Grand Theft 2000: Media Spectacle and a Stolen Election [Paperback]

Douglas Kellner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0742521036 | ISBN-13: 978-0742521032 | Publication Date: August 27, 2001

The battle for the White House following the election of November 7, 2000 was arguably one of the major media spectacles in U.S. history, comparable to the Army-McCarthy hearings, the Kennedy assassination, the Watergate hearings, the Iran-Contra affair, the O.J. Simpson trial, and, most recently, the Clinton sex scandals and Impeachment trials. The election was in many ways more contained and circumscribed than these other epochal events, taking place over 36 days from the uncertainty of election night to Al Gore's concession on December 13 and George W. Bush's acceptance of the mantle of President-Elect. The story was highly theatrical with ups and downs, and surprises and reversals, for the candidates and the global audience, exhibiting unpredictability and uncertainty until the end. Its colorful cast of characters and melodramatic story line could hardly be bettered by the most creative Hollywood central casting. In Grand Theft 2000, Douglas Kellner recounts the story of a stolen election and Republican coup d'etat, focusing on the flaws of the system of democracy in the United States that allowed this event to take place. Kellner examines what the events of Election 2000 tell us about politics in the U.S. today and the alarming consequences for democracy in the battle for the White House. Grand Theft 2000 presents a historical narrative of the heist of the presidency as well as a critique of the media and political system that registers a crisis of democracy in the U.S.A. today. Arguing that the media are largely to blame for the theft of the presidency by the 'Bush machine,' Kellner shows how failures of voting technology and literacy, Republican manipulation of the Florida electoral process and political system in the counting of the votes, and structural problems with the system of democracy in the United States reveals a crisis of democracy that requires radical measures. Concluding sections on 'Lesson and Conclusions' suggests some solutions to the problems revealed and a final section critically dissects the first 100 days of the Bush presidency.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kellner (Television and the Crisis of Democracy) originally planned a chapter on the 2000 election in another book but expanded it in light of the postelection drama. The result is somewhat formless and unfocused, with an improvisational air as Kellner's shifting lens encompasses everything from direct reportage on the television spectacle to brief reflections on corporate media agendas, intriguing but neglected stories covered only in print or cyberspace, and various theoretical considerations and speculations. Kellner, a professor of the philosophy of education at UCLA, develops a good number of interesting ideas, arguments and stories only enough to whet readers' appetites. These range from the squalid (understudied scandals of the Bush clan dating back to Prescott's involvement financing Hitler) to the crucial (how Gore was tarred as a liar for substantially truthful claims, while Bush's distortions were repeated as gospel) to the abstract (how do conservative denunciations of relativism and postmodern views of "truth" square with the Republicans' relentless attack on the classic search for truth embodied in counting votes?). His sporadic, underdeveloped discussion of Republicans projecting their own sins onto Democrats is particularly frustrating. But Kellner is no great fan of Gore's. He is instead a fan of Deweyist participatory democracy and clearly shares the outrage of disenfranchised minorities, whose cause and complaints, he shows, were neglected by TV. He's hopeful that continuation of the over-the-top antics he chronicles will bring about a reaction, but far sharper critiques of the media have been offered by other observers, such as Mark Crispin Miller.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Douglas Kellner's Grand Theft 2000 is a stunning expose of the failure of the news media to report on the biggest and most important story in decades: the theft of the 2000 presidential election. Kellner artfully dissects the big lie propaganda of the Republicans and their media pundits, and lays bare before us the ugly realities of the hardright Bush presidency. This book combines the skills and experience of a great scholar with the street smarts of a first rate journalist. (McChesney, Robert W. )

Douglas Kellner's scholarship is excellent and his analysis of the events of the 2000 election is clear and straightforward. Grand Theft 2000 exhibits a beautiful writing style, incisive argumentation, and a willingness to show that something was at stake in this election that reveals a series of crises of American democracy and points to solutions. (Bronner, Stephen Eric )

Douglas Kellner recaps the entire spectacle, sifts its importance, and offers policy prescriptions for media and political institutions. (Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly )

Grand Theft 2000 is a well thought out commentary and analysis of the 2000 presidential election spectacle--smoothly written, tightly organized, and conceptually framed in a way that the reader can easily (and profitably) follow. Kellner weaves together diverse elements--the general and the specific, the abstract and the concrete, the realm of ideas and the realm of personalities, short-term effects, and (possible) long-term consequences for the future of American politics. Grand Theft 2000 is not only accessible to a large audience interested in the electoral drama but it also presents a strong, coherent argument grounded in deep, critical thinking. (Boggs, Carl )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (August 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742521036
• ISBN-13: 978-0742521032
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,767,131 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AGAINST Publishers Weakly, February 16, 2002

By 

Richard Kahn (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grand Theft 2000: Media Spectacle and a Stolen Election (Paperback)

I write this review in direct opposition to the Publishers Weekly critique. ...

Simply, Grand Theft 2000 is a political polemic from the Left that skewers #43, #41 and the entirety of their military-minded, big-business administrative cronies: Bush is flatly called an undeserving baby and images are presented of him sitting on daddy's knee as Son of Bush, both Bushes are the heirs of Nazi money, Cheney is a devious Machiavellian, Rumsfeld is a crazed racist who resembles Dr. Strangelove -- zig heil! Perhaps you have to be involved with high culture to understand what is truly interesting about this book: it is a set of theses nailed directly to the President's door...from a Philosophy chair at a major American university! A professional philosopher engaged up to his eyeballs in political pamphleteering? And we thought this only happened in Women's Studies.

Of course, that Kellner manages to so clearly barbecue the new President with a vast amalgam of critical media facts, means that this polemic is doubly-informed as good scholarship and serves as an important historical document as well. Beyond, then, being a mere send-up of the Bushes, Grand Theft 2000 is also a powerful political text and an important counter-historical document that serves to critically inform the establishment myth even as it exposes that myth as media spectacle.

Yes, it is true that no book can say everything and Grand Theft 2000 will not serve to supplant all of its competitors -- but does it intend to? Instead, this book is a rallying call to become better informed about the past election and its meaning for the present day. Grand Theft 2000 is as an encyclopedia of valuable progressive information on the election, including a number of Internet links, and in this respect alone it deserves to be thought of as one of the more useful books to have been published about the election.

Finally, let me point out that this book has been much more favorably reviewed -- most recently by Salon -- and I submit this review now only because it deserves a better reputation than Publishers Weekly affords it. Thanks -- and hope this helps.

8 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this book used at absurdly inflated prices!, April 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Grand Theft 2000: Media Spectacle and a Stolen Election (Hardcover)

If this was a book worth writing and reading (it was), then it was also worth editing and proofreading. In fact, however, the book is marred by egregious redundancies, stupid typos, and other editorial lapses. The publisher's handling of this title has been unprofessional from start to finish; witness the unavailability of the book, despite the great interest in reading it (an interest that encourages Amazon.com and others to jack up the price to three figures). It would serve the author and the book if Rowman and Littlefield would simply let the book go all the way out of print and let a real publisher edit, reprint, and properly publish it.

7 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars waste of money, September 19, 2002

By 

Brian (NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Theft 2000: Media Spectacle and a Stolen Election (Paperback)

Poorly written, childish name calling and half truths, many with no factual evidence wastes the readers time. Where are the state by state election calls--if Gore was winning by 3%, a state was called for him within 20 minutes after the polls closed--or many before the polls closed. I watched the results, and waited almost 2 1/2 hours befor Bush double digit wins in Tennessee and Arkansas were put in his column. The author is a fiction writer, I'm afraid. I was looking for facts.