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Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You | 
| Author: Paul Waldman
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  32 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1402202520
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9781402202520
ASIN: 1402202520
Publication Date: February 1, 2004
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Product Description
"Waldman gets right to the heart of the con." -Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
How to Build a Fraud
--Portray son of one of America?s most influential families as down-home Texan
--Berate media as "liberal" until they stop asking tough questions
--Take advantage of reporters? tendency to not check the facts
--Mask reactionary policies in compassionate words and pictures
--Push false stories from right-wing media into mainstream media
--Extol the virtues of workers while systematically pushing an anti-labor agenda
--Propose a series of tax cuts aimed at the wealthy, but sell them as a boon to ordinary Americans
--Disguise destructive initiatives with friendly sounding names
--Befriend media with "genuine guy" routine
--Keep the public from accessing information
--Maintain message discipline at all times
--Question patriotism of anyone who disagrees
--Repeat above until it all seems true
In Fraud, leading political and media analyst Paul Waldman exposes the truth behind the rise of George W. Bush. What is revealed is more shocking than just a pattern of lies and incompetence. It is the story of how a clever political machine built a high-stakes game of deception, a policy of lies to capture the highest office in the free world, a fraud that continues to this day.
The power of the fraud lies in the ability of the Bush machine to manipulate the press, and thereby avoid having the truth exposed. Waldman?s findings reveal an astonishing record of how the nation?s media has not only given Bush a pass again and again, but have failed to follow up on even the most openly dishonest parts of the Bush agenda.
For all Americans who have been uneasy about the honesty of the Bush administration, but unsure what it means or how far it goes, Fraud is a shocking wake-up call.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 Excellent, Logical Arguments September 23, 2006
Knight
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book has excellent arguments which shows that various major media providers put George Bush in a false light, a pretty one, in order to make him out to be a good or innocent person when in reality, he is not at all.
Mr. Waldman skillfully and logically explained using even subtle evidences as to how the media puts him in an undeserved good light.
One of the things I found fault with however was that he said that George Bush was not evil, yet ironically, his description of Bush, despite whatever else Waldman was saying about Bush Jr. in his book, was a man who with the help of his friends and allies as well, made and makes deliberate efforts to portray him as someone who he is not, that includes him having a humble, God-fearing personality, and who is honest about his true goals for the laws and speeches he makes. For example, Bush hiding the fact that his true intent is to fatten the rich and keep the poor poor. According to the Bible, and many major religions, and even obscure ones, to give to the rich (those who already have) as well as steal from and oppress the poor, especially to fatten the rich by doing so, is EVIL. Even non-religious people sense that to take advantage of the poor to increase the wealth of people who are already rich is an evil act.
Despite that flaw, this book is a great help for reformed type Christians in showing the hellish direction the U.S.A. and the countries it oppresses are going.
 Very interesting book..........explains media oversight July 23, 2006
CMH (Illinois)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Paul Waldman exposes one of the most corrupt Presidents to take office and the news media that has supported him.
Fraud shows how the public has been grossly misled. The American Media has portrayed President Bush in a favorable light. Partly because they are gullible, partly because I suspect the news media is owned by very wealthy individuals or large corporations and partly because the Bush Administration has used "bullying tactics" to get bias coverage.
If one looks closer you see that the facts speak for themselves and Paul Waldman lays down the facts.
This book not only lists many of the lies uttered and policies enacted by our 43rd President but lists the exact sources of information (like a college thesis paper) so there is no doubt as to the validity of the information provided. This isn't "Bush Bashing" as much as it's a laying down of documented utterings by none other then W himself.
People that are still pro Bush will not see this, they will make excuses and allowances for the more then 262 lies documented as the American Public sees what they want to see.
We have a President that has bent all rules in favor of his own personal agenda vs the public good. He habitually says one thing, the press reports what he says and then he turns around and quietly does whatever he wants. The media seems to not see or want to see the discrepancy and in the process Americans are being deceived.
I suspect historians will verify that Fraud was accurate and the American People were misled.
I found page 52 very interesting, here Paul Waldman compares Bill & Hilary Clinton's Whitewater scandal to George W. Bush's Harkin Scandal and shows how the American News Media has twist and shaped the publics perception in favor of George Bush Jr.
The Whitewater Scandal was the target of an Independent Counsel investigation that spent more than $70 million in taxpayer funds. And how much money was involved? Approximately $220,000.
