinstein in a hotly contested 1994 race. She notes that he uses his charm to shield himself from criticism, dodging the tough issues. Despite his "moderate" tag stemming from issues such as abortion and gay adoption, she notes that on the important money issues that really matter to the Republican Party, Schwarzenegger's positions are in lock step with those of Bush, someone for whom he has expressed deep admiration. She notes that in honoring his pledge to repeal the controversial car tax, Schwarzenegger reeked economic wreckage in which the blind, students from middle class families hoping to attend college, and welfare single mothers seeking to bring up families were all deprived of needed funds.

Huffington writes with a penetrating wit, honed as a debater in her college days at Cambridge University. It is understandable why right wing Republicans prefer to keep their distance from her.

Arianna has outdone herself with this book. Unlike other pundits who seem content to choose a party and attack, Huffington takes a bat to the knees of both Democrats and Republicans (and sometimes even Greens). While this is endlessly amusing, especially when combined with Huffington's flair for language and the immense amount of research that has obviously gone into "Fanatics," it was not my favorite part. What I enjoyed the most, and what stuck with me the longest after I put this book down, was the fourth section, Huffington's vision for America.

Maybe Arianna's brief foray into electoral politics woke her up to America's hunger for passion and idealism - she provides an ample dose of both in this book. Her suggestions range from the broad to the specific, and she includes several amazing speeches she suggests John Kerry deliver during his campaign.

On another note, she also provides an enlightening description of her much-talked-about transition from witty, redheaded Republican to witty, redheaded Democrat. Her core values have remained essentially the same, her views on the role of government are what evolved.

This book is a call to action - no matter what your political views (though I imagine it is mostly liberals who will be reading this book) it is impossible not to put down "Fanatics and Fools" and want to do something in this election. That is, in my opinion, what sets this book apart from other Bush-bashing tomes. This is more than an angry polemic, it is a call to action and a plea to the Democratic party to make itself something we can be proud of.

I have read Arianna's two previous books, and enjoyed them as well, but this one is a timely read that should be read by every voter in the country. Arianna has proven that she is an intelligent and independent voice in a media saturated with corporate influence and biased reporting. You can be sure you will hear the truth, and nothing but the truth from this true American patriot born in a foreign land. If we change the constitution to let foreign born run for President, Arinanna would be first on my list of candidates!

Arianna Huffington as always is informative and accurate in her scathing criticism of the Bush regime and the damage Bush and cronies are doing to the people of America and the world.... and anyone who does not yet intellectually and emotionally grasp the reality (indeed the horrors) existing under the rhetoric of our current government will benefit from reading this book. But having just previously read Senator Byrd's excellent LOSING AMERICA - which focused on the facts and Byrd's deeply felt and profound observations (in his case, of the power tactics, lack of conscience and integrity, and vicious partisanship he has witnessed among many of our Congresspersons) without ranting and name-calling, I found myself frustrated with Huntington.

Clearly the left needs its Huntington's and Franken's and Moore's - and I value all three of them. But Huntington is more likely to provide confirmation and an outlet for anger for those already strongly anti-Bush, while turning off the undecided with inflammatory language. Not all of us are empowered to political action by nonstop ranting. The realities speak for themselves. Let the reader learn of them, feel his or her own anger rather than react to the authors, and feel mobilized as a result to take action for new political alternatives. Too much ranting can leave one emotionally exhausted and depressed rather than empowered to help bring in a new government.

The Left also needs more specific clarification of its vision and agenda, and this book does not provide that in more than a few pages. After reading many anti-Bush books, I bought Huntington's latest because of the subtitle, "The Game Plan for Winning Back America". But the "Game Plan", in the simplest form, was really a brief addendum to a book which focused almost entirely on what is wrong, rather than what we need to make right and how to do it.

I do not however want to dissuade readers from buying and reading this book. The more you learn about what's really going on in this country and its effect on the world and future of this planet, the more appalled you may be... and the more committed to helping bring about a new Democratic regime. If you are wanting to learn more about what's wrong, read this book (and Hightower's Thieves in High Places, Hartmann's We the People, Derber's Regime Change Begins at Home and People Before Profit, and Byrd's Losing Ground - all which I preferred). But once you know what's wrong and are well-informed enough to share it with others, and once you have lived in your outrage long enough to want to channel your anger into commitment and vision, you may then be ready for a Game Plan for America which goes beyond Huntington. You might then wish to read John Kerry's Call to Service and Plan for America. They at least provide the seeds which can eventually blossom into a new kind of government, one which serves the needs of its people, in action as well as words.

Look at the one-star reviews. Clearly not having read the book, they now attack her as a 'liberal' who has slid up to the DNC.

Arianna has moved more to the left, but she has no love for Dems. Any thinking person would realize this. Of course, this excludes neocons.

A great book that dishes well-deserved fact-based mud on the faces of thieves, fanatics and fools.

GWB being all of the above.

Witty, irreverant and wise.

And its Zsa Zsa, not Zha or however the neocon moron wrote it below.
Not to mention, I don't recall hearing her greek accent while READING her book. Moron.

I just finished this book and found it very informative.
It does seem like the Republicans should be scared.
I also read some of the negative reviews on this book and wonder if the reviewers even read the book. Yes, some parts were humorous, but it also made me mad. As a Republican I am ashamed at all the things we as Republicans are trying to get away with. How dare we put our selfish and immoral interests above the common good? Why are we as Republicans becoming common thugs?
This is not a very objective and individualist way to be. In order to be a good person we must help our society better itself. I hope many people read this book and learn what is actually happening to this great country. It seems the Republicans have stopped being objective... I hope this book will bring change. I prefer to remain anonymous, but really, with the Bush administration, you can never know...

Arianna has outdone herself with this book. Unlike other pundits who seem content to choose a party and attack, Huffington takes a bat to the knees of both Democrats and Republicans (and sometimes even Greens). While this is endlessly amusing, especially when combined with Huffington's flair for language and the immense amount of research that has obviously gone into "Fanatics," it was not my favorite part. What I enjoyed the most, and what stuck with me the longest after I put this book down, was the fourth section, Huffington's vision for America.

Maybe Arianna's brief foray into electoral politics woke her up to America's hunger for passion and idealism - she provides an ample dose of both in this book. Her suggestions range from the broad to the specific, and she includes several amazing speeches she suggests John Kerry deliver during his campaign.

On another note, she also provides an enlightening description of her much-talked-about transition from witty, redheaded Republican to witty, redheaded Democrat. Her core values have remained essentially the same, her views on the role of government are what evolved.

This book is a call to action - no matter what your political views (though I imagine it is mostly liberals who will be reading this book) it is impossible not to put down "Fanatics and Fools" and want to do something in this election. That is, in my opinion, what sets this book apart from other Bush-bashing tomes. This is more than an angry polemic, it is a call to action and a plea to the Democratic party to make itself something we can be proud of.

Another winner from the sage of Santa Monica, this book strips the veneer from the fanatics in office who hijacked our country and sent our men to die on a ill-fated, poorly-planned attack on Iraq and who cut taxes as the budget balloons and we continue to spend 5 billion in our tax money on Iraq each month. What a disgrace.

You will love this book if you are open-minded, a clear thinker, and willing to laugh as uncomfortable facts about this Administration are skewered. However, if you are like the reviewer from Derby, Conn. below, who obviously did not read the book but based his review on Amazon's blurb, you will be disappointed. The choice is yours.