Fat Man Fed Up: How American Politics Went Bad [Hardcover]

Jack W. Germond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2004

For more than forty years, Jack Germond has been covering politics for Gannett newspapers, the Washington Star, and the Baltimore Sun, and talking politics on the Today show, The McLaughlin Group, and Inside Washington. Now, in Fat Man Fed Up, Germond confronts the most critical issues raised by our election process and offers a scathing but wry polemic about what’s wrong with American politics.

Is there any connection between what happens in campaigns and what happens in government? And if not, where does the blame for the discontent lie? Was Tocqueville right? Do we get the leaders we deserve? Indeed, according to Germond, the politicians aren’t the only ones to blame, or even the chief culprits. He describes how he and his colleagues in the news media have been guilty of dumbing-down the political process–and how the voters are too apathetic to demand better coverage and better results. Instead, they simply turn away and too often end up enduring third-rate presidents.

This no-sacred-cows manifesto faces the problems many are reluctant to address:
• Polls and how they are used and abused by politicians and press to mislead gullible voters.
• The critical failure of the press to accurately portray figures in the political realm, from Eugene McCarthy to Barbara Bush to Al Sharpton.
• How the complaints about liberal bias in the press miss the real point: whether that bias, if it exists, colors the way editors and reporters work.
• The staggering influence of television, and the networks’ inability to provide anything but the most simplistic coverage of politics.
• The “big lie” school of campaigning. From “Where’s the beef?” to “compassionate conservatism,” the politics of empty slogans has always placed noise above nuance: Say anything loudly enough and long enough, and voters are bound to mistake it for the truth.

Along the way, Germond illustrates his arguments by drawing from his war chest of priceless anecdotes from decades in the business. With his inimitable combination of incisive journalism and sardonic and witty straight talk, Germond guides us through the fog created by candidates and the media. In this timely, outrageous, and compulsively readable book, no one is let off the hook. Fat Man Fed Up is a bracing look at how we never seem to get the truth about the people we’re electing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tackling everything from empty campaign rituals and deceptive TV ads to misleading polls and shallow news coverage, rotund political pundit Germond (Fat Man in a Middle Seat) holds forth on political ills. Drawing on 50 years in Washington, he traces a pattern of decline in substance, civility and integrity among politicians and those who write about them, and spares no one, including voters. Most of Germond's observations are conventional: diatribes against slanted polling techniques, campaign coverage driven by sound bites, media feeding frenzies in response to minor gaffes by politicians, and the overweening power of money to influence elections. But Germond buttresses his arguments with a rich trove of anecdotes, the best of which are drawn from his reporting experiences, as when vice-presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen's wife called Germond to complain that a pointed question as to whether Bentsen owned a foreign car "had cost me my Mercedes." Germond is especially caustic about the issue of race, on which he faults both parties for evasion and dishonesty. He devotes a few pages to possible remedies, such as rescheduling the presidential primary races to provide more time for reflection by the voters, but frankly concludes that none of his ideas is likely to be enacted. The book thus ends up less a cri de coeur than an agitated shrug.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Journalist Germond offers scathing criticism of politicians, the press, and the public, on the basis of 40 years of reporting on politics for newspaper, television, and radio. According to Germond, Americans have little interest in government and politics and place few serious expectations on political candidates. Furthermore, the press feeds on the public's indifference, or cynicism, playing into the misrepresentations of candidates and ignoring more crucial issues, such as the racism that continues to plague American politics. And political candidates shape their messages on the basis of polls, not convictions. Germond recounts the political campaigns he has covered, criticizing the mindlessness of campaigns and the empty rituals of elaborately staged conventions and debates that focus more on gaffes than policy stands. Are most reporters liberals? Probably, says Germond, and so what? He ridicules the notion that a reporter can't have a particular political slant and still deliver fair coverage. This frank and humorous book will attract readers as the November elections approach. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Random House (July 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400061547
• ISBN-13: 978-1400061549
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,298,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Veteran Looks Back With Sorrow and Disdain, July 10, 2004

By 

William Hare (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fat Man Fed Up: How American Politics Went Bad (Hardcover)

Jack Germond offers the insight of an old pro looking back, a respected Baltimore Sun political correspondent who gained fame throughout America as a regular commentator on the McLaughlin Report. His politics are liberal and he tells you so, but that does not mean that he lays all the blame in his reflective and highly critical analysis of the current political system on the political right. He believes that there is more than enough blame to go around on all sides.

