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Summary: Barbaric? A review? Give us a break!!!!!
Review: I'll tell ya what's BARBARIC. Being BUSHWACKED to the tune of 87 BILLION DOLLARS......AND that estimate IS THE ONLY THING CONSERVATIVE ABOUT THIS ADMINISTRATION. AND HOW MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST NOW???????? SPEND MONEY.....EXPEND LIVES. This book isn't for the thin skinned dittoheads,followers,(thin skinned) chickenhawks,and worshippers of all things Bush Incorporated. This book was/is an ominous signal of things to come......And look what has happened to America since Governor Bush took over the White House. WE CAN'T AFFORD THE RESIDENT CHICKENHAWK ANY LONGER!!!!!Anyone that would consider an online review barbaric,and ignore what this administration has done to America.......Has been living sheltered in an ivory tower. You wouldn't know barbaric if it bit you on the butt! Ignore those that suggest that you do not buy this book. Look around,the news,your hometown,opinions on the net. A reasonable person will conclude that we're in deep. Sometimes I think GWB was elected NOT BY THE COURT, BUT BY SAUDI ARABIA. Buy this book,and several copies for friends, and relatives.
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Summary: What Is Dubya Doing To Our Country?
Review: In BUSHWACKED, Molly Ivins dissects Dubya's absolute disaster of a first (and only, God willing!) term with infectious humor and outrage. Inarguably the worst president in the history of the U.S, Bush has proven to be a consistently and ruinously reckless "leader", one who is feverishly pursuing the capitalist wet dream of obtaining power and money for himself and his cronies. After brazenly cutting taxes for the rich AND marching us into a questionable, costly and potentially endless war, Bush then watched with apparent amusement as the country's economic health quickly deteriorated into a near-terminal state and the jobless rate subsequently skyrocketed. He's also seen fit to gut nearly all environmental pollution controls and has greatly "relaxed" worker safety standards, thus directly risking the health and lives of all Americans. For those people who only get their news from the right wing controlled media, this book will be a shocking reality check. Ivins tells it exactly like it is, with understandable anger but also with her characteristic wit and insight. Her most impressive ability is the way she is able to reveal with extreme candor just how Bush's corporation-favoring policies have negatively impacted upon the lives of the middle class and poor (that is to say, 95% of the population). This book is essential reading for anyone even mildly disturbed by the Big Brother machinations of the current administration.
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Summary: Fair and balanced...
Review: Message of this book in a nutshell: Capitalism is good -- it's unregulated capitalism that you have to be careful of. If your beliefs hold that government should be there for the benefit of people then you will probably love this book. If your beliefs hold that government should be there for the benefit of big "bidness" then you might want to skip this one and devote the time it would've taken to read it to watching FOX News instead.
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Summary: Powerful
Review: A wonderful book that should be read by anyone who cares about the future of America.
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Summary: Don't have anything against liberals
Review: Liberals are necessary in our country, just like conservatives are necessary also. The pendulum just keeps swinging back and forth. I just did not like the book. I do get really tired of the political bashing on both sides. Doesn't matter who runs it, this country is still the greatest in the world! Bush inherited NAFTA, entered within a year of the worst terrorism of our nation, dotcoms tanking, Enron scandal~ you got to give the guy some credit~it has been no picnic. It will be interesting to see who wins next year.
