Customer Reviews

Founders v. Bush: a Comparison in Quotations of the Policies and Politics of the Founding Fathers and George W. Bush

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In Founders v. Bush I was hoping to find more than just a comparison of quotes between our Founders and the president. I was looking for intense discussion about the comparisons. With the exception of the start of the chapters, there was little to read or digest.

Steve Coffman catalogues a great many memorable quotes from George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and what other Founders wrote or said in their speeches, the Federalist Papers, their personal correspondence, or what people overheard and recorded. These quotes were placed in comparison to those of George Bush under such chapter titles as The Bill of Rights, Liberty, Religion, War, PNAC, Cheney & Yoo, Lies Dishonesty & Disinformation, and other topics. Also included were statements from John Yoo, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice and others that are bound to depress for their blatant fabrications that took us to war.

Besides a lack of discussion there was a problem with reading one quote after another. It's a little like what might happen to your attention span as your focus on the movement of wipers removing the rain from your windshield. You end up missing the road, or message of the quotes because of their sheer repetition. It's disappointing to lose the thread of so many profound statements and know that you have to go back.

It is a good source of quotes, (many I have never read before), and the comparison of statements between our Founders and Bush. These will jar you with the difference in depth, selflessness vs. selfishness, self-interest vs. national interest.

Yet, even the most attention-challenged reader cannot help but find the difference in insight, wisdom, temperament and sheer stature between the Founders and George W. Bush. It is crushing to learn what has replaced what once was.

The most common theme that separates the Founders from Bush is that they speak in terms of the people. Bush speaks in terms of himself, what he wants, and that he is the one who decides. He shouldn't. We should.

We the People.



Happy St. Patrick's Day
Happy Birthday, James E. Egolf

Politicians and bloggers love to quote (misquote?) the Founders. This carefully researched book quotes the Founders in context and with sources given. On topics ranging from Separation of Church and State to Patriotism and War, the Founders tell us in their own words what the abuse of power and war profiteering can do to our nation.

The appendix alone should be read by everyone old enough to vote, including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as some lesser known documents such as The Project for a New American Century Statement of Principles and letters signed by people like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz and William Kristol. The contrast between the former and latter documents is alarming and illuminating.

In the words of James Madison, "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

Cassius describes Julius Caesar to Brutus as follows: Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves. And so Steve Coffman might describe our tyrant leader. But he does not. In his new book, Founders V. Bush, Steve takes on the President by juxtaposing his quoted positions with those of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. So without having to re-read the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, or the numerous documents and letters left by the founders you can plainly see how far we have missed the mark. It is a very readable paperback of 147 pages plus two appendixes and substantial documentation, an amazing piece of scholarship with none of the usual pretensions. Bravo Steve.

Jerry Woolpy

An insulted, but calm Thomas Jefferson looks out to the reader from the cover of Coffman's book and away from a petulant, pugnacious George W. Bush. I didn't have to open the book to know how the comparison would play out, but I'm glad I did. Coffman provides a good review of the first six years of the Bush Administration in their own words organized by topic: the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, war, peace, religion, lies, honesty, and disinformation among others. Juxtaposed to these quotations are relevant words of some of America's founders.


When the founders' words do not directly contradict those of the Bush administration, they warn strongly against allowing such people as these to acquire power. Their words provide the reader with material for a more than adequate rebuttal to claims that this administration and other Republican federal officeholders are faithfully following the principles and intent of the founders. Many of the Republican claims come wrapped in intellectual dishonesty and falsehood which makes it vital that the rebuttal be carefully and accurately sourced . Consequently, I was disappointed to find Coffman's sourcing is the book's greatest weakness.


Contrary to the claims on the rear cover "fully sourced," and in the introduction, "In this book all of the quotes (sic) have been sourced, sources provided, and, as far as feasible, provided in ample context," the sourcing ranged from full, to frustrating to verify, to intellectually suspect.


