Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: United States, Michael Moore, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Working with a broadly inclusive pantheon of "the Left" that places Ralph Nader and Barbra Streisand on equal footing with Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, Schweizer (The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty) suggests that liberalism's heroes conduct their lives in ways that prove their philosophy to be "ultimately self-defeating, self-destructive, and unworkable." While acknowledging that conservatives can be high-profile hypocrites as well, Schweizer employs a double standard, arguing that "when conservatives betray their publicly stated principles, they harm only themselves and their families," but when liberals misbehave, they harm their principles first and foremost. Sometimes his research uncovers significant contradictions, as when Schweizer points out that Noam Chomsky, who tends to demonize the military establishment, wrote his first book, Syntactic Structures, with grants from the U.S. Army, the Air Force and the Office of Naval Research. But many of his charges are egregiously hyperbolic, as when he suggests that Cornel West is a "segregationist" because he bought a home in a largely Caucasian suburb. Schweizer clearly knows the limitations of his argument, since he backpedals from many of his most damning statements in his closing remarks. For all its revelations, in the end, this volume reads less like a critique of liberal philosophy than a catalogue of ammunition for ad hominem bloggers. (Oct. 25)
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Review

The Weekly Standard
"Peter Schweizer's Do As I Say (Not As I Do) is an entertaining exposure of the hypocrisy among some prominent liberals. In a series of 11 profiles on leftist icons from Noam Chomsky and Al Franken to Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, Schweizer reveals that the most vocal liberals do not practice what they preach."


From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385513496
• ISBN-13: 978-0385513494
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (328 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #335,747 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

120 of 137 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible!, November 4, 2005

By	Amazon.com Fan (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

I was skeptical at first, thinking this was just far-right, fiction trash. I just finished reading it. I could not put this book down. This is a very well researched book. I recommend it to anyone needing a good dose of reality therapy. Unfortunately, liberals who are allergic to logic and are emotionally-driven in their decision making will bash this book, whether they read it or not. Take it from me, a liberal who refuses to jump on the Bush-hating bandwagon just because I'm a democrat...all liberals need to read this book!

113 of 130 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exposing Liberal Hypocrisy, November 2, 2005

By	Johnny Verbeck (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This book gives countless examples of liberals who do not practice what they preach. All sorts of people on the left are included, such as politicians like Nancy Pelosi, radical professors like Noam Chomsky, and entertainers like Michael Moore. The claims in this book are all fact-based, and cannot by dismissed by any liberal who will stand by their principals. For instance, the fact that Michael Moore owns Halliburton stock shows that he is profitting from the war in the same way as liberals accuse the Bush admistration of doing.

Of course conservatives are hypocritical too. However, this isn't supposed to be a non-partisan book; it's blatantly partisan, and I love every page of it. Definitely read it if you want to know the truth about these supposed compassionate liberals.

95 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I thought this was for book reviews, November 4, 2005

By	Bill - See all my reviews

If you read the pinheads below, you will see such gems as "Even Jesus was a hypocrite" and "Oh also, letting government secrets out is a federal felony crime. Tell that to "scooter" Libby and Karl Rove." What that has to do with this excellent book is...NOTHING! If you ask Steve Phelps to come up with an example of his rant, you will hear the same lame polemic that has been disproven and refuted over and over again. And as for SystemStructure, I would like to clarify that Libby was charged with obstruction of justice, not letting out state secrets. And Rove probably won't be charged with anything. Now if you want to talk about state secrets, look at Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J, and John Kerry, BOTH of whom revealed CIA agents' identities and got away with it. THAT is a great example of what this book is all about - LIBERAL HYPOCRISY.