Customer Reviews

The World According to Gore

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

 

 

This is a well-written book that lends insight into the evolution of Gore, and what kind of president he might be. Rather than just chronicling his life, or merely pointing out his special interests or hypocrisy, it actually adresses his ideas, some of which are quite extreme. The book also illustrates how some of his ideas have already been proven not to work, and have been abandoned by the communities that tried them. Then there's his "livability agenda," which he is willing to impose on others, but not himself. As a Democrat who will probably vote for Gore anyway, I nonetheless think this is an important book to read.

Since Ms. Saunders is a columnist, its no surprise that she has succintly summarized Gore's thinking on issues and his record of flip-flops. While she's no fan of Al's, any Gore supporter should think about her observations, and what response could be made to them. Her accounts of his political expediency ring true. She also gives good references for her assertions. Besides, the book is a fun read.

Truth to tell, this book suffers a bit due to the author's partisan bias. It is possible to attack Gore without tarring him with the standard `Big Money Liberal' label that Republicans imagine is so devastating. Still, the book is definitely worth a look, especially by those who may think highly of the former Vice President. When the author is on target, especially when making The VP out to be a hypocrite and a flip flopper, she is devastating. These are the best reasons to distrust the man. Whether or not you agree with Gore's stated policies, the fact that he seems to change to suit the whims of fickle popular opinion should give you pause. I was disappointed that Gore's ties to big business were downplayed, but it's to be expected from a Republican critic. The book is very readable and quite well written. If Al Gore bubbles back up in 2004 I expect this book will bubble up as well, and it should.

Saunders takes a cool look into what she calls "Goredom." The results are illuminating. Gore seems to be a man who will say anything to be president. He will betray any constituency. Perhaps Saunders' most shocking point is that rather than flip-flopping on abortion, as he now admits to having done, Gore always intended to switch to a pro choice position after moving out of the House of Representatives and toward national leadership. Saunders also proves that his environmental bark is far worse than his bite.

Easy to read and understand, this book is well worth reading by anyone who is undecided in this election.

Being a Nader supporter, I read this book seeking more ammunition to convince Democrats to vote Green this election. Unfortunately, it just wasn't there. Ms Saunders starts off okay and does a good job of convincing us that Gore is a politician, something we already know, and that he will spend us into oblivion. Yes, I buy that. But then the book starts to read like the Republican Manifesto. I began to wonder if Ms Saunders is trying for a job on the Bush staff if/when he gets elected. She bashes Gore (the purpose of the book) because he promotes programs without any scientific proof of success. However she draws plenty of conclusions without any backing material herself. And on the subject of education, there are issues on which she is dead wrong. Case in point: vouchers. Vouchers do not work. Vouchers are going to deny education to poor children. Where is MY proof? Ms Saunders provides that proof herself.

page 144: "the truly "revolutionary" proposal -- vouchers -- that could spell relief for poor children stuck in bad schools."

page 146: "impoverished parents who knew they'd have to come up with $500 to $1,500 of their own money to use these private vouchers."

Under the Republican Manifesto, if a school is not "performing" it is shut down and the parents are given vouchers that fall $500 to $1500 short of providing an education for their child, and a "best of luck" card from the government. And the taxpayers? Now we get to support a public school system AND an expensive voucher system AND if we are really lucky, we get to make up the $500 - $1500 difference to get our child back in school. Another failing in the Republican Manifesto that (of course) Ms Saunders supports is the way we determine if a school is "performing." As Ms Saunders says, "You can tell GLOBE is a dumbed-down science program by looking at the "skills" that administrators choose to highlight: "Reflecting," "hypothesizing," "brainstorming," ..." Then she critisizes that under the GLOBE program, "Being able to calculate a right answer to an equation is not a skill ... which leaves measurement of competence up to the teacher's subjective judgement." Reflecting, brainstorming, and hypothesizing are not skills? Every time I go to a management seminar or take a class in management, they do their very best to hone these skills. I think if Ms Saunders has some statistics to back up this claim, the world of modern management would be interested to see them. Her point, of course, is that we should be teaching skills that objectively measurable, right and wrong types of things, like mathematics, history, geography, etc. And she is right, and we should be testing these skills. But this is not definitive. Our children need to be taught to think, also. What good is knowing the testable things in, say, history, like dates and names of generals and places if you can't draw any conclusions from it? And the conclusions are not right or wrong. Whether the conclusions display the ability to analyse (to think) is completely subjective. Tests may show that a school is not doing so great, when in fact, they are doing a great job on the subjective side, which is at least as important as the objective side.

So, back to the book. I would have liked to have had the facts and been allowed to draw my own conclusions rather than get the conclusions and then a flurry of "facts" that have mixed attempts to back the conclusions. However, Ms Saunders does remind us that Gore is a politician and a spend-worthy Democrat and these are enough for me to look for alternatives.

What an empty-headed attack on Gore. And an attack that is the zenith of hypocrisy. "W" butchers the English language, trips over his canned comments, cannot think and speak without programming and is terrified of debating Gore on prime-time TV (better to debate at 4:30 a.m. on the Home Shopping Channel, Bush the Younger believes). Half-truths, misrepresentations and plentiful prevarications populate this polemic.

Had the pleasure of seeing the author on "Politically Incorrect." The woman is a loon. It's amazing that her brain produces sufficient energy to keep her legs moving (which, by the way she chose to display prominently with a too short dress...so much for "family values").

To quote the great master, Bugs Bunny, "What a maroon; what an ultra-maroon!"

I give the book one star simply because it once was a tree. What a waste (ooh, I guess she'd call me a "hippie tree hugger from California" for that; I'm not).

If you hate truth and objectivity, you'll absolutely love this book.

I'm so glad I found this drivel at a half-price book store. I can return it to them with a request to re-shelf it either in fiction or comedy.