Rating: 
Summary: hes right
Review: Aside from CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, MSNBC, CSPAN, CNBC & NPR the liberal viewpoint has no where to be expressed.
Rating: 
Summary: Most People Suffer From Historical Amnesia
Review: Joe Conason (JC) is a good writer and this book is a quite easy read. I highly suggest this book over Al Franken book. When you compare the two side by side you realize, that JC is targeting a higher level of sophistication. He disperses with the juvenile swear words and the pedantic ranting that fill AF's book. JC takes the intelligent and reasoned approached one that I prefer over the caustic AF.This does not make the book great though, rather than try to correct every point in the book I have listed just a few brief examples of illogical deductions or downright lies. The Mine Safety and Health Administration did not rescue the miners as JC implied instead it was a combination of volunteers and paid professionals who effected the rescue. (14-15) JC was completely disingenuous in how much the average taxpayer received back in Bush's tax cut. The tax cuts were equal across the board but the best he could come up with is people who paid NO Federal tax got NO money back. HOW UNFAIR! (16-17) To prove that the media isn't biased he states that conservatives actually get to voice their opinions in the editorial sections this is terrible compared to 20 years ago when they were excluded completely (30) and again he is irked that the newspapers even allow conservatives to pen their thoughts. (41) JC asserts that Ann Coutler gets good reviews of her books by the press these are the examples of good reviews:
"Insult Slinging", "Sarcastic overhype", "Piece of agit-pop", "Pretends to intellectual seriousness where there is none." (32)
Wow if those are good reviews I would hate to see the bad ones. JC is very upset that the media might even report that there is a bias (38-39) Shhh don't talk about it and nobody will notice. To prove there is no bias JC shows these rather strange statistics for political endorsements for presidential candidates by Gannett Papers
1996 29% of the papers endorsed Bob Dole
2000 38% of the papers endorsed George Bush
He than follows those statistics up with this quote
"The trend favors republicans; Bob Dole won many more endorsements that Bill Clinton did in 1996, but not by the margin as impressive as that Bush achieved in 2000." (39-40)
Amazing 38% is an IMPRESSIVE margin. Well, NO, JC 38% shows the pervasive liberal bias. Nice try NPR has politically balanced programming (47) STOP LAUGHING I didn't write that JC did, I guess politically balanced programming means that NO right or even middle of the road voice is heard. Another great quote: "Conservatives enjoy other vast stretches of uncontested terrain in the national media." (48) His than lists all that he can think of to prove his point: 3 newspapers, 2 magazines, FOX news.
That's it folks that's the extreme conservative bias in the news. To prove that CNBC is slanted powerfully to the right JC found that the WSJ ONCE had a show on it. Oh my God, 1 show, on 1 hour, once a week. That is 1 out of 148 hours of weekly programming that was conservative and that makes them slanted powerfully to the right. (48-49)
BTW the show was cancelled it is now 148 out of 148 hours of liberal programming. Thank God no more right wing slant. He admits that Dan Rather and the CBS news are liberal (51)
Wait a second JC just spent 20 pages explaining that the media was slanted to the right, he even slammed Bernard Goldberg for saying Dan was liberal, but now he admits it. The only conservative voice on the Network or Cable news is FOX and everything else is liberal. Thanks for 20 pages of TRUE LIES. JC is upset that Anne Coutler actually dates men and has many close GAY friends. (113) So much for normal homophobic invectives bandied about by the left. One of my favorite quotes by JC "Conservatives cannot compete in the black community because they uphold color-blind principle, civil-quality and the constitution" (129) WOW such brutal honest Joe, those damn color-blind, non-racists, constitution believing scum on the right what are they thinking? In the end you are left rather exasperated. It seems that JC thought pattern, like much of other current day liberal authors is, if you repeat a lie often enough it will become the truth. His examples throughout the book are simply stated, PATHETIC. They usually show the exact opposite of his intended point, but it doesn't matter to him or to his INTENDED audience. They have no interest in the truth and even when they are presented facts such as a 38% endorsement for Bush is "PREVASIVE" conservative bias they simply fall to think what percentage then endorsed Gore? On page 3 JC wrote probably the biggest truth of this book "If Americans have a common fault, however, it's our tendency to suffer from historical amnesia." Joe you are right that is how you can claim the Civil Right Act was a liberal victory. The majority of Americans, especially liberal ones, do not know that more liberals voted AGAINST civil rights than conservatives. Its simple facts like these that you turn around and they wage your campaign of BIG LIES.
