Customer Reviews

Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Of the growing spate of liberal books to appear in the past few months, BUSHWHACKED by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose is my favorite of the bunch. It also holds the odd distinction of being one of the most thoroughly depressing books I have ever read. No matter how low one's opinion of George W. Bush, it will be lowered through reading this book.

Many of the recent books on Bush and the Right have focused on the habit and strategy of intentionally misrepresenting positions held by those on the right. They are, in effect, apologias for liberalism and honesty in politics. This book is instead a direct examination of George W. Bush's policies and plans, and what they see scares them and me. As they write near the end of the book, "The six most fatal words in the language are rapidly becoming 'The Bush administration has a plan . . . " (p. 295).

Ivins and Dubose don't discuss the Bush policies in abstract, but in terms of how they affect real live human beings. They argue "this country no longer works for the benefit of most of the people in it" (p. 293) and they are determined to explain precisely why. What is most informative about the book is not just the discussion of the more familiar failures of the Bush administration, but overlooked or under considered facets of their policies. For instance, in Texas they have already undergone school reform of the kind promoted by Bush in the No Child Left Behind act. In fact, as they demonstrate, it is a perfect recipe for leaving vast numbers of children behind, as high schools out of self-protection refuse to promote underachieving students past ninth grade, in many instances keeping them there until they turn eighteen and are no expected to stay in school. Or consider the vast number of students in Texas who now graduate by taking the G.E.D as a way of avoiding the exams. All education in Texas is now focused on preparing those students who have a fighting chance of passing the major exam, and shunting those with no prayer of doing so off to the side. The result, in other words, of the No Child Left Behind equivalent has been disastrous, and now this is national policy as well. As they demonstrate, with a minimal financial investment in schools, the federal government has maximum input, and not in a constructive way. I found this chapter to be one of the scariest in the book.

The book is an unrelenting recitation of horrors. 500,000 poor Americans who Bush cut off from the federal program providing some support in paying heating bills in the winter. Instituting faith based programs as a means of allowing religious institutions that would otherwise fail credentialing requirements to offer their services to individuals whose needs they are poorly equipped to meet. Consistently sending ideologues instead of public policy experts to every imaginable international meeting. In one such conference, the September 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, the U.S. delegates attempted to strike language that "would have included female genital mutilation, forced child marriage, and 'honor' killings as human-rights violations" (p. 262). Ivins and Dubose go on to cover the effects of his court policies, the Patriot Acts, his naked espousal of fundamentalist religion, his tax policies, his environmental policy, the EPA, his unilateralist foreign policy, his food policy . . . the list goes on and on and on, a veritable parade of horrors.

My assessment of President Bush before reading this book is that he could very well be considered one of the very worst presidents in American history. Now, thanks to Ivins and Dubose, I think he is not only our worst president ever, but that one could make a powerful case for his being arguably the most destructive American to ever live. I consider this book to be essential reading, but working through it won't be much fun.

(Best with books like this to have it on the table where I stand)

I've read many of the recent Bush-bashing, liberal-energizing books (Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars . . .", Moore's "Stupid White Men" and "Dude, Where's My Country"), and I honestly think that this book is the best for someone who wants a good view into what liberals are so worked up about. Franken's book is often more humorous and a somewhat lighter read, so it may be better for you depending on your taste, but Ivins and Dubose here do the best job I've seen of setting out a well-reasoned, well-argued case, with not only the anecdotes but the numbers to back it up (although admittedly I haven't gone through their end-notes and checked up on all their sources).

While I love all the recent liberal-lit---preaching to the converted may not help so much, but we do so enjoy the sermon---"Bushwhacked" impressed me most for an argument that's both compelling and rational. If I can find an equivalent on the conservative side (it's hard to slog through the partisan reviews and find out anything useful about many of these books, and I hope my review isn't more of the same), I'd read it for such a good view into the other perspective.

Books like this completely amaze me as they seek only to fuel peoples hatred. It's quite clear Ivins goal is to be among the elite crowd of Bush-haters by pointing out idividual cases of Americans misfortunes as oposed to the state of the entire nation. Once again proving that anything bad for the people of America is good for democrats and liberals. When I read rubish like this it only helps me embrace conservatism more. One question, answer it honestly to yourself, When you vote will it be out of hatred or genuine trust in the other guy ?

molly ivins is a texan, and like a texan, she is blunt: bush is an unqualified jerk! good book, some humor, worth a read!

Quite honestly, this tales of this book didn't surprise me in the least. George Dubya is sneaky crook who somehow became president. He may have friends in high places and he may have Poppy Bush to bail him out.. but nothing lasts forever. This book just tells what we already know. Bush is a crook. He's a liar, one hundred times over. He's not out to help the little guy, but rather step on his back while Bush attempts climbs higher. Luckily, Dubya's days as the pres' are numbered.

Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose have offered America an amazing gift in this excellent, well documented book on the destructive policies of the current Bush administration. The book is based on well documented facts. The book is also organized by topical chapters so that Bush's mean-spirited and greedy policies can be revealed and documented in depth.

Ivins and Dubose link Bush's failures as a governor to the failure he has been as a chief executive. Bush claims to be a sucessful businessman prior to running for governor of Texas. However financial rescue after rescue by his father's wealthy friends and associates account for the fact that this man was not a total failure. They document how ENRON has consistently supported the political career of Bush, even if he now distances himself from that travesty. The ENRON employees were not allowed to trade the shares in their 401(k) and lost 1.2 billion whereas the top executives conducted insider trading and made off with 1.1 billion. You do the math! We have to ask ourselves, has the SEC now been strengthened to ensure this type of fraud doesn't destroy family savings and retirement in the future? You can bet you bottom dollar that the SEC will remain weak with Bush in the White House.

