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You're Not Stupid! Get the Truth: A Brief on the Bush Presidency

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Sometimes you CAN judge a book by its cover. The beauty of "You're Not Stupid! Get the Truth" is the affirmation of what is right about America. After the shameful images coming out of Iraq and Washington, it's easy to forget the humane ideals that America was loved for, which we have fought for.

Between the covers, "You're Not Stupid" pulls no punches on the political and media establishments. The brief documents all the main causes of grief with the "Commando-in-Chief", in chapters on topics from Bush's background to the Iraq fiasco, with Medicare, 9/11, and education in between. What it all boils down to is the best voter's guide I've seen for this year's elections.

In this well researched book, William Cox has marshaled a wide variety of impressive and verifiable sources to build a strong case against the current occupant of the White House. In You're Not Stupid!, you can judge the record for yourself.

The book shows that George W. Bush has rewarded his wealthy supporters with irresponsible tax breaks, just as he has turned the largest national budget surplus in history into the biggest-ever deficit. His "No Child Left Behind" initiative has been a failure. He neglected clear warnings of the September 11 terrorist attacks. He spearheaded a shameful and vicious personal attack on triple amputee and Viet Nam war hero Max Cleland for political gain. He misled the American public into a war a majority feels was ill-advised and counter productive. He has incurred the enmity of the world at a time when the United States most needs international cooperation. He has abridged our civil liberties in such a way as to shock moderates of both political parties. These are not mere allegations. With a lawyer's attention to detail and proof, William Cox lays the record bare.

In the words of our embarrassingly inarticulate president, "Fool me once, shame on--shame on you; fool me--you can't get fooled twice." This easy-to-read book talks directly to you. Don't be fooled twice. You're not stupid. Get the truth from this important book.

I liked this book for many reasons, but one of the reasons I appreciated "You're Not Stupid" is it provided me with so much information without making me feel overwhelmed. Although I think of myself as being well informed, I discovered new and important information reading this book. In fact, the book's description of Bush's education "reform" in Texas is fascinating . . . in a tragic train wreck sort of way.
Bottom line, this book is a fast easy read and by the time you finish, you will know more about our President than your neighbors, your co-workers or your friends

...And Its People. That's W's latest (and greatest)"Bushism" stammered as he sighned a 400 billion plus military appropriation to further the neocon cause. Freudian slip? Could be. Just an idiot? That's a given. Not enough functioning synapses after years of alcohol and cocain abuse? All of the above? Thought the folks who acquited OJ Simpson were stupid? They ain't got nothin in terms of putting emotion ahead of reason over your average Bush supporter. Decent book. More ink must be spilled on the neocons, how they've come to power, and the damage they've caused to this country. I thinks this is the last one I'll buy that exposes this imbecile. One must conserve monetary resources in the Bush economy. One never knows when one will find themselves between jobs these days. Remember when we were a prosperous nation at peace back in 2000? Ahhh the good old days. Yeah, think that's it. No more pol books. I'm passed the point of being pissed off. Just go to the polls in November, and hope the independents see the light. Oh, yes, and cross your fingers that the electronic voting machine tallies your vote.

Obviously, not enough people read You're Not Stupid before the 2004 election, otherwise Cox's Brief on the Bush Presidency might have helped overcome the rigged computerized voting in Ohio and minority voter intimidation in Florida to give the Supreme Court yet another chance to anoint a president over the will of the people.

The Downing Street Documents have now proven that Bush stole another election by lying to us about the origins of the Iraq War. He, and only he, is responsible for the resulting deaths and maiming of thousands of our finest young women and men. Moreover, every day we allow him to remain in office, we, all of us are responsible for the daily blood bath in Iraq and the harm Bush's War is inflicting on the Iraqi people.

Every day, American television and newspapers conclusively establish that Bush utterly failed to avoid the deaths of thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims before it struck and stupidly failed to care for its victims in its aftermath.

