Wake Up, You're Liberal!: How We Can Take America Back from the Right

Rating:
Summary: What is a Conservative?
Review: A conservative: wants Taliban-like religious theocracy (only with suits and ties, not turbans), wants to disenfranchise and intimidate people from their right to vote, wants to pollute our skies and waters so that corporations can make obscene profits, wants to put gays / minorities / peace advocates / decent people into concentration camps a la Adolf Hitler and exterminate anything that isn't Judeo-Christian / Caucasian, desire a locked down totalitarian police state, want to eliminate the First Amendment, want to torture anyone who doesn't support a theocratic Republican oligarchy, they are shallow-minded, hypocritical, unintelligent, soulless, evil, wretched people. Conservatives are the ones who HATE America. They HATE true freedom. Would that I could send ALL of them to live in Iran, China, anywhere to give them a TASTE of their own medicine!

Rating:
Summary: Points on Target; Ranting is Unproductive.
Review: Having enjoyed Rall's editorials, I anxiously awaited this book to arrive. Perhaps that's why I was so disappointed by its advice. Rall advocates fighting dirty like the Republicans and others on the far right do. It was a humorless diatribe as much against Democrats for their complacency and incompetence in the political arena as against the Bush & Company administration. Rather than being energized I was offended; maybe I'm not liberal enough.

Rating:
Summary: Points on Target; Ranting is Unproductive.
Review: I frequently agree with Rall, and I'll certainly give him credit for being both a very good writer and excellent cartoonist. He voices a distinct viewpoint and adds an important element to the national political dialogue.

That said, he's really really far to the left, more so than anyone in the mainstream Democratic party. He's more of a Noam Chomsky acolyte than anything else. He believes the invasion of Afghanistan after 9-11 was wrong. He was dismissive of the death of Pat Tilman. He's just very negative - not hopeless, because he's still engaged in politics, but relentlessy critical, adding much fire and less light.

There's a point in organized dissent where people become so enraged that their feet come off the ground. Ted Rall is frequently right on the edge.

Rating:
Summary: How Democrats can stop sucking and start winning
Review: I just finished reading this. Rall makes the case that Democrats can win and win consistently by aggressively promoting a *liberal* program that ties in well with established (and popular) core American values, while shedding other traditionally left-wing priorities (such as affirmative action; Rall is also generally pro-gun).

His thesis is largely strategic, and he spends a couple of chapters mainly critiquing Democrats, including Bill Clinton (whose impeachment Rall supported), with a particularly good analysis of Gore's strategic failure during and after the 2000 election. There's plenty of thought-provoking material, like "The Case For Dirty Politics". And something for nearly every reader to disagree with.

The book includes no comic strips, says nothing bad about terror widows, and doesn't speak ill of dead football players. Incredibly, Ted Rall has written a level-headed *and* optimistic book (well, up until the Epilogue anyway). Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Opened my eyes
Review: Ted Rall should be commended for laying out all the cards on the table and calling out what needs to be fixed. He is spot on in his current views of the Democratic Party and what they need to do to get the blood flowing again. He is absolutely correct in that the majority of Americans hold different shades of liberal views and that the conservative movement has been against progress from the very beginning. But why do they win election after election? Because they are successful in media control, voter manipulation and lying. This country is headed for the toilet and people need to wake up.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best political analyses I have ever read!!
Review: The writing is clear, lucid and entertaining, yet manages to rile even the most sedate Democrat who feels that this country is going to hell in a handbag. Rall's ability to capture the way Americans can entertain contradictory opinions is spot on and enlightening to those of us who have a hard time comprehending how avowed Republicans can sleep at night. The really good thing is that reading this book has given me a better sense of my political identity and an urge to do something about the sad state of affairs in which the Bush administration has placed this country and its people.Ted Rall is a prime example of why a study of history can be so valuable in helping us lead mature, well-reasoned, persuasive and self-actualizing lives as Liberals.

Rating:
Summary: Ted Rall is a Loser
Review: This book should be retitled "Wake up, Ted, You're an Idiot."

Ted Rall is a nasty little jerk. This is the same lowbrow moron who wrote such vile and malicious personal vitriol against President Reagan after his death and calls Republicans "neofascists" and worse. Ted can't debate legitimate issues - so he resorts to rants and personal insults. He's a real class act.

This book, like Ted Rall himself, is worthless. I was given it as a joke and promptly threw it out. Save your money.


Rating:
Summary: A sharp-voiced wake-up call
Review: Wake Up... You're Liberal: How We Can Take America Back From The Right is a sharp-voiced wake-up call, grounded heavily in both research and personal passion. Cartoonist, columnist, and war correspondent Ted Rall argues that most "Republican" voters agree with liberals on most issues, but have been duped into voting against their own interests and for the interests of the wealthiest, most sharply conservative, and often most fanatically religious minority of the nation. Discussing everything from high school bullying to dirty political practices to Central Asian oil politics, Wake Up... You're Liberal combines its whetted observations into an overriding manifesto to wake up, get involved, and contribute to the democratic system that makes America great.