Customer Reviews

Republican Like Me: Infiltrating Red-state, White-ass, And Blue-suit America

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

What I expected when I picked up this book was some good old-fashioned joke playing on the right wing, or possibly some real insight into what makes the conservative mind tick (hopefully mocking them throughout). Sadly, what I got was a guy who is guilty of everything he attacks the world for being. He is hateful, mean spirited and has a completely closed mind towards those who are different-just like his targets! As publishers weekly said, this is less a book with thoughtful responses and candid peaks at what righties really think and more a guy acting like a child, running around flinging his boogers (literally and figuratively) and playing practical jokes on the unsuspecting. Except some of those unsuspecting people are conservative, so that makes it okay!

So, if you are a left leaning (or just anti-right) and you are a big fan of the "Jamie Kennedy Experiment" but you just wish it was more mean spirited and juvenile, this is the book for you! If you are left-leaning because you believe in basic human dignity for all, this book will probably just leave you frustrated. Undercover journalist? Nope. Just an undercover self-absorbed comedian.

I gave this book to my girlfriend's brother who just got back from Iraq and needed a good laugh... he loved it and has passed it around to some of the soldiers from base. Free speech is an American right that they fought for... and as an American, I recommend that you read this book and excercise freedom of the funny bone.

If we are ever to knit together the fabric of this country, we have to laugh at our differences. Mr. Leon's wit is a sharp needle which pierces through hypocracies of this decade's American right-wing cultural over-drive.

His infiltration style is inventive, very playful and makes me think of a real life "Fletch" in our midst. This is by far Harmon's most provocative work yet, at a time where the country needs to reflect on its values; these adventures level the score in a comical way that is easy to digest and has thawed tensions... even opened intelligent discussion to all my friends who have read it. This is definately one of my favorite reads of the season.

What was an intelligent topic and somewhat novel idea was ruined by smug, condescending, get a real kick out of hearing myself, ego. Wow. Didn't make it all the way through. Took a stunning idea from Black Like Me and trivialized it. Next...

I picked up this book based on a review I read elsewhere and had high expectations for it. What a disappointment. I wish I had been aware of the Publisher's Weekly comments beforehand; I would have rather spent the $15 and a few hours of my time on Al Franken or Aaron MacGruder.

His supposed travels to "red state" America barely have him leaving the Bay Area. Granted, you don't have to go far into California's central valley before the prevailing political hue changes, but I hoped the red state part of the subtitle would be demonstrated more literally. OK, he goes to Kentucky to shoot guns and to Georgia, but the execution is pretty lazy overall. But why not go to a religious revival, sit in O'Reilly's audience or Limbaugh's? Hang out with the Promise Keepers?

Not everything in here is solely in the domain of the right (cheerleading, that's a stretch). And the jokes are forced, repetetive and about as creative as, well, honestly, something from the mouth of Bill O'Reilly.

Plus the book is poorly edited. That he doesn't know the difference between "a horde" and "to hoard" is one example among many.

"We're now a ragamuffin bunch, kind of like a moronic crime-fighting team from another dimension or world of tomorrow, set upon this earth to rid America of those pesky illegal aliens with their funny music and crazy hats." ( Leon infiltrating the Federation for American Immigrant reform)

Read "Republican Like Me" and enter the world of Harmon Leon, as Alice entered through the looking-glass, to examine the otherworldly dimension of American Republicans and even more extreme conservatives from the inside. Guided by a loudly pronounced bias and a hungry eye for absurd details, liberal Leon skillfully dons characters who will blend into or completely contrast the conservative platforms he infiltrates, covering a bold range from hate-groups through corporate etiquette workshops, Christian support groups for ex-gays, abortion clinic protesters to the Republican party itself. This socio-political odyssey is ingeniously penned with much passion and satirical observations in a intimate and honest voice, allowing the reader to glide through the sometimes breathtaking and hilarious moments as if he/she were a screw in Leon's ever-present tape recorder.

Leon 's purpose is not only to visit and observe occupants of the less liberal side, but also to mirror their ideology by confronting them with the grotesque stereotypes he mercilessly portrays. Despite his bias, Leon sincerely struggles to catch the essence of each conservative bastion he gleefully targets, always making room for surprising discoveries, anxiety or self-doubt.

"Though the activity of 'strolling' is stressed as a new urbanism selling point, there is a large void of "strollers" around the designated central square magnet for strolling. [...] Thus, if appointed emperor of Timberline Village (besides going 'mad with power'), I'd hire actors to portray elderly but wise citizens, who would always be on hand to fix a kite or give wise, elderly advice from a park bench..." ( Leon posing as conservative prospective house buyer in new suburban residential complex)

In "Republican Like Me", (chame)Leon bravely straddles his self-engineered bumpy, unpredictable and highly unscientific anthropological roller-coaster ride, never blind to occasional moments of universal truth that are sparked by his unlikely presence in wholly absurd situations.

