Rating: 
Summary: A fine gift for your sane conservative friends
Review: Aside from the title, which makes it way too easy for some conservative to take a cheap shot, this is a constructive book for those who want to separate facts from lies.
Republicans are not our enemy, or even conservatives. The far right that has taken over their party is, and we need to find more places where the beliefs of what I call the sane Republicans (think John McCain) overlap with ours and not with the crazy right-wingers. See, we know that Bush is the "selected" president of the United States of America. The far right wing having apparently decided we're rock/bone/stick stupid--and far too often we prove them correct--they hold up "patriotic" and "American" symbols in front of men and women who are neither. Reporters of Conason's stripe are essential for leading the charge against the so-called liberal media that lets that happen without proper examination. I was never an X-Files fan, but "The Truth Is Out There," is a catchy little slogan that comes back to me in regarding books like this. It's well written and documented, but like Al Franken's book gets bogged down in numbers from time to time. The same is true of Paul Krugman's volume, but he's an economist, after all. I hate to resort to two bumper sticker-like writings in one review, but another one with legs is that if you're not outraged, you haven't been paying attention.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard-Hitting Facts about America's Poison
Review: This book is the bible of American truth: The GOP are running this country into the ground.
Conason makes a strong case that most of the beliefs of the GOP are based on deception and lies. The strong evidence he offers, presented in a well thought out fashion, invites those who disagree to make a counter case based on something other than accusing him of being a liberal.
Conason points to several areas that the GOP offers often repeated sound bites that bare little resemblance to reality. His case about the GOP claiming to be a free market party is a case in point. Rather than letting the market rule as Barry Goldwater might have advocated, Conason offers case after case of Republicans choosing winners and losers, showering tax dollar largess on favored companies. Not surprisingly, these are more often than not companies that donate generously to the GOP.
The most powerful case in this book regards the Republicans growing and dangerous inclination to accuse any who disagree with them for being unpatriotic, or as in the case of a certain GOP mouth piece, of being traitors. This dangerous tendency towards demonization indicates a frightening willingness to damage democratic institutions in order to hold power. Not in this book but elsewhere Conason put it well when he said that the GOP increasingly seems to be a party not interested in governing, but in ruling.
Real Americans would do well to read and take note before casting their ballot in November.
Rating:
Summary: One of Several Valuable References, Misses the Gland Slam
Review:
This book is one of several (Hightower, Franken, Moore being among the others) that does a good job but not the best job of nailing extremist Republican lies and distortions.
It is a great index, something the other books have tended to neglect. You can, for example, look up national security or minorities, or health care, and get right to the relevant lies. You can also look up individual names and see the specifics on both corporate cronies of the extreme right, or media manipulators. (...)
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Examination Of Basis For Far Right Lies!
Review: This provocative book represents another nail in the burgeoning coffin Bush is building around himself by way of the growing number of voices openly criticizing the Bush regime and the radical far-right cabal associated with it. Noted author Joe Conason, whose new book, "Big Lies", fires off a volley of convincing broadsides against the perfidy and systematic misrepresentations of the neo-conservative elements within the Republican party. The author employs a rather interesting and disarmingly straightforward approach to "outing" each of the lies, citing one at the outset of each chapter, and then systematically examining the evidence regarding the outrageous and inflammatory charges. According to Conason, the charges of the far right would be laughable, were they not so easily accepted as true within the public domain. Yet even more worrisome has been the specter of a Democratic party either unable or unwilling to engage any of these outrageous charges until the rise of recent proponents like Al Franken, whose humorous and yet hard-punching fisticuffs have finally begun to turn the tables against the Republican fear-mongering with a spate of best selling books and associated lecture tours. For Conason, the right wing is composed of a quite calculating and dissembling gaggle of skilled propagandists bankrolled by the kind of slush funds made available by a political system that rewards such squalid perfidy with the excess of crony capitalism. Thus, rather than being bastions of virtue and the defenders of freedom they present themselves as, such representatives from front-organizations such as the Heritage Foundation are actually the front-line shock troops of a new form of media-based fascism that is attempting to paint the opposition as ineffective, corrupt, and even un-American. Hmmm. Who was it that said patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels? Seems the comment certainly fits in with the analysis presented here. Taking particular aim at the electronic media pundits like blowhard Tucker Carlson and the feckless fat man himself, William Bennett, Conason shows how easily their hot air bags can be deflated through the quick insertion of a few facts into the equation. In a moment all of their invective and shocking string of accusations about public figures become patently obvious as being what they are, scurrilous attempts to smear decent human beings with the argot of hate and fear. Conason writes with both passion and precision, and one is edified at the same time as one is being entertained, so learning more about tall of this is a rather effortless affair, and one I would highly recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the truth regarding so much of the political nonsense presenting itself as learned analysis on endless TV talk shows. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Left Wing Liberal Propaganda and the lying liars who tell em
Review: This book is another shining example of the unadulterated hatred the radical left wing liberals have for George W Bush. They complete deny anything that doesn't conform to their skewed, liberal lenses. Its quite shocking actually. The right wing propaganda machine this book speaks of is simply the market place determining whether talk show radio, specifically, conservative, will succeed. Why isn't there liberal talk shows? Because the market can't sustain them, unless its funded by taxpayers, ie NPR. My advice, take a pass on this book. Alan Combs has a much better book that takes a liberal viewpoint
Rating:
Summary: Non-Fiction?