Rating:
Summary: Clinton apologist writes book, libs exult
Review: The sad truth is that the liberal "movement" in America is a loose conglomeration of radicals who would prefer to conform to internationalist whim than to thoughtfully redefine America's place in the world. I've read Joe Conason's works and can say that he is a smart man, certainly capable of making a compelling argument. That's why it's sad he sinks to the level of demagogue in 'Big Lies.' Did Joe really need to waste so much paper when the message of the book can be boiled down to "Liberals good, Bush bad"? If anything, the book is proof that conservatives are winning the cultural wars, and that liberals are increasingly viewed as mealy mouthed complainers capable only of showing how scared they are to be American.
Rating:
Summary: Equal parts fascinating and horrifying.
Review: If even a small fraction of Conason's allegations are true, the Far Right has "a lot of 'splaining to do." And those allegations are so well-documented that there are probably very few that AREN'T true. But be forewarned: this book is best taken in small doses, no more than a chapter a day, or else you may be too enraged and horrified to function. At the same time, the book is fairly well-balanced, acknowledging the faults of many on the Left and in the Center, although perhaps not quite as well-balanced as Brock's "Blinded by the Right" (which I also recommend). If there's a flaw in Conason's work, it would have to be his tendency to indulge what appears to be a personal vendetta against Nixon, that seems far out of proportion with anything he did.
Rating:
Summary: USA is in serious trouble
Review: I would have to say all the one star reviewers didn't read this book - at all. Conason dismantles some of the big myths or - lies - the right wing chants constantly like: Republicans are fiscally responsible (yeah right)
George W. is a compassionate conservative (LOL)
The right wing is tough on terrorists ... and so on. I think the most damning chapter was the one which detailed exactly how the Reagan & Bush Administrations helped arm and train the very terrorists we are now supposedly in a "war" against. also the last chapter which flushes the "9-11 was Clinton's fault" load down the toilet where it belongs.
It's pretty obvious, in our current chaotic and dangerous situation that the US is being led by criminally incompetent and corrupt "leadership" from the White House and Republican Congress. Conason lays it all out nicely in this book. Will conservatives ever read this? Probably not. They'll probably go down with the ship - and if we don't act fast they'll take the rest of us with them. This book may get you mad enough to actually do something.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Ok - I haven't read it, but I just finished "Banana Republicans". For anyone who really wants to know how the right took over in the US I highly recommend this book. The "liberal bias" that is supposedly in the media is not really bias, because most people ARE liberal, whether the conservatives want to admit it or not. Massive corporations have brainwashed the public through think tanks that conservatism is somehow good for America. Don't let the radical religious right and corporations tell you what's good for the country.
Liberalism is the true heart of America. CARING about your fellow man. Working for equality in the workplace, a clean environment, etc. How can anyone discount how beautiful these ideas are? American right wing politics have been an absolute disaster, and I can't wait for the PEOPLE to take back their country. This is the first time the republicans have controlled the house, senate, supreme court, and presidency since 1935. The reason? THEY DON'T REPRESENT THE PEOPLE!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Liberal Mantra: Bush, LIAR! Bush, WARMONGER! Waaaa, Waaaa!!!
Review:
Conason organizes chapters so each "revenges" (hallucinatory liberals' embellishment!) allegedly smearing accusations conservatives fling towards liberals. Displeasingly, this plan's appreciable from strict, coherence stndpoints. Conason's tone isn't as infernal in his monstrously devious cunning as his demeaningly liberal peers, who're ALL hazardously untamed in Bush-antagonism. Shyster Conason's still unforgivable in his slanderous pollutedness of scornfully branding rightists, when he defrauded in his unholy Introduction that his tripe WOULDN'T be narrow-mindedly adverse, like his ostracized peers'!!!! In Ch.7, dissuasively, his furious, up-to-then secretive partiality rears its UGLY head and savages ANY remediableness his "work" has of being reasonable.