What more do the American voters need than the images of the president riding his new bicycle, strumming a guitar, playing golf, and, in the midst of a horrible tragedy, bragging about the good times he had in New Orleans during the days when he was "drinking and carousing and fumbling around?"

Those who have been fooled once or twice by the smirking chimp currently on display in the White House zoo should get a copy of You're Not Stupid. As a compilation of all other books in the genre at the time it was published, it will remain a valuable reference book in the future. It's a quality edition and is probably the best buy on the market.

You're Not Stupid chillingly predicts the future if the voters fail to Get the Truth: "Some day, when our children's grandchildren look back at this moment, they will see the world we live in as it is, not the imaginary perceptions our president and his gang of zealots have attempted to pass off as the truth. History will judge us, not by what we believe, but by what we do. Awareness will be presumed, and ignorance will be no defense. If we continue to allow the commission of horrible crimes against others on hour behalf, without protest, our names shall be joined in the indictment engraved upon the monument of our civilization. Will it be with pride that our descendants read the chronicle of our lives or will they be filled with shame?"

This fully foonoted, easy-to-read compendium of irrefutable facts about the Bush administration is what you need to navigate your way to the truth during this campaign year. Even if you consider yourself politically aware, this book will surprise you with things you didn't know, and are glad to learn. There is a blizzard of Bush-bashing books out there, but this one condenses everything you need to know in one place. It's a crash-course in the political history of the last four years, such as it is. If you're undecided, at the end of the book you will be decided; if you're subdued, this book will mobilize you.

William Cox is a lawyer who specializes in criminal investigation. He currently serves as Senior Trial Deputy for the State Bar of California. Cox previously worked as a prosecutor, a public interest lawyer, and a law enforcement policy analyst.

Cox tackles the Bush Administration in the manner of a skilled prosecutor. His style is reminiscent of that of Vincent Bugliosi, also a former California prosecutor, in "The Betrayal of America" when he examined the egregious theft of the 2000 presidential election, taking particular aim at the United State Supreme Court majority that stopped an ongoing recount in Florida.

While Bugliosi presented an excellent brief in terms of that groundbreaking election, Cox covers it as well as what led up to Bush's selection, extending forward to a period in 2004 nearing the end of the first term of the Cheney-Bush Administration.

Cox recognizes, as does John Nichols, who wrote about the person really in charge, that Dick Cheney and the neoconservatives are the driving force in the Bush Administration. He examines the sordid route that brought the neocons to power. Cox explores the systematic character demolition of John McCain in South Carolina and the ensuing general election campaign when Al Gore was hideously misrepresented as untruthful while the smears and deception pattern actually came from the Bush campaign.

It is noted how Gore was misquoted on stating that he had invented the Internet and criticized unfairly over stating the name of the wrong person at FEMA during a debate with Bush, a common error under the circumstances, and how elements of the media falsely accused the Democratic candidate of claiming to be the subject of Erich Segal's "Love Story" when all he did was react to a story that appeared in a Nashville newspaper.

Meanwhile the Bush campaign, aided by a helpful mainstream media, took the aforementioned and made a case for Gore being less than truthful. Character was made an issue when Bush had on his resume a failed Texas oil venture in which he appears to have violated federal law and could have gone to prison if tried and convicted. He was spared further investigation by the Justice Department when his father, then President George H. W. Bush, terminated the effort.

There was also the matter of going AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard, which went uninvestigated by the mainstream media, and his reckless lifestyle that saw him drink heavily until the age of 40 and reputedly take drugs as well. When an independent investigator learned about Bush's drunk driving arrest conviction and broke the story, this was denounced in many circles as a somehow unethical act by some of the same sources that looked the other way during the slimy South Carolina Republican Primary.