If anyone thought that Germond might spare the profession through which he made a handsome living from the criticism he levels at the system, the reader is promptly disabused of such a notion. Germond indicts his own profession harshly. Sure, he is aware and makes note of the importance of making a buck, selling advertising, and dramatizing stories. He laments the talking head trend and oversimplification in place of analysis, but does not indict commercialism as the sole beast. Germond believes that all too often reporters take the easy and lazy way out. Create an interesting story, spin it until it wears out, and save oneself a lot of thinking, not to mention shoe leather.

As for the politicians, he reveals that the positions they take all too often involve pandering to a ready made base, a "don't rock the boat" attitude, rather than any solid belief in those core positions, which are stated emphatically, in the manner of a true believer, but to achieve effect rather than as a manifestation of conscience and analytical reflection. A candid comment from Senator Ernest Hollings of South Carolina is employed to move into an important domain of criticism. When Germond asked him point blank if he was considering running for president, Hollings replied, "Jack, senators think about running for president all the time."

Hollings's frankness caused Germond to reflect on the matter. His conclusion is that at all levels of government, from city council to governors and U.S. senators, a stepping stone mentality remains steadfast. A popular councilman, rather than focusing intently on the district, is thinking about a next move up the ladder to Congress. Once elected to Congress, thoughts begin turning toward the senate. Alas, once in the senate thoughts turn toward the White House. Germond sees the "reach for the ring" distraction as redounding against the needs and interests of constituents who put the officeholders in office in the first place.

Sloppy reporting, oversimplification, and dramatization in place of issue analysis have proved costly. The laziness of reporters along with the desire to spin a drama rather than provide the tools for reader and viewer education has resulted in a general dumbing down of the entire political process. Germond is informing us that we had better not hold our breath and expect any positive changes anytime soon.

Hopefully Germond will be proven unduly pessimistic. He hopes so as much as we do. He tells us not to count on it, though, and sees himself and the rest of us walking through the Forest Gump thickets in a haze rather than focusing intelligently on our problems.

The best lesson to take from this book is to consider it a constructive slap on the face. Once slapped take an active interest in what is going on from the local level all the way to the presidency. If enough informed people demanded enough answers Jack Germond would be the first one to beam a happy smile.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad indictment of the state of American politics, July 12, 2004

By 

Mark Shanks (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fat Man Fed Up: How American Politics Went Bad (Hardcover)

Jack Germond has over 40 years experience in covering politics, from the city level right through Presidential campaigns. He's seen it all: the boozers, the philanderers, the corrupt, the ignorant, the ideologue, and the idealist. He uses that experience to demonstrate how our political system has gotten to the point where people care more about hairstyles and superficial symbols over real substance and constructive debate. Sometimes, the stories are pretty funny, but generally, this is a depressing and unforgiving look at both print and (especially) television "journalism" and how they are used by the two major parties to keep out any potential competitors, and to keep the complicated issues we face simplified beyond resolution into sound bites. I sincerely doubt that the anonymous reviewer(s) from D.C. actually read the book, as no specific examples of their complaint are offered for examination. Germond has almost always acted as the force of moderation, with a degree of what used to be called "horse sense" sorely lacking in so many of today's columnists and anchors. His stories span the once-wider stretches of our political spectrum and the now-forgotten civility between the parties, and I can't blame him for decrying how spin, never-ending campaigns, and millions upon millions of campaign dollars have either discouraged the average voter or created voting blocks incapable of independant thought. I can't imagine a better way to spend an evening or two reading this and imagining sitting with Jack over a steak and a couple of martinis, wistfully reminiscing over what promise our country held, and wondering desperately how we can get back on track. A great read, highly recommended.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST POLITICAL BOOK OF THE SEASON, July 18, 2004

By 

Richard Marano "author of Vote Your Conscience" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fat Man Fed Up: How American Politics Went Bad (Hardcover)

By far, the most entertaining and insightful book of the 2004 political season is the newly-released FAT MAN FED UP. It is a "must read" for serious students of American electoral politics and the four-year cycle of its continual decay. Germond, one of the most experienced political reporters in the country, is at his best, both witty and biting, in his assessment of presidential elections, candidates, and, of course, the electorate itself. Do yourself a favor and read it before voting in November.