Although Ch.8-10 are vilest, treachery in Conason's disrespectable "arguments" materializes. Conason stoops to untrustworthiness in his Introduction, when he incompetently forges that liberals are majority by misusing poll results regarding universal healthcare!!!! Conason vindictively neglects mentioning those biased "polls" occur ONLY during adverse economies, like polls last fall showed because of the economy's unprogressive downturn-which HAS rebounded.
Ch.1's depraved argument's flimsy. Conason dictates indiscriminately ALL CEOs are conservative prostitutes whose tax interests are subserved by the WH. Besides underhandedly admitting the conservative derogation of liberal disenfranchisement in business management, Conason's tarnish is fallaciously based. Assuming the WH crafts tax policy in CEOs' interests, this isn't necessarily alarming, as Conason combatively terrorizes. Refunds and write-offs for corporations are factually good, since this helps income. With expanding earnings, corporations will GLARINGLY hire to complement growth, employing Americans!!!! Provided you're liberal, you'll wrongfully find this blasphemous, which WILL reflect on you as undereducated.
Conason homicidally exaggerates choice facts, relentlessly prejudiced to liberal stubbornness. In Ch.2, he mishandles questionable "evidence" falsifying the LIBERAL MEDIA's conservative slant. Conason selectively seizes one unverifiable source, Editor & Publisher, to sinisterly further agendas of assumingly claiming conservative slant in media. What Conason hides is that survey involved opinions of editors/publishers regarding who they'd think would win 2000's election. Since most-indiscriminatingly-believed Bush, they were inclined to proclaim him since they realized the Gore-alternative was bleak. Conason fabricates upon embellishing that editors voted for Bush. A NARROW margin voted Bush. Conason conceals that survey asked said editors/publishers if they felt there was biased coverage. 80% of 25% who responded affirmative professed there was GORE BIAS. In another mistreated "source", Gannett newspapers, Conason bestially deceives their papers shifted towards right-wing endorsement despite their relative liberality. Before 2000's election, 13 papers turned Republican, so OF COURSE Bush's endorsements incremented, with the resulting discrimination of 41-votes-for-Gore to 37-votes-for-Bush still being worse Demoncratic prejudice.
Ch.3's idea's unlawful. Conason's the malcontent gall to mutiny against verifiable mantras of conservatives denigrating liberals traitorous!!!! All one's to do is bloodcurdlingly inspect Demoncrats' reactions to terrorism. They've bitched about "civil liberties" sacked by Ashcroft, Iraq's cost, keeping troops there necessarily, giving grants to Iraq, and American intervention to neutralize Iraqi terrorist and nuclear threats-even AFTER voting FOR war!!!! Not to mention Clinton's imposition of the "Torricelli `Principle'". Conason's amoralities descend further when he brutalizes conservatives for libeling Clinton the "draft dodger" he was. Conason encroachingly errs that Clinton's dastardly choice to evade Vietnam was acceptable due to his "disbelief" to war, while liberals tarnish Bush for his reasons of joining the National Guard, which at least was SERVICE!!!! Conason mendaciously involves secondary tactics of relying on filthily circumstantial examples when he plots to implicate conservatives as cowardly for avoiding Vietnam because of medical reasons. Conason abysmally covers-up HOWIERD Dean's ski-trip orgy after getting deferment from Vietnam!!!!
