8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
entertaining but flawed, September 29, 2005
This review is from: Tell Newt to Shut Up: Prize-Winning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution (Paperback)
For the most part, this is an even-handed account of the first year of Republican control of the House, right after the so-called Republican Revolution of 1994 -- that is, if you can get past the constant insinuations, suggestions, and implications that everything Republicans do is because of their ties to big business (it seems nearly everyone the authors mention has a defense contractor in their district). Clearly, too, Maraniss and Weisskopf came away with a strong affinity for Ohio congressman John Kasich, and the story often favors him. Except for these points, the authors do make an effort to be fair, and the result is an entertaining, though somewhat flawed, look inside the famous revolution
The subtitle suggests that the book will explain how the revolution got the wind knocked out of its sails. Before reading, I thought this would focus on the Contract with America -- how it was created, how it fared in Congress, how Clinton reacted, etc. But in the book's central flaw, the authors focus on issues that are important but mostly tangential to the Republicans' central legislative package. Yes, de-regulation was an important component of the philosophy at the core of the revolution, but did that revolution's success or failure hinge on reforming OSHA or the school lunch program? I'm not convinced. After all, much of the Contract passed Congress, some of it became law under Clinton's signature, and Clinton declared the end of the era of big government. Obviously, the revolution was not entirely "gagged" as the subtitle also says.
The best part of the book by far is its discussion of the budget battle and the 1995 government shutdown. The telling is dramatic and detailed, a veritable feast for a political junky. Further, if you want to explain why the revolution sputtered out, it was this -- not OSHA regulations, not the battle over school lunches, not the GOP split over the B-2 bomber. Not only did Clinton outplay Gingrich and the Republicans, but the Republicans played right into the president's hand, making critical, often hubristic errors, the worst of which was Gingrich's belief that he was a second president. Gingrich would linger as speaker for another three years, and the Republicans still retain control of the House, but the party, at least in Congress, didn't have the same energy and enthusiasm after that.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gingrich vs. Clinton Analyzed Fairly, August 9, 2001
This review is from: Tell Newt to Shut Up: Prize-Winning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution (Paperback)
From all aspects of the political spectrum left and right we should read this book and learn the cost of democracy. Newt Gingrich had a dream to spearhead a Republican Revolution and to bring it about as forcefully as possible. Unfortunately for him his nemisis William Jefferson Clinton knew how to counter him and how to do it well. The writing in this book is honest, and doesn't attempt to take sides. Anyone who truly wants to know why Congressman Gingrich exited from public life, you need not look further.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A year in the life of the Republican revolution, November 20, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Tell Newt to Shut Up: Prize-Winning Washington Post Journalists Reveal How Reality Gagged the Gingrich Revolution (Paperback)
This book gives a good profile of the major figures of the Republican leadership of the 104th Congress. I have always enjoyed books such as this one, and Bob Woodward's "The Agenda," which give more insight into the personalities of their subjects than you would ever get from TV or newspapers. In the last two chapters in the book, which wonderfully describe the tedium of budget negotiations at the end of 1995, I could definitely feel some of the frustration that this group felt in their impasse with the White House.
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