Rating: 
Summary: Dave Barry at his best... and that's saying something
Review: First of all, disregard the comments about a certain vegetable character in this book. Who cares? It's not like this joke is pulling down the rest of the material.
Anyway, I don't think a paragraph went by in this book that didn't have me chuckling. Certain parts, especially the meandering and largely off-topic musings on southern Florida and the dangerously amusing re-creation of the 2000 election news coverage, will have you laugh out loud more or less constantly. More than once I had to put the book down, calm myself, and then find my place again.
The only negative point I have to make is that, eventually, you'll finish reading and be forced to purchase another Dave Barry book.
Rating: 
Summary: Audio version, ugh.
Review: I bought the audio version read by Dick Hill, and I think I could tell that this is another great book from Dave Barry. But Dick Hill's reading voice is wrong, all wrong. He is SUCH a distraction from the content of the book. I had to give up after about 10 minutes. He constantly plays with his voice and does all these stupid inflections as though he's reading to a child. It's awful, simply awful. I hope that next time Dave's publisher will choose a voice that doesn't constantly interfere with the content.
Rating:
Summary: Audio version, ugh.
Review: I bought the audio version read by Dick Hill, and I think I could tell that this is another great book from Dave Barry. But Dick Hill's reading voice is wrong, all wrong. He is SUCH a distraction from the content of the book. I had to give up after about 10 minutes. He constantly plays with his voice and does all these stupid inflections as though he's reading to a child. It's awful, simply awful. I hope that next time Dave's publisher will choose a voice that doesn't constantly interfere with the content.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious as usual
Review: I don't know what some of these other reviews are talking about, frankly. This book highlights Barry at his best, hilarious as usual.
The more you know about politics, the funnier this stuff gets. Barry is a highly intelligent commentator on politics and on the sometimes insane world of campaigning and lawmaking. His new-and-improved version of the Constitution is roll-on-the-floor laughing material.
Barry also discusses the 2000 presidential candidates, making light of their shortcomings, but also getting serious: he met both of them, and says that Gore was much more personable than he seemed on TV, and Bush much more intelligent. He's on to an important point here: the way candidates appear on TV, or the ways they are sterotyped by the media, doesn't necessarily have anything to do with who they are in real life.
A must-have for anyone who likes politics, and actually has a sense of humor.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm not making this up - Pointed Satire!
Review: I find Dave Barry hilarious. He seemed to have a purpose - lampooning the federal government - but unfortunately as the book goes on, it seems to run out of steam and he is finally forced to wedge in commentary on the 2000 election and south Florida in a manner that seems, well forced. Which is too bad considering that this was probably the genesis of the book itself. It almost feels like "Well I've taken on the federal government which is a joke already so let's tell stories of the strangeness of Florida." Which is really too bad becuase he was on such a roll hitting Washington. Plus how many writers can pad out their book with references to zucchini? Valient effort that when it's on, it's great. When it's off, it's just sort of limping along there. Now granted, humor is in the eye of the reader, and you can't always expect hilarity from page 1 to the end, but I found myself going from "laugh out loud and have my subway mates look at me strangely" to "yea, that's funny. Ha ha." Never fully disappointed, but after all is said and done, I found a feeling of unfulfillment. Very fun but could have been a lot better.
Rating:
Summary: Talking Tour of Fed'l Gov't & 2000 Election & So Florida
Review: I recently finished listening to the Audio CD edition of this work. Barry's columns are usually LOL material for me and I listened to his novel Tricky Business with pleasure. So much for my bona fides. Most of the federal government gags were just plain goofy rather than funny (no, I don't work, nor have I ever worked, for Uncle). The closer DB got to home (Miami, obviously), the more I began to laugh. His dissection of the Florida vote in the 2000 Presidential match-up? LOL. His take on Dan Rather's electoral metaphors? FDOTF (Fall Down On The Floor) LOL. His vivisection of So Florida's ethnic politics, drug money dementia and the Grand Panjandrums of the Criminal Defense Bar? SICB (Stop, I Can't Breathe) LOL. Here's a BTW: Unlike another reviewer, I think Dick Hill does a fine job reading the book. His over-the-top delivery only comes into its own, however, when the story line (such as it is) leaves Washington, DC. My takeaway? Listen to Tricky Business first but don't pass this one up.
Rating:
Summary: Talking Tour of Fed'l Gov't & 2000 Election & So Florida
Review: I recently finished listening to the Audio CD edition of this work. Barry's columns are usually LOL material for me and I listened to his novel Tricky Business with pleasure. So much for my bona fides. Most of the federal government gags were just plain goofy rather than funny (no, I don't work, nor have I ever worked, for Uncle). The closer DB got to home (Miami, obviously), the more I began to laugh. His dissection of the Florida vote in the 2000 Presidential match-up? LOL. His take on Dan Rather's electoral metaphors? FDOTF (Fall Down On The Floor) LOL. His vivisection of So Florida's ethnic politics, drug money dementia and the Grand Panjandrums of the Criminal Defense Bar? SICB (Stop, I Can't Breathe) LOL. Here's a BTW: Unlike another reviewer, I think Dick Hill does a fine job reading the book. His over-the-top delivery only comes into its own, however, when the story line (such as it is) leaves Washington, DC. My takeaway? Listen to Tricky Business first but don't pass this one up.
Rating: 
Summary: Dave Barry--Going Through a P.J. O'Rourke Phase?
Review: I was leaving the library last night and noticed a new Dave Barry title hanging on the new books rack, so I had to pick the thing up. I was not disappointed. I must confess that I've been a long-time Barry fan, but I last purchased "Book of Bad Songs." As great a series of columns as that turned out to be, the book itself was pretty much bunk. Not the case this time. This book, thankfully, was not column rehashes. Barry has long been considered a Libertarian, and this book makes a good case for it. The first two chapters have the worst elements of a lackluster Barry book, like too many footnotes and a string of jokes that form no real coherent narrative. But the book's bright spots are on the horizon: Barry bashes the government. He gives good statistics and charts, believe it or not. He even admits that it's basically his (updated and inferior) version of P.J. O'Rourke's _Parliament of Whores_. He shines with proposals that candidates be injected with massive amounts of truth serum and forced to dress NASCAR-style, with sponsor's logos on their suits. The best section is the one in which he argues that South Florida should be expelled from the Union. Besides a hilarious look at why South Floridians do not know how to vote, he absolutely skewers Fidel Castro and the liberal establishment's coddling of him. If you're familiar with O'Rourke, you'll probably love Dave Barry's attempt at writing a P.J. book. Even P.J. would like it, since he's complained before that he hates going on book tours with Barry, since he's nowhere near as funny. Five stars without the first two plodding chapters, four stars with them. Incidentally, O'Rourke has a new book out as well. October is being kind to me this year.
Rating:
Summary: Dave at his best
Review: I've read just about everything Dave Barry has ever published. Creepy? Yeah, pretty much. But let me tell you: this is some of his greatest material ever. He combines his classic wit with the already-humorous institution known as American politics, and the result is abundant laughter. I especially loved his 2 whole chapters on the Election of 2000; they're classic Dave Barry!
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Dave
Review: If you're a Dave Barry fan, you'll like this book; if you're not, you probably won't. If you don't know who he is yet, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? :^) Some of the book is just so-so, but I laughed until I cried - literally - when I read his spoof on 'smear' ads on TV that major political candidates air against each other. His 'complete explanation, including the footnotes' of the Constitution and its amendments is also good. Not his best, but it has its moments.
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