The title of Cox's book of "You're Not Stupid" is a theme he uses to denote how campaign operatives with huge advertising war chests financed by lobbyists have combined with commentators and journalists beholden to those same corporate interests to create false impressions, using 30-second television advertising to distort reality. By using such tactics millions of Americans voted for George W. Bush in 2000 on the basis of character.

Cox warns Americans not to be fooled and study the issues themselves, hence the twin declarations of "you're not stupid" and "get the truth." The warning that Cox delivered can be analyzed alongside what millions of American voters did in the 2004 election.

Many voters revealed in exit polls that they voted for Bush because he made them feel safer and that they believed that Saddam Hussein actually possessed weapons of mass destruction. There was also a strong belief on the part of so many that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.

The author hones in on Bush early, delivering a zinging analysis in the first paragraph of the first chapter, which is entitled "Who's Bush?" Cox writes:

"How is it that a lying and denying alcoholic, with arrests for theft and disturbing the peace and a conviction for drunk driving; one born with a silver spoon in his mouth, with no empathy for the plight of ordinary people; an inarticulate spoiled brat who just didn't get the lessons of a good education; a chronically failed businessman who's never earned anything on his own; and a high school cheerleader who avoided military service in Viet Nam by joining the National Guard and then going AWOL-gets himself elected as President of the United States? Well, you can be darn sure he didn't exactly tell us the truth about his background."

We are taken through Bush's first term as the disastrous tax cuts skewed toward the rich are examined. Cox also skewers Bush on his education proposals and his bizarre behavior during 9/11, along with that of Cheney, culminating with refusal to testify under oath at an official 9/11 commission convened only after pressures built to the point where the Cheney-Bush duo could no longer prolong such action.

Cox concurs with authors who believe that the official account released by the officially sanctioned commission does not answer vital questions pertaining to 9/11. He also believes strongly that an independent commission needs to be convened.

Cox's lawyer's analytical tools are never sharper when he approaches the subject of Bush and Cheney as violators of international law, as well as their repeated violations of the Bill of Rights alongside the efforts of willing Attorney General John Ashcroft.

This former prosecutor concludes that Bush, Cheney and other members of the Administration violated international law as well as engaging in unconstitutional acts in leading the country to war in Iraq.

The pattern of deception spearheaded by the full court press to conflict launched by neoconservatives within the Administration such as Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle is examined with microscopic clarity by a veteran attorney who can spot and document illegality when he sees it.

You're Not Stupid! Get The Truth: A Brief on the Bush Presidency is an unabashed wake up call to what President Bush and his "neocons" are doing to the country. From a hyper-focus on testing children that ignores real problems with public education - Bush's own home state of Texas has an abysmal graduation and college attendance rate, partly in due to pressures to have substandard achievers drop out rather than bring down test scores - to the lies surrounding the war in Iraq, to how much warning the Bush administration had before the 9/11 attacks, to the overwhelming array of tax favoritism for the wealthy in Bush fiscal policy and more, You're Not Stupid! Get The Truth blunty exposes lies as lies. A brutally honest, well-researched book that debunks common myths and sharply warns readers to be vigilant against being manipulated, and strongly recommended reading for all eligible voters.

If you know of any fellow Texans (or anyone else for that matter) who suffer under the delusion that they haven't been screwed by Dubya, and who may be fixin' to vote for him again, a gift of Cox's book may be the best thing a friend can do. The book's easy to read; it lays out the truth (painful as it is); and it's written for those who are smart enough to know what "fool me twice, shame on me" means.

After reading Hare's review I do not have anything to add other than to say that this book is a wonderful compelemnt to "The Unauthorized Biography of George Bush" by Webster Tarpley, whose book on 9/11 I also recommend very highly.

As documented by this book, this attorney and author, George Bush is one of the most crooked, inept, and deceitful people ever to serve in the Presidency. By no means alone, he never-the-less takes mendacity to a new level, and this author is to be congratulated for his painstaking effort to document the facts--I only regret that we could not reach enough Americans in 2004 to prevent a second four years.