The Jefferson quotations are not necessarily easily found using Coffman's sourcing. The "Online" sources at the end of the book include only The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition. The Memorial Edition is not to be found in either the "Principle Sources" or "Online" sources, but some of the quotations in the text are sourced to the Memorial Edition. This wouldn't be a problem if one could safely assume that quotations not sourced specifically to the Memorial Edition, were from the Federal Edition. Unfortunately, that's not true. On page 53, for example, one quotation is sourced, "Letter to Moses Robinson, 1801." Searching the Federal Edition for either the exact quotation or "Moses Robinson" yields no hits. The quotation can be found in the Memorial Edition, Volume 10, Page 237 (ME 10:237). Too, some of the quotations not sourced to the Memorial Edition can be found in the Federal Edition.


Turning to the quotations ascribed to George W. Bush and members of his administration, I ran into more trouble. Many of the sources are simply dates (e.g. January 11, 2005 and September 18, 2001.) A source for a quotation from Paul O'Neill names only his book, *The Price of Loyalty*. There were also sources in which a third party, sometimes named, sometimes not, claimed something was said by someone else, but not in their presence. For example, on page 55, Coffman alleges Bush to have said, "I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job." The sourcing reads: "Said to a group of Old Order Amish, Lancaster New Era, July 16, 2004." The quotation appeared in a column by Jack Brubaker in the "Lancaster New Era" and what it actually said was, "At the end of the session, Bush reportedly told the group, 'I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job.' The person(s) who are indicated by "reportedly" are unnamed and apparently remain so as the initial stir caused by Bush's alleged blasphemy died quickly with no one to confirm it. As could be expected the White House denied the statement. They would have to deny it whether it was true or false as it has Bush claiming he speaks for God, a claim that might have upset many of his Christian supporters as well as those of other deistic religions.


While in many cases I can remember Bush and members of his administration making statements like those Coffman reports, I could not verify all that I tried to check. Several of those ascribed to Bush only by date could be found by thoughtfully searching at whitehouse.gov, but I doubt the next owner will leave these up.


At the end of the book are two listings: "Principal Sources" and "Online." The web-savvy reader will be immediately perplexed to see that the "Online" list contains no URLs, no web page identifiers to type into a browser in order to get directly to the source. By googling the item in the author's listing and searching through the first five or so candidates, I was able to confirm what I thought the author meant in most cases, though this sometimes meant deciding that one or all of the returned hits were meant. I could not find one of these sources no matter what I tried. As for the "Principal Sources," there are only two books in the list which have the members of the Bush Administration as subject matter: Bob Woodward's *Bush at War* and Ron Suskind's *One Percent Doctrine*. I'm certain that these are not the sources for the vast majority of the vaguely-sourced quotations.

This is an excellant book on the mistakes and abuses of the Bush administration. I recommend it highly.

The Founding Fathers were geniuses and I love this book for showing how they struggled to form and protect a government by the people, for the people, and of the people. The fact that it uses Bush and his cronies' own words against them is a bonus.

Organized, quotable evidence that Bush neither understands nor values the elementary principles of democracy. Students of social and political thought will consider this no frills, quotes-only book invaluable. Chapters are organized according to critical topics such as war and peace, religion, economics, rule of law, education, etc. Each chapter first lists quotes from members of the Bush administration, then quotes on the same topic by the founders, all easily citable.

Although the author has limited his own commentary, I wish he had eliminated the commentary altogether. The book would then be a non-biased reference book - but it's a great addition to my personal library as it allows one to go straight to the quotes. If you want to give an easy-read gift to those who just don't get it, this is it! EXCELLENT!

This is an outstanding book to remind us of the traditional diplomatic and democratic values of our nation. Providing a comprehensive collection of carefully researched quotations, Founders v. Bush is perfect for a classroom, roundtable discussion or just plain intelligent conversation among friends. Get this book immediately!

I would like to see the authors compare the current President and Congress to the Founding Fathers. This President believes that the Constitution to be "fundamentally flawed".

Here's what John Adams said, "But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." Also from John Adams, "In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress."

How about turning the microscope on the other side for a change?

What an amazing contrast between the early founders of our country and the present occupant of the presidency. This wonderful book supplies an imperative need, at this critical time of our republic's tenuous hold on citizen rights, of a view of the wisdom, rightness, and, fairness of the major figures in our country's begginning. Coffman also provides us with carefully edited and documented refresher course in the really important values that we need to acknowledge and prioritize in this low period of national leadership. Read the book- you will be amazed!!!