Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You [Hardcover]

Paul Waldman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2004

"Waldman gets right to the heart of the con." -Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

How to Build a Fraud
--Portray son of one of America's most influential families as down-home Texan
--Berate media as "liberal" until they stop asking tough questions
--Take advantage of reporters' tendency to not check the facts
--Mask reactionary policies in compassionate words and pictures
--Push false stories from right-wing media into mainstream media
--Extol the virtues of workers while systematically pushing an anti-labor agenda
--Propose a series of tax cuts aimed at the wealthy, but sell them as a boon to ordinary Americans
--Disguise destructive initiatives with friendly sounding names
--Befriend media with "genuine guy" routine
--Keep the public from accessing information
--Maintain message discipline at all times
--Question patriotism of anyone who disagrees
--Repeat above until it all seems true


In Fraud, leading political and media analyst Paul Waldman exposes the truth behind the rise of George W. Bush. What is revealed is more shocking than just a pattern of lies and incompetence. It is the story of how a clever political machine built a high-stakes game of deception, a policy of lies to capture the highest office in the free world, a fraud that continues to this day.

The power of the fraud lies in the ability of the Bush machine to manipulate the press, and thereby avoid having the truth exposed. Waldman's findings reveal an astonishing record of how the nation's media has not only given Bush a pass again and again, but have failed to follow up on even the most openly dishonest parts of the Bush agenda.

For all Americans who have been uneasy about the honesty of the Bush administration, but unsure what it means or how far it goes, Fraud is a shocking wake-up call.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Building on tenets laid out in The Press Effect, which he coauthored with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Waldman deconstructs Bush's image as plainspoken, compassionate Dubya and accuses the media of failing to properly scrutinize the values of his presidency. Bush's inarticulateness misleads a gullible public into perceiving the president as a "real," ordinary American, Waldman argues, contending that Bush's administration actually serves a business elite rather than the average American. Meticulously combing through footnoted sources, Waldman carves an alternative portrait of a privileged and ruthless Bush who was gleeful over executions as Texas's governor, guilty of Enron-style business practices and contemptuous of the protective role of government. American journalists, in Waldman's view, are either muzzled or lack the policy expertise and research strengths to expose Bush effectively; as a result, the public is woefully confused. Waldman goes on to demythologize the so-called liberal bias of the media, comparing journalists' past persecution of Clinton with the relative mildness of present-day critiques of Bush. In his breakdown of Bush's tax policies and of the Republican Party's dominance by ultraconservative Southerners, Waldman is particularly strident. An assembly of sources and facts and a useful guide to right-wing rhetoric makes this handbook of anti-Bush ammunition-complete with an appendix that provides a "Guide to Key Lies and Misdirections-useful to partisans along with other Bush critiques by David Corn, Eric Alterman and Mark Green.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The word liar has been used so many times in recent book titles about George Bush that Waldman, a political analyst and media critic, needed to come up with something different, although he manages to get lies into the subtitle. And, in fact, this book covers very much the same territory as the offerings of David Corn, Joe Conason, and others. As in those books, there is much here on Bush's image versus the reality of his history; the disconnect between his rhetoric and his actions; the events surrounding the buildup to the war in Iraq. But this volume stands out in the way it shapes the usual knocks against Bush into a well-thought-out strategy and then shows how the media's halfhearted perusal of various charges led to the party line becoming ensconced as truth. Waldman writes with ease and authority about his topic (footnotes appear on every page and then are expanded in an appendix, making it easy to check his sources). The occasionally sarcastic tone may grate on anyone who is reading to be persuaded, but in all probability, the book's audience will come largely from those already on Waldman's side. More red meat to feed the anti-Bush beast. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.; First Edition/First Printing edition (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402202520
• ISBN-13: 978-1402202520
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,361,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Master of Doublespeak, March 23, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You (Hardcover)

George Orwell's masterfully prescient futuristic novel "1984," which the British author wrote in 1948, has been emulated strategically by another George now ensconced in the White House. The concept of "doublespeak" has reached new levels even for a political world in which spin control had been one of the main currencies of the realm for some time.

