Flurry of New Books Paint Bush as Liar

[radfringe]

Flurry of New Books Paint Bush as Liar
By Grant McCool, Reuters

NEW YORK (Oct. 7) - Bookstore display tables give the distinct impression there is a lot of lying going on in America these days, with President George W. Bush and his top advisers portrayed as the main culprits.

Bristling with indignation at the conservative Republican president and his policies, the books by liberal commentators include: "The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception" by David Corn, "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth" by Joe Conason and "Bushwhacked" by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose.

And if readers can't figure out who is lying about whom and about what in these books, they can turn to "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" by acerbic political humorist Al Franken.

---snip---
Washington literary agent Jeff Kleinman, who said he receives one anti-Bush book "pitch" a week, said that in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on America, publishers tended to turn them down.

"Anything that was seen as anti-American was almost impossible to sell and I think the publishers' feelings were reflecting the marketplace, that people were not going to buy," Kleinman said.

But that has changed. Industry publications and best-seller lists show that some anti-Bush books are now selling well as the former Texas governor prepares to run for a second term in November 2004 and 10 Democrats vie for the challenger's mantle.

---snipetts---

Books hammering Bush mirror best-seller lists of the 1990s that were crammed with books bashing President Bill Clinton, the Democrat who was impeached for perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair.

-------
John Baker, editorial director of industry newspaper Publishers Weekly, said Franken's book and one by Princeton University economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman were selling "extraordinarily well."

-------
One Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that "liberals are fighting back" against liberal-bashing from right-wing commentators on TV, radio, online and in print.

[radfringe]

1. kick because this is a sign that the tide IS turning (nt)