Review: If you believe nouns can't exist without adjectives or that "polical correctness" is a "dead issue" or that assertions never need support, then this is your fodder.
Rating:
Summary: Lean, mean, and screaming
Review: Joe Conason's writing style is interesting and very straightforward. The more you read, the sicker you become at the antics of Bush and Company. These aren't things that were pulled out of the air with no supporting documentation (or distorted). Conason took conservatives' own words and sources (being the entire "mainstream" press) and used it to prove their bias. I don't see where he had a "vendetta" against Nixon. He has a case with the people who claim they are "fair and balanced" but who know they're anything but. The chapter that stood out the most for me was Chapter 9: "Faith, Charity, and the Mayberry Machiavellis." Joe very clearly connects the dots between Bush, Cheney, etc. and these secretive, elitist organizations where Bush draws his radically conservative judicial nominees. I was also fascinated to know that John Ashcroft is a medieval kind of guy. I still can't get over the fact that his father used Crisco oil (!) to annoint him on the forehead before he was sworn in to one office because regular annointing oil was unavailable (in addition to his morning prayer meetings on federal - read secular - property). To think that this is the guy who is supposed to defend religious and other civil liberties is enough to both frighten and sicken you to action. I enjoy Joe's columns in The New York Observer. He is a force to be reckoned with.
Rating:
Summary: AMMUNITION
Review: Not only is BIG LIES a compelling read, but it gives liberals what they've sorely been missing: PROOF. Joe Conason details step by step exactly how the myths about liberalism were constructed and how they are patently false. And since the chapters are short and chock full of liberal goodness, you can have this read in two weeks time easy. Also, if you want to be informed going into the 2004 election, I can not recommend a better book than BIG LIES. Conason's sources are rock solid and his endnotes are precise and easy to digest. Finally, something I can stomach. Yum. In closing, I'll say that I also read Franken's book and found it funny as hell, but most conservatives can push that one aside as a simple hack job. But with BIG LIES, they have nowhere to run. This is a serious, razor sharp version of Franken's tome and should be required reading for liberals who want to make a difference. If I could give BIG LIES ten stars I would. Conservatives beware. The end is nigh.
Rating:
Summary: Someone wanted proof
Review: I don't have proof per se (there is no "proof", for either side), but here is something: "I admit it: the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures." -- William Kristol "I've gotten balanced coverage and broad coverage -- all we could have asked . . . For heaven sakes, we kid about the liberal media, but every Republican on earth does that." -- Pat Buchanan
Rating:
Summary: Thanks to a deft political mechanic
Review: Joe Conason isn't just a superb writer. He's a deft political mechanic, and this big book of his helps to take apart a nasty machine. Professionally, I teach people to read life deeper, and Conason's book reminds me that if more people used deeper perception (face reading, aura reading, service to others as a skilled empath), the right-wing political machine wouldn't work so well. In case you're political without yet being metaphysical, auras are energy fields with databanks of information that anyone can read, including via photos. Integrity shows in three parts of an aura, and no amount of political spin can hide this. George W. and Dick Cheney, for instance, have auras that reveal integrity is extraordinarily distorted. This isn't to say that all the Democrats are perfect, either. Both talents and problems show in everyone. People are complicated. Whether you're reading political records, faces, or auras, the point is that ideology can't stand alone. WHO speaks the words? WHO requests the spin? Of course it makes sense to check out the military service records of the Republican jingoists (LOL). When we Americans collectively keep our wits about us-i.e., actively using them-we'll find, and elect, politicians who have integrity, whether they're right wing, left wing or middle-of-the-wing. Speaking of integrity, using a technique for reading auras from photos from EMPOWERED BY EMPATHY, here's what Conason's aura shows about his communication: Talent for trumpeting out anything he'd choose to write or say. A detached, ironic, intellect. Meticulous concern for details. Passion behind his dry words. At the level of the soul, doing exactly what he came here to do. Go, Joe, on Salon, in book form!
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