Paul Waldman begins with the premise adhered to by so many given George W. Bush's long record of grammatical errors and misstatements of fact, that he is exceptionally stupid. While Waldman considers Bush a far cry from an intellectual, he carves out a shrewdly analytical argument concerning Bush using perceived ignorance as a mask for deceit.

Waldman contrasts Bush and his 2000 presidential opponent Al Gore in an interesting manner. Whereas the studious Gore was classified as a "policy wonk" who never saw a policy discussion in which he did not want to participate, Bush fell into the opposite category. Here is a man who enjoys clearing brush at his Crawford ranch and watching baseball. He disdains any type of discussion necessitating deep thought and is known for asking subordinates to shorten outlines to the one or two most basic points. He does not want to be bothered by devilish details.

When the media began reporting the 2000 fall campaign, a pattern emerged. Bush could make all kinds of mistakes and they would be regarded as innocent little slips based on a lack of study and intellectual curiosity. Gore would be nit-picked over whether or not he was Erich Segal's focus in "Love Story," about why he erred in speaking about meeting with someone other than the operative he mentioned at the Federal Emergency Management Association, and whether or not he said he had invented the Internet (He never did!).

This same policy has reemerged during Bush's presidency, of giving him free pass after free pass due to his supposed intellectual deficiencies. Waldman sees this is part of a strategy that insulates Bush from paying the price for a pattern of lying.

One case in point stressed by Waldman is Bush's claim that to oppose his tax cuts is commensurate with calling for the raising of taxes. Waldman is correct in stating that to oppose a tax cut is not the same thing as calling for a tax increase, yet Bush has restated the point seemingly endlessly.

Waldman does a superb job of exposing the Bush strategy of deception. He points out that this rich man's son is anything but the home spun, simple, down home Texan he claims to be. He also notes the strategy of masking reactionary policies in compassionate words and pictures along with diminishing criticism and a close checking of the facts by insisting that the media is biased in the direction of liberalism.

Waldman has a valuable critical facility that enables him to 1) zero in on the important issues, 2) separate them from the non-essentials, and 3) demonstrate how propaganda is used to obscure the real facts.

115 of 118 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Machiavelli in Action, January 7, 2004

By 

Walter J. Meldrich, Jr. "wmeldrich" (Kirkland, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You (Hardcover)

This book is one of the best, and concise expositions of the Bush approach to politics out there. The relentless dissembling and masking of the true character, intent, and actions of the Bush administration has been more than effective. One could use it as an example of Machiavelli in action--never reveal your true motives, feign decency and piety while being utterly ruthless, and above all, align with and support the rich and powerful at the expense of all others.

The value of the book is how the author reveals the extent and comprehensiveness of the fraud. It isn't just a few lies here and there like most politicians, but deception and misinformation as a method and means of governing. Starting with inventing a "good ol boy" personna for Bush before the election, to hiding behind false labels pinned to legislation (the "Clear Skies" initiative)and, of course, the non-existant WMD. The author tackles the deception around the budget busting tax cut for rich Americans especially well.

The participation of the media in this fraud is scary because democracy ultimately depends on an informed electorate.
Anyone, who doesn't want to remain willfully ignorant regarding the pathology of Bush and his cronies needs to read this book.

73 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for Informed Voters!, January 22, 2004

By 

Linda Copeland "Certified Personal Trainer" (Upper Marlboro, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You (Hardcover)

Paul Waldman takes the media to task in this book about George W. Bush's carefully-crafted public persona and the not-so-pretty truths behind it. If you want to know what is REALLY going on in the White House, read this book. It isn't about a bunch of "gaffes" and "misstatements" on the part of the President; his deceptions are far more serious than that. The media doesn't even call him on any of his lies, because they buy his down-home unsophisticated good-ol-boy act.

Do you know what the "Healthy Forests Initiative" is really all about? How about the "Clear Skies" initiative? Sounds pretty environment-friendly, right? Those are just some of the pretty names Dubya tacks onto policies that DO THE OPPOSITE! Yes, folks, we are living in Bizarro-world led by a 1st class manipulator. The average voter would never even know how they are being deceived. Read this book; you won't see the President in the same light again.