George W. Bush made $848,560 on his "timely sale" of Harken stock, the $20 million in losses Harken hid from shareholders, and the $8 million in sham profit it created out of thin air with the Aloha deal".
The New York Times ran more than 1,000 articles on Whitewater and only 9 for Harken. Seems the press largely ignored the "Harken Scandal" while climbing all over Whitewater.
The above is only one sample of how the news media has failed the American People big time. We're not getting the full unbiased story. The public at large has no comprehension of the extent we are being manipulated by the press.
Reviews by Nan Kilar and Bobby Miller April 12, 2006
Bobby W. Miller
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Lucid and compelling. By far one of the best anti-Bush books I've read. It's done with a scholar's scrupulous attention. Waldman placed this book at the head of the line with me by repeatedly providing thought provoking comparisons. Frankly, I'd like to compare it with my anti-Bush book, but really the two are incomparable. You will see Bush as he really is. What you will learn, and this pleases me because I've been, okay I'll say it, preaching that Bush is not some dumb clown that doesn't know his left from his right. He knows damn well what he's doing and he's doing it according to plan like a champ. The greatest trick the devil ever played on earth was to convince people he didn't exist. The pleasure was all mine, Waldman.
How to talk to a conservative, if you must March 27, 2006
Edwin C. Pauzer (New York City)
28 out of 30 found this review helpful
This book was a phenomenal, well-written expose of George Bush. As one reviewer put it, it is an encyclopedia of every thing that is wrong with George Bush, and the fraud he has perpetrated on the American public.
Waldman catalogues so many facts and attributions per page, it is difficult to read so many pages in one sitting, because you want to absorb the messages. This book is filled with footnotes and appendices and nexus searches. It is impossible here to list all the things that Waldman describes in detail: his drunkeness, arrests, insider trading, favored military treatment, sleazy campaign attacks, the administration chickenhawks, and his lies about everything from WMD's to taxes.
Waldman writes well. His message is clear, concise, and easy to follow. His arguments are compelling and unassailable. If you are still uncertain, read all the one star reviews and look at what they attack: the editorial spelling of a latin phrase, or a dismissive, shrill-like, paragraph without a single, intelligent, cogent analysis, refutation of fact, or challenge of Waldman's work. That may be your best recommendation.
I hope he writes another one about the second term. I'll stand in line for it.
If you want one book that will teach you how to talk to a conservative, this is definitely one of the very best.
How Bush Makes Clinton Look Saintly! December 29, 2005
Loyd E. Eskildson (Phoenix, AZ.)
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
Waldman provides a good compilation of Bush and his Administration's lies and manipulations of the truth. While little is presented that is new, having it summarized in one place helps shock readers who have become innured to what has been going on, or may have been too busy to notice.
Examples from the book include:
1)Bush likes to brag about his "business experience." The reality is that he ran three oil companies into the ground, and achieved baseball ownership status only through a sweetheart deal with some of his father's friends. Further, evidence strongly indicates that Bush was guilty of insider trading, and he has refused to release documents relevant to the case. (The SEC, led by a Bush, Sr. appointee, found no problems and closed the case.) Finally, one of the companies Bush was a director for also set up a phony Cayman Island subsidiary to dodge American taxes.
2)Bush gave the impression that Ken Lay (Enron CEO) was but a distant and minor supporter. Reality is that no company gave Bush more money over the course of his political career than Enron.
3)Waldman claims "Orwellian Misdirection" is a favorite Bush tool in which the speaker accuses his opponents of the very thing of which he is guilty. For example, when questioned about his extraordinary fundraising during the 2000 campaing, Bush accused his opponents of being the real profligates.
4)Bush vetoed a Texas patients' bill of rights which was then passed veto-proof and without his signature. When accused of not supporting patients' bill of rights, he claimed to have brought Republicans and Democrats together to accomplish such. (Note: No such bill has moved at the Federal level since Bush became President.)
5)Bush claimed his 2003 tax-cut plan would allow 92 million Americans to keep an average of $1,083 more of their own money. The reality was that the numbers were badly distorted by benefits received by the rich, and 66 million would only benefit by an average $19.
6)Efforts to repeal the "estate tax" instead referred to it as the "death tax." In reality, it then only involved the wealthiest 2%, though thanks to the confusion generated half of Americans believed that most families would have to pay estate tax when someone died.
An important read for any citizen seeking to be well-informed.
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