Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is no political screed but a fact-filled, immensely reasonable look at the realities of the Bush administration. Well, let's call them what they are, what the book calls them, but the press will not: lies. And the failure of the press to expose those lies is at the sad heart of this beautifully argued book.

The author adeptly shows how a faked candidate has fooled much of the country with a faked presidency. It took effort to disguise the President's privilege, past and positions on many issues before the election, but spin and outright lies aided his acession to the highest office in the land, and continue to convince far too many people that this man is a man of the people, honest, forthright, caring, devoted to freedom.

For those who are Republicans or independents wondering if there's any truth here, I would recommend going right to the section that discusses how the Bush campaign fought and destroyed John McCain with lies so ugly they're almost unbelievable. But then it's all true, as is the Orwellian nature of an administration that camouflages the reality of most of its policies with lovely rhetoric. At a time when dissent--which Jefferson considered one of a citizen's highest duties--is miscast by our present administration and allies in Congress and the media, as treason, reading this book is an act of true patriotism.

For the last several agonizing years, the news media has been presenting an incredibly idealized image of President George W. Bush to the American public, as an endearingly simple minded but extraordinarily honest and decent "just plain folk" type of guy. We have only very recently been able to get glimpses of the real truth about the man, thanks to the eye opening works of great alarm ringers like Greg Palast, Richard Clarke, Joe Conason, John Dean, and Kevin Phillips. Paul Waldman's FRAUD is a very good companion piece to many of the revelatory Bush books that recently dominated the bestseller charts. This fine work stands out just a little from the crowded field because not only is it a horror-stricken critique of the great deceiver himself, it goes a step further and finds the media itself fully culpable in having allowed Bush's flagrant lies to be spread and accepted by the public with only the most minor hints of journalistic questioning. The Bush White House's continual distortions and half truths about virtually every aspect of the current Administration's ongoing assault on the well-being of America has been disturbing enough, but having the country's major newspapers, magazines and TV news channels cheerfully spew out the relentless deceptions has been infuriating in the extreme.

Waldman is particularly insightful in his discussion of the ongoing insidious Republican Smear Machine that utilizes the media to bamboozle a gullible public into believing that anyone who dares question the current administration must either be a fool or a traitor. Waldman paints a portrait of Bush that is obviously all too real--a cold-blooded, mentally challenged and power hungry multi-millionaire who flagrantly serves the whims of Big Business while completely ignoring the needs of the people. Read FRAUD and find out the ugly truth about an ugly man.

This book is very interesting. I'm pretty much on the fence politically, but have always believed that the media was in favor of the left. The examples Fraud provides and the explanations of the Bush strategies were baffling and really changed my opinion. I also appreciated the readability of this book.

Of the many books that have appeared recently about the Bush administration (Bush's Brain, Thieves in High Places, Big Lies, Bushwhacked, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Embedded, etc.), this one, in my opinion, is the best. It builds on the well-attested fact that George W. Bush and his attendants (Rove, Fleischer, Rice, et al.) are consummate liars who have made mendacity the cornerstone of the Bush II administration. It then shows how (and explains why) the media have colluded in this charade every step of the way. The book is highly readable -- I took it on a brief beach vacation and spent more time reading it than doing anything else -- and every claim the author makes is well documented.

Bush supporters will find this book highly disturbing, especially since it will be hard for them to refute any of the author's arguments; hopefully, they will appreciate the scholarly tone of the author's prose as well as his careful research. In any case, this is a very timely and important book, one that people of all political persuasions should read.

This book was a phenomenal, well-written expose of George Bush. As one reviewer put it, it is an encyclopedia of every thing that is wrong with George Bush, and the fraud he has perpetrated on the American public.

Waldman catalogues so many facts and attributions per page, it is difficult to read so many pages in one sitting, because you want to absorb the messages. This book is filled with footnotes and appendices and nexus searches. It is impossible here to list all the things that Waldman describes in detail: his drunkeness, arrests, insider trading, favored military treatment, sleazy campaign attacks, the administration chickenhawks, and his lies about everything from WMD's to taxes.

Waldman writes well. His message is clear, concise, and easy to follow. His arguments are compelling and unassailable. If you are still uncertain, read all the one star reviews and look at what they attack: the editorial spelling of a latin phrase, or a dismissive, shrill-like, paragraph without a single, intelligent, cogent analysis, refutation of fact, or challenge of Waldman's work. That may be your best recommendation.

I hope he writes another one about the second term. I'll stand in line for it.

If you want one book that will teach you how to talk to a conservative, this is definitely one of the very best.

I think this book should be required reading for all voters. Well written, factually supported, to the point, and absolutely shocking.

This is one of the most well-crafted and brilliantly written books I've ever read. The analysis is incisive, clever, and downright genius at times, though the content and the extent to which this administration has deceived the American public is disturbing at times. A great and necessary read for anyone interested and un-interested in politics.