American politics has never been a sport for gentlemen—but recent campaigns have proven dirtier than ever, full of negative ads, rumor-mongering, and worse. Now, one of America’s leading conservative writers offers a look at the American liberal tradition of slander, insult, and character assassination throughout history, from the early days of our nation right through the 2006 midterm elections. Among his targets: • Thomas Jefferson, who hired a Federal-era PR hit man to smear his rival John Adams • The American communist party—who, as confirmed in newly opened US and Russian intelligence archives, were as eager to destroy US anticommunists as they were to infiltrate the government • Smearing in wartime: The MSM’s attacks on our troops, from Vietnam through Guantanamo • The anti-faithful: The left’s campaign against Christians in American life • Rathergate: CBS’s hapless 11th-hour attempt to slander George W. Bush on the eve of reelection • Katrinagate: The liberal line on the storm? “It was Bush’s fault.” In the bloody wake of the 2006 midterm elections, America’s still-massive conservative movement is loaded for bear. With 2008 right around the corner, Smear Tactics finds them ready to return fire . . . with a vengeance.
--This text refers to the
Kindle Edition
edition.
Brad Miner is Senior Editor of The Catholic Thing and was the founding editor of American Compass: "The Conservative Alternative," which was formerly a division of Bookspan, a joint venture of Bertelsmann and Time-Warner that operated most of America's commercial book clubs. His Compass Points blog received recognition in the 2007 Webby Awards.
He is the author of five books, including The Concise Conservative Encyclopedia and The Compleat Gentleman: The Modern Man's Guide to Chivalry. With journalist Charles J. Sykes, he co-wrote and edited The National Review College Guide: America's 50 Top Liberal-Arts Schools. His most recent book, Smear Tactics, was published in November by HarperCollins, and will be released in paperback this August. A new edition of The Compleat Gentleman will be published by Richard Vigilante Books in the spring of 2009.
He has managed bookstores in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton, held senior editorial positions in New York with both Bantam Books and HarperCollins, and from 1989 until 1992 was Literary Editor of National Review, America's leading journal of conservative opinion. As a book editor, he has published the work of a diverse and distinguished group of authors, including Sidney Hook, Evan S. Connell Jr., Hal Lindsey, Mother Angelica, and Chuck Yeager. He is the author of scores of magazine and newspaper articles.
He has been a John M. Olin Visiting Professor at Adelphi University.
Mr. Miner has appeared on many radio and television shows and has been quoted in articles appearing in The Washington Times, The New York Times, USA Today, Columbia Journalism Review, The Los Angeles Times, Newsmax, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, and The American Spectator.
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