Books : Party of Defeat

Rating: - satire at its strangest
I think reviewers on both sides are taking this "book" much too seriously.
Horowitz has either intentionally or unwittingly written a hysterically funny comic book. I mean Archie Bunker meets Stephen Colbert meets Mad Magazine, this is a riot. Read some of the silliest passages out loud and you will see what I mean. Since most Americans now consider phony "conservatives" like DH a joke (see the 2006 election returns and watch closely the returns this November), I suppose this is appropriate. Bob Dole was pretty funny when he talked about "Democrat Wars" in 1996 but this stuff is priceless.

The lunatic right is pretty much dead, so they are now reduced to satire.
Mel Brooks needs to make a movie out of this: How about "Springtime for Cheney." Nah, it's been done before.

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Rating: - STILL A JERK
David was a jerk and an embarrassment when he was on the left, and he remains a jerk and an embarrassment as a righty, even though he must be what, 65 or 70 years old? For yucks, punch up his name under "books," and review his titles. They alone will reveal his shallow obsession with Democrat-hating. If you are the type of person who can hug his/her radio for 3-5 hours a day listening to the endless and mindless repetition of right wing blather, then by all means buy this book. If, however, you seek knowledge rather than mere stroking of your prejudices, fears, and hatred, you might look elsewhere. This guy is running out of time to mature.

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Rating: - Myopic Perspective or Paid Propaganda? You Decide.
One star rating for ability to actually get it published.

Interesting read if not only to see how facts can be sophmorically, selectived, presented, distorted and ignored to support a thesis. Calculative misuse and abuse of facts.

In his book, David Horowitz provides an unsound scathing review of the Democratic Party in what he believes is the failure of the same to march in lockstep with the deceiptful, criminal and unpatriotic behavior of the Bush Administration, the Commander in Chief, and the Republican Party. Rather than filter one's views through the concepts that made this country and the people of this so country great - love, respect, compassion, a willingness by most to understand one another and seek common ground, his views revolve around how if a person challenges the Power of the Presdident they must be defeatest, unpatriotic and destructive.

The book does not question the authority or judgement of a President that will likely go down in history as the most incompetent ever. Nor does it provide any meaningful justification for the misinformation provided to Congress in the lead up to the Authorization For Use of Military Force Against Iraq and the failure of the President to certify that a threat actually existed.

This book serves no constructive purpose other than to provide a biased defense for the policies of a failed presidency and to continue to breed divicivness in a time that we all must come together to reconstruct the catastrophic damage this President has done to our respect and integrity in the world. If anything it smacks of paid propaganda and a feeble attempt to resurrect the legacy of an Admninistration that is best forgotten. No attention is paid to the misteps, deceipt, and underlying motives of the Bush Administration and its failure to unite the people of the world after one of the biggest tragedies of our time. Nor is any attention paid to the failures of the Bush Administration to heed the warnings that had been presented to it in advance of 911.

In short, this book is a pander to those that consider themselves neoconservatives before they consider themselves American's. To those who would rather use the power of government to help their personal crusade and causes above those of the collective whole. The book is useful, however, if you're trying to understand the world of Limbaugh and O'Reilly, and the types of misinformation campaigns of those who, like Mr. Horowitz, benefit by helping to keep this great country divided.

One's time would be better spend scanning the video archives of President Bush's statements - for it is here that the sheer inconsistency of Bush's statements and actions can alone quash the premise of this book.

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Rating: - Exposing the deceitfulness of the left
Horowitz aptly points out that those mindlessly joining in the cacophony of "Bush lied, people died!!" are blissfully unaware of the facts. Democrats voted for the war too. They had the exact same 100-page memo on their desk as President Bush did. They too thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Clinton thought they did, and so did Al Gore. It was not a lie concocted by Bush; it's what Saddam wanted the world to think, a fabrication advertised to keep Iran from invading. Shortly after voting for the war, however, many Dems changed their tune. They realized that success decreased their likelihood of a November victory.

Horowitz also points out other inanities, such as Hillary going around talking about "those evil oil companies." The days of the likes of Rockefeller are long gone. Oil companies are owned by people who own stock in oil companies. And who owns stock in oil companies--rich, evil, millionaires? How about average working-class Americans! More than 50% of Americans own stocks, and many of them have some stock in oil companies, including the hypocritical Hillary Clinton. The price of oil is driven by supply and demand. There has already been an investigation that found that Clinton's alleged "price fixing" is a myth. Demand is going WAY up as developing countries that have discovered the efficiency of free-market capitalism are now building infrastructure at an almost exponential rate. China wants 2 billion barrels just to build its roads. If it is willing to pay $120 a barrel, then other countries will have to too. If China will pay $200 a barrel, then guess what? The left wants you to believe that we are in the Middle East on an imperialistic project to steal their oil, despite the fact that there really isn't much oil left there. Meanwhile, record-breaking oil discoveries right here in America go untapped--again, because of the left. This drives the price of oil up as demand outstrips supply. Also driving the price of oil up is the government's exorbitant gas tax. It makes more money off of gas sales than Exxon does, yet Exxon has to find the oil, get it, process and ship it. Hillary tells Americans that the oil companies should pay this gas tax--which is yet more deceit. Businesses do not pay taxes. They pass the cost on to the consumer in the form of embedded taxes in the price of the good. If she gets her way and the price of gas does not go down--and it wouldn't--then she can again pander to her ignorant base that it's because of the "greed" of the corporation. Never mind oppressive taxation. Never mind economics 101.

Horowitz's point is that the left thinks America is bad and wants to see it punished. We should enter into a union with European nations and abandon the constitution. They want us to think that the constitution--a "living" document--is now obsolete. They, these lofty third-party decision makers, have the wisdom to create a utopia--if only we'd assign them enough power to make it so. They abandon the principles of the founding fathers. As Sir Karl Popper said, all who seek power have mediocre minds and character. The question then is not, "Who shall rule," but, "How can we construct our government so that those who are elected will do the least amount of damage as possible?" The founding fathers came up with a good answer, and the modern left is trying to undo it. Why? Because the founding fathers' answer was to give the leader minimal power--not enough power to satiate the wills of liberal politicians.

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Rating: - REVISIONIST WISE GUY
EVERYTHING DAVID SAID IS TRUE ABOUT REPUBLIICANS. THEY CREATE CHAOS. THEY SAY GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WORK IN ORDER TO PRIVATIZE IT. THEY WAVE THE FLAG & WALK ON OUR CONSTITUTION. HE MAKES UP HIS OWN FACTS & TWISTS THE REAL ONES.. WHEN YOU LISTEN TO HIM SPEAK, IT SEEMS HE FORGOT TO TAKE HIS VALIUM, OR WHATEVER. HE HAS THIS UNREAL HATRED FOR LIBERALS & DEMS. HE COULD NOT HOLD UP HIS OWN, ON THE THOM HARTMAN SHOW. JUST SKIRTED AROUND THE FACTS & QUESTIONS. REPEATING THE SAME DISTORTION OF FACT. REPUBLICANS CAN DO NO WRONG? YOU HAVE TO BE A LITTLE WOOLLY LAMB, ON THE WAY TO SLAUGHTER, TO BELIEVE THIS REVISION OF HISTORY. THAT'S WHY WE REPEAT IT.