Customer Reviews

It's the Stupidity, Stupid: Why (Some) People Hate Clinton and Why the Rest of Us Have to Watch (Library of Contemporary Thought)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Harry Shearer reamains the most underrated American humorist of our time, replacing Jean Shepherd. He was great on SNL, wonderful on his own specials, but now he's making his mark with his radio program and this hilarious book. Instead of constantly extolling the obvious as his compatriots on SNL did, Harry continues to mine under the surface of his subject matter, and offers the most searing explanation of the Clinton administration yet. Miss this one at your own risk.

Harry Shearer has written, not just another book about people who hat Bill Clinton, but a book about why. I was impressed by how the author was able to convey a message of disgust with clear and precise facts.

While some people will find this book offensive and some will hate it outright, this reader thinks that most people will find this book a real pleasure to read. Shearer has a great knowledge of politics and how the political world turns and he displays this in every page of the book.

Shearer brings the reader little known facts about key Washington figures. Shearer allows the reader to choose whom he likes and whom he doesn't. The book is good. Easy reading from beginning to end. This book will keep you asking for more.

While Shearer gives the reader a quick insight about racism, the culture war and the generation gap, he does so with a unique blend of satire and humor. I think for the price you will make a great choice.

The question of how media and politics became so convoluted in the latter years of the twentieth century are best answered here by Harry Shearer. His supreme wit and insight left me hoping future historians will turn to this document if they truly want to understand this period. Better yet, we should all read it now and quit being such a bunch of dupes.

If the question of why Clinton is hated SO strongly by some people has perplexed you, as it certainly has me, buy this book and do read it to the end. About half-way through, I had become a little irritated, with some of the humor just a little to clever for me to try to figure out, with a surfeit of (to me) unknown names, and with seemingly too little on the big question of whence the hatred. But be patient, for Shearer knows where he's headed after all, and the book fulfills the promise of its title before it's done. It's useful to know in advance that Shearer's index is more than just an index, with short commentary at each entry. Although the commentary is given in concise humor, less informed readers such as myself can get a little insight on unknown persons encountered in the text by referring to it as necessary. All in all, very worthwhile.

Humorist Harry Shearer is a great writer who informs, amazes, teaches, and enrages, and does it all with the funniest, cleverest language of any writer today -- in the tradition of Robert Benchley. There's more genuine insight in this brief book than in a year of newspapers (or a decade of MSNBC). So clever, Harry. So smart. So write another, please. Gavin de Becker, Author The Gift of Fear

Like Al Franken and James Carville before him, Harry Shearer magnificently proves that Republicans just have no sense of humor whatsoever.

...that Harry Shearer is better heard and read than not seen. Better than books on tape, here's hoping there'll be a "virtual" Harry on Realplayer reading his book, because Harry Shearer must be enjoyed through every sense available. He's just that good.

A fairly funny commentary on the state of politics at the end of the Clinton era. Shearer attacks pretty much everyone, but no doubt Republican partisans will be offended anyway, they seem to get upset about any criticism of their leaders, no matter how tepid or humorous. Generally, this book will not make you laugh out loud, and you will not feel compelled to treasure it always, but it is a fun, easy read and provides plenty of amusing insights and comic asides. Of course, you might want to keep on your bookshelf just to make your Republican friends go beat red on the sight of it.

Working on the assumption that most Clinton-haters reside in the south, Shearer offers up an interesting hypothesis to explain the anti-Clinton venom (he's a traitor to his class, to his sex and to his race) but this fails to explain why rich, white conservatives from other parts of the country seem to hate him as much as do the poor, white conservatives from the deep south that Shearer writes about here. He does veer off briefly into other plausible reasons, most notably the hate-drenched paranoia that propells the militia and white supremist movements, the current "culture war" between generations, and the belief some Americans have that politicians are directly responsible for the country's morality, but doesn't develop these as fully as he could have. Still, it's a fun book and will have you laughing outloud regardless of whether you like Clinton or merely tolerate him.

Who knew Tom DeLay had been an exterminator? Or Jesse Helms a news anchor? Not I. Who'd pondered the strange truth that we Americans situate our political capitals mostly in hick towns? Harry Shearer brings original insight, and intriguing historical fact,to a subject desperately in need of insight and a cultural context beyond Good Dog/Bad Dog. The writing is elegantly witty ("The excuse to which these people are entitled only makes them more loathsome"; "Ronald Reagan comes at least to my mind, if not, at this point, to his")and most of the ideas, even when briefly explored, are nice and deep.Chapter 4's implication that the Fall/Redemption mode of morality as a political M.O. no longer serves us, socially, morally or politically (he ascribes this to the law of diminishing returns) is a major thesis of current moral theology among Creation Spirituality enthusiasts. And words like "oleaginous" and "ambit" crop up often enough to make a banquet of prose for readers starved by the stale stuff served up by media pundits. Harry Shearer's voice, great on radio, is a delight in print.