"Being a scary clown is lonely. Between groups I stand alone in my clown box, reflecting on moments of my life that have led up to this point." ( Leon fighting unemployment by taking humiliating costumed jobs)

Pick up this comical treasure with much essence and no political correctness, and experience a virtual tour through a conservative landscape armed with nothing but love of life and biting cynicism. Time has come for Alice to grow up and smash the looking-glass; may she not break her hand in the process.

I need my Al Franken and Michael Moore to be a little younger and edgier, so I thought this might be the guy. He's pretty funny and cool, but I think his stuff would translate better to television or film. Not that he's a bad writer--I giggled out loud a few times while reading this on a plane, especially when he's describing the job he did dressing up as Uncle Sam for a tax company. But the whole time I was laughing because I was imagining how the scene must have looked.

The first chapter on meeting white supremacists at Appleby's is pretty funny--Appleby's antiseptic atmosphere of simulated family togetherness seems like the perfect setting for meeting white supremacists who just look like office guys, soccer moms, and dumpy college students. The chapter on volunteering for Arnold's governor campaign was also pretty funny. He really shows how the people who work for Republicans at the grass-roots are just pathetic and lame losers who are pissed because they'll never get laid, like mini Karl Roves or something. Then again, most fascists are just "little men," as Wilhelm Reich called them.

In the world of neoconservative pirouette PR, every day but Fitzmas (blogspeak for the day Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced the indictment of "Scooter" Libby in conjunction with the CIA leak case) can seem like Opposite Day. Bush is a "most brilliant man," "Brownie" was doing a heckuva job, and the mission in Iraq is accomplished and going well. And yet a slimming but substantial subset of credulous Americans still smile and nod and even applaud through it all. Who are these people?San Francisco journalist (by which, of course, I mean "Blue State anti-American terrorist sympathizer") Harmon Leon decided to find out by infiltrating the right in Republican Like Me: Infiltrating Red-State, White-Ass and Blue-Suit America. The title is an allusion to John Howard Griffin's controversial Black Like Me, an account of the white journalist's 1959 journey through the Deep South, disguised as a black man.

Leon goes through an entire conservative costume shop of characterizations in his quest to probe the real right wing. Where Griffin was sincere in his attempt to understand a parallel world, Leon's anthropological mission to bridge the Red State-Blue State chasm is mostly a ruse. A stand-up comedian who has appeared on the likes of "The Howard Stern Show" and "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment," Leon is more interested in poking fun at the right wing's (and, occasionally, the left's) grand follies than in joining hands across the great divide. Not that they don't make it awfully easy on him.

Whether meeting with white supremacist recruiters at an Applebee's, gleefully shouting signature Terminator lines while volunteering for Arnold Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign, or posing as a gay Christian who wants to give up his sinful lifestyle (the gay part), Leon is about as bipartisan as Bush, but a whole hell of a lot funnier. In an age of absurdity fit to make Aristophanes shoot milk through his nose, a trickster like Leon is a welcome reflection of our ridiculous reality.

Answer this: How are aspiring white supremacist Hal Haterman, ultra-right-wing operative Drake Sutherland, Christian headbanger Chad Sin-No-More and teen abstinence educator Quentin Smalls connected to each other? Sorry, it's a trick question: There is no connection. They are not in any way some of the fake personas that Harmon Leon has donned while invading what he calls the "sacred institutions of everyday life." You must be mistaking him for somebody else. Some kind of queer-loving, bleeding-heart, whiny-baby liberal who lives in godless San Francisco and makes his living by poking fun at EVERYTHING THAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT!

It's hard to know what to expect from a guy who once arrived at a pro-life rally in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic wearing an elaborate outfit consisting of tiny baby dolls taped to his shirt, with one of them floating in a jar that had the words "Stop Now!" scrawled on the outside.

There are also plenty of Christians, ex-gays, gun-rights fanatics and some Vincent Gallo thrown in for good measure. In other words, there's a little something for everyone.

What a hoot! Leon goes undercover to learn about, and silently mock, bizarre goings on across, America, from dining with white supremacists to working on (or perhaps against) the campaigns of Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Kerry, and George Bush.

Leon's writing can't help but evoke an image of modern "gonzo journalism"-minus the over-medication-or perhaps a

Daily Show correspondent with a slightly sadistic bent. It's a humorous, satirical glimpse on how the other half lives.

I really loved the wit, sarcasm and charm of this book. Harmon took an idea I always thought would be good and actually did it...he infiltrates the Republican party by becoming one! He meets with bigots, young advocates, Southerners, and also makes a mockery of the Governator (Arrrrrrnold!). While he obviously takes a stand against the GOP, he also rips of the Democrats' way of doing things. It's fairly liberal but not "commie" as some of the GOPers might call it. Definitely a read for liberals, Democrats, independents, leftists, communists, progressives and so forth!