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Summary: Thank goodness for so balanced and well written a book
Review: David Brooks in his recent New York Times article rightly bemoaned the fact that so much literature today is extremist (and implicity apologised for some of the material he wrote during the Clinton years). What is refreshing about Ivins is that she is incisive, witty, thorough - and totally lacking in the kind of extremist venom that discredits liberals and enables conservatives to write them off accordingly. She is neither Maureen Dowd nor Ann Coulter (to take examples fairly from both sides of the divide). So whether you are a Democrat or not, you should enjoy this book - if sensible Democrats like Ivins and sensible conservatives like Brooks prevailed, political commentary would be a much better place! This is a very helpful book to read as 2004 is upon us. Christopher Catherwood, author of CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND ISLAMIC RAGE (Zondervan, 2003)
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Summary: Not for people with ADD
Review: This may be the best of the Bush adminstration critiques. Although it features, of course, Ms. Ivins humorous use of language, it is thorough in its presentation and thoroughly partisan. Unlike other highly partisan attacks on Bush, this one can't be ignored or easily dismissed by those who will rightly point out that Ivins has been a sharp critic of Bush for years. The presentations are detailed and the research is there.This will also be attacked by the right wing and, as is always true, no real rebuttal will appear. No one will say: Molly Ivins is wrong about this and here is why... It will simple be dismissed as "more liberal nonsense," without any current argument regarding the content of the book. It will be hard to do with Molly Ivins, who studies hard, does her homework, and turns in very, very thorough work. The book will not convert many people--Molly's going to end up preaching to the choir. That's because many of the things in Bush's business and political history can't be explained quickly or in soundbites. When Clinton has sex with a young intern--that's easy to cite and easy to understand. Bush's past shady business dealings require PAGES to explain and a very attentive reader to understand. Molly does a great job but, sadly, admirers of the President are simply not going to buy this book. It will be purchased by people who already are painfully aware of Mr. Bush's shortcomings as a President.
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Summary: Wow...
Review: it does not take a whole lot of research to find out that Mr. Bush's administration is full of holes. But it does require research and critical thinking. Lets face it, we all love America and all the partisian bickering is stupid. Even if you are a devout right-wing republican and you do your research I believe you will find that you will want a different republican administration in place before more damage is done to OUR country. It's idealistic, but we should all be voting on the issues and not solely along party lines. Great book...KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
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Summary: Leave no billionaire behind
Review: A lot of this book has been covered in Molly's columns, but this work goes into a lot more depth. I noticed several customer
reviews called the book "drivel" and the like. If she is lying, where's the evidence? I know she is on target when decribing Bush's tenure in Texas because I have had to live through it. While running for governor he accepted millions of dollars in corporate donations inside and out of TX to insure his election. Then he appointed executives from those corporations (like Enron) to head state agencies such as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Then they instituted deregulation. Consumers and the environment paid the price. In short, he has been bought and paid for by corporate interests.
He passed tax cuts which wiped out a budget surplus and left the state in a fiscal crisis (sound familiar?). Molly Ivins's
writing is largely political satire in the tradition of Mark Twain. She cares deeply about this country and uses the truth mixed with wit to combat self-serving politicians. Wh
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Summary: Definitely interesting and thought-provoking...
Review: ... but it's not journalism. Or, at least, it's journalism told from a slanted point-of-view. As I read through this book, I became angrier and angrier with the leadership of our nation. Ivins and Dubose tick off the areas in which Bush and his administration are ruining our nation. Scary examples of environmental setbacks, insane fiscal policy, dictatorial foreign policy, too much political influence by Big Business, etc., play throughout the book. I became convinced that the Bush administration is destroying our country and everything it stands for. But then about half-way through, I realized the reason I was so angry was because at no point do we hear a rebuttal from the administration itself. There has got to be reason that Christine Todd Whitman decided to do away with the ombudsman office within the EPA. But danged if we could find out the reason, or even if Ivins or Dubose attempted to contact Whitman's office to hear their side of the story. Don't get me wrong, I DO think Bush and his high-paying cronies are evil. It's just that they need to have more of a voice in this book if it's aspiring to be anything close to journalism. Even Al Franken, in his most recent book, contacted his intended targets for a response/rebuttal. I have absolutely no doubt that if Ivins and Dubose were to have given those within the administration a voice, they would have quickly hung themselves, so to speak. There's no way the administration's representatives could have stood up to the heart-wrenching individuals who are the focus of each chapter. Had there been more balance, this could have been a journalistic classic.
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