I will never eat deli meat again after reading how Bush policies have weakened USDA inspection of cooked meat products. I invite all Bush supporters to eat a healthy sandwich of smoked turkey and Listeria. When they emerge from the hospital, they can thank their President.

After 20 years of discussion and compromise, worker guidelines on ergonomic injury were finalized in the last days of the Clinton administration. These guidelines were the first to be gutted by the new President Bush.

In 1995 Newt was successful in defeating the Superfund legislation. Industrial polluters were required to pay for their own clean-up until Newt successfully overturned the program. Now the fund is running out of money and pollution clean-up will have to be paid by all citizens from the general fund. With Iraq to pay for, do we really think this will happen?

The tax cut for the wealthiest citizens seems to have created a jobless recovery. Ivins and Dubose use the statistics of Republican economist Kevin Phillips to back up their chapter on the disproportionate benefit this tax cut had on the top 1% of US citizens and the continued economic fall of the bottom 80% of Americans.

I was amazed to read that when efforts were made to investiage off-shore accounts to investigate terrorism funds, the corporate tax dodgers called on Tom Delay to come to the rescue. Even national security should not stand in the way of tax evasion for the rich republican campaign donors.

The No Child Left Behind sham is revealed to be a disaster. Texas schools quickly learned how to manipulate the system to hide deficiencies and waste precious classroom time teaching students the answers to standardized tests.

The fact that Bush's foreign policy is shaped by fundamentalist Christian dogma is freightening to the extreme.

Thank goodness for Molly and Lou's witty comments that allow the reader to remain transfixed as they read disaster after disaster to the American people related in this MUST READ text.

I read this book after reading the latest from Al Franken, Michael Moore, and Ann Coulter. I get a guilty pleasure from reading the fiery bestsellers written by both Democrats and Republicans.

But Bushwacked wasn't even a fun read. Molly Ivins is smarmy, self-congratulatory, and arrogant, all of which come through in every sentence.

Her thesis in this book is, "Bush is wack and those of us who lived in Texas while he was governor tried to tell you so," as if Bush weren't wildly popular in Texas, where he beat Gore by 30 points, the largest margin of victory for either candidate in any state.

To make her case, she focuses in on individual cases -- people who have been hurt by one of Bush's policies. With each succeeding story, told in her "woe is me" voice, the sappiness of the violin playing in your head gets louder.

Worst of all is that she takes herself so seriously. Even if you're not a Bush fan it's hard not to be turned off by her holier-than-thou attitude.

This is a terrible book. If you're in the mood for an anti-Bush rant, go with Franken's Lying Lies etc. Unlike Ivins, he at least understands that the current crop of mainstream polemics is a little ridiculous and has fun with it.

Ivins is an idealogue who despises all conservatives and Republicans; her problem is not with Bush but rather with anyone who isn't liberal. The book makes this quite apparent. The book contains many half-truths to support her disdain for Bush. If Bush successfully helped bring about world peace, Ivins would lambast Bush for doing so, saying that Bush created world peace merely for political reasons. Remember that Kerry and Bill Clinton have stated publicly and unequivocally that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and needed to be stopped at all costs. Ivins conveniently refuses to mention this fact in her politically skewed diatribe. Anyone could write a book saying similar things about the Clintons and Kerry. This book is no different from Ann Coulter's--only on the other side of the political spectrum. There's little concern for fairness and journalistic integrity in Ivins' book.

... when you start tracking down the "facts", you find they often don't say quite what was implied, or the very facts themselves are contradicted by overwhelming evidence in other areas.

After reading the other reviews, it's clear that partisan leanings are tainting how much of this material gets mentally absorbed as gospel truth.

Instead of getting into all the nitty gritty here, I will simnply suggest what I think anyone who reads political material of this kind should do - follow some of the more amazing claims via the notations and bibliography (if it has neither of these, burn the book. A book of this kind without well credited sources is worse than useless)to their source and see if you agree with the conclusions the author draws from them. In my case, I often found the author grabbed one fact and ran with it despite the preponderance of evidence to the contrary.

There are plenty of valid criticisms that deserve to be put at the doorstep of the Bush administration. There are some here that pan out, once you have looked into it tho, you will find the most spectacular ones just don't pass muster.

When I finished this book last night, I began to think of what, besides voting, I needed to do to help ensure that President Bush becomes the next former president this November.

Ivins and Dubose certainly make their opinions known, but those opinions are backed up by facts, with sources cited. They relate the policies of the Bush administration on education, the environment, energy, the appointment of justices, labor, taxes, food safety, and much more. They remind us just how much Bush and Co. are beholden to "big bidness," as they put it. And then they tell the stories of ordinary people -- people who don't give big campaign contributions -- and how those people are affected by these policies.

In the meantime, of course, they do poke some fun at Bush and his crew. But mostly, what they have to say is quite serious and quite scary and often quite sad.

They finish by reminding us that we are the government and that we need to get involved and pay attention and then demand that they serve we, the people, and not just their major contributors. The information and commentary they provide are not something you see on the evening news, because most folks would rather find out what star has just checked in to rehab. But we can find this information if only we look and pay attention. They've made me want to pay more attention to what our "elected" officials are doing.

So this is one thing I can do before the next election: urge you to read this book. Read books by conservative authors, too. Seek out news from sources other than network news. Get informed. Get mad. Then make up your own mind, and, for heaven's sake, get out and vote!