Ch.4 uses subterfuge in oppressively aggrandizing Clinton's "quite impressive" economical record, citing 4% unemployment, 22,000,000 "jobs" "created", and rising income. Conason mustn't fiercely scold Bush: Bush's 2003 tax-relief-the benefactor of 8% year-end GDP and 20-year high consumer confidence-is PRECISELY THE reason defamers like Conason shouldn't prematurely manufacture slurring in September, because he's dishonored now!!!! Clinton oversaw 350,000 INITIAL CLAIMS in January 20, 2001 (leftovers from Clinton's policies), and his "bullish" economy was shattered by calamitous ruination in markets, and high interest rates by 2000's end. Out of those 22,000,000 "created" "jobs", 92% were private-sector, forebodingly in unstable tech start-ups which contributed mostly to the markets' collapses. Because of the recession's length, interest rates under Bush culminated in 2002's record year for home sales-the strongest economic part which curbed the recession.
From Ch.7-10, inconsistencies become falsification!!!! In Ch.7, Conason preys on discriminatory, isolated incidents in Republicans' demeanors to fake "proof" of conservatives' immoralities. In Ch.8, Conason arraigns Bush's family as misconducting "Crony Capitalism", despite it applying to BACKWATERS whose dictators distribute favoring deals to friends. Bush's appointments are properly classified as nepotism. In Ch.9, Conason partially seizes thin connections of Bush to a "fundamentalist"-conservative professor, because Bush introduced his book, to frailly convict Bush of failing "compassionate conservatism". Ch.10's incontestably THE most ludicrous of Conason's uncleanliness. He bleakly invents Clinton was proactive against terrorism!!!! BWAHAHAHA!!!! Conason cites WORTHLESS, spurious Clinton actions like Taliban asset-freezing, manufacturing increased smallpox vaccine, and organizing "Pakistani commando units" to "capture or kill bin-Laden". It's blatant these frail misdeeds don't compare to Bush's trailblazing of the Homeland Security Department, airport fingerprinting
Rating:
Summary: Judo for the Progressive Soul
Review: The most noteworthy aspect of Joe Conason's writing is its clarity and concision. Like some sort of debate monster, he immediately cuts to the core of issues and uses documented research to make his points. That isn't to say that he's wimpy or nonconfrontational. Conason lets the reader know exactly how he feels, but without trying to mislead. He's more than happy to cite the bias of the sources that he quotes, and turns that into another strength-- conservatives' arguments are shown to be fraudulent by their own admission, or at least a simple look at the facts.
As such, is strikes me as being one of the most useful books out there in terms of presenting arguments in the most effective-- and honest-- means imaginable. I admire Conason for his level head and cool dememanor. His media appearances back him up. Conason has the unflappable attitude of a kung-fu flick Zen master.
'Big Lies' is a fascinating and quick read, filled with invaluable nuggets of information that any progressive ought to know. And at the price, you can hardly miss. Highly recommended.
Now watch closely as the right-wing zombie brigade checks off my review as un-helpful. Sheesh.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I was hoping for
Review: I read this book and Ann Coulter's Slander book one after the other.
I'm not American, so it was an exercise of personal interest, rather than something I'm emotionally involved in.
By way of comparison I found this book to be somewhat more rhetorical in nature than Coulter's, and less founded in examples and references. As an analytical writer myself I have to admit to preferring the well documented style of Coulter's book.
I can see that Americans are pretty divided one way or the other over which perspective they hold, but to a foreigner they're both interesting books.
I really wanted to like this book too, but I just found Conason a little too heavy on rhetoric, and a little too light on providing well documented examples and references.
Rating:
Summary: Great book! (and note to "Malcontent")
Review: First, a note to "Malcontent" (1-star review):
Ooooh, someone got a thesaurus!
Conason's insights, regardless of your opinion of his position, are at least verifiable and rise to a significantly higher level of scrutiny than the trash peddled by Limbaugh et al. Further recommended is Conason's regular Friday appearance on Air America's "Al Franken Show" (www.airamericaradio.com). Again, even if you feel Franken is too extreme in his position, Conason's considered voice of fact rings clear. Conason was reportedly a candidate to square off against Sean Hannity (who now bullies Alan Colmes on a regular basis); it's a shame the extremist right commentators are so fearful of formidable and intelligent opposition.
Bottom line? Great writer, great book. Also check out "The Hunting Of The President" (now in movie form, and available on DVD).
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