"Lapdogs" author, Boehlert, calls Way to Win depressing and dishonest.

[madfloridian]

I have not read it, but I have seen discussion here and another site. It sounds like a book that makes Republicans sound superior to Democrats. Boehlert points out they are Bush supporters, both authors.

From Media Matters:

Here's how dishonest Beltway journalism has become

Books about politics and the press don't come much more dishonest, or depressing, than the new tome hitting stores this week, The Way to Win (Random House). Written by corporate media bigwigs Mark Halperin, political director of ABC News and founder of its political newsletter The Note, and John F. Harris, national political editor of The Washington Post, the new digest -- it's their take on how to win the White House -- is already being toasted by celebrity journalists inside the Beltway, which in today's environment means the book politely re-enforces preferred conventional wisdom and graciously avoids asking tough questions about Republicans. The press corps also skates by in the eyes of Halperin and Harris, who continuously rewrite recent history in order to ensure that journalists shoulder little or no blame for D.C. pressroom disgraces such as Whitewater, the blatantly dishonest coverage heaped upon Al Gore's presidential campaign, and for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth hoax that ensnared Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential run.

....."Halperin and Harris tell a reassuring story that Beltway players, particularly in the press, love to hear. And for anybody who still thinks there's an ounce of friction between the true media elites and the Beltway's mostly Republican ruling class, read The Way to Win and think again. The Beltway really has become a tension-free world where journalists and politicos bond effortlessly.

A book that purposefully lacks context

Make no mistake, despite the afterthought section tacked on toward the end about Hillary Clinton's rise and her prospects in 2008, The Way to Win is basically a book about Bush and Rove and how they were able to manufacture Republican wins in 2000, 2002, and 2004, and how they've outclassed Democrats. It's also a book where the 2000 Florida recount barely exists, while the events of 9-11 and the invasion of Iraq are of only passing interest. Meaning, it's a book that purposefully lacks context. That way its authors -- both longtime Rove and Bush admirers -- can argue with straight faces it was the combined genius of the two men that secured victories over hapless and overmatched Democrats, not the United States Supreme Court or a manufactured wartime culture.

Indeed, Halperin and Harris elevate the act of playing dumb to Olympian heights. Note how they fawn over Bush and Rove in 2000 for deftly handling curiosity about the candidate's previous drug use by simply announcing they would not answer reporters' questions on that touchy subject.

Sounds like they do some history re-writing to make the Republicans the heros.

Rove is a policy "ideas man"

While The Way to Win disses Dems, it is positively glowing toward Republicans. For instance, we're assured Rove's work is "scholarly and meticulous" and that Rove got into politics because "he was interested in ideas" and wanted to "advance the policies." Yet what about the fact that during the 2000 campaign Rove completely camouflaged Bush's true governing intentions -- hiding the ideas and policies Bush would later implement -- by running the candidate as a moderate? Halperin and Harris, constantly bumping into their own contradictions, think the maneuver was a stroke of genius. So much for the power of ideas.

[EST]

1. Praises heaped upon confidence men and flim-flam artists.

The sort of personality that admires the criminal while pretending to abhor the crime has taken over nearly every highly visible position in media and is incapable of the introspection necessary to recognize itself.
Resisting the gag reflex.

[MattP]

2. Sounds like a throw away

This book is going to be in the bargain bin in a month or two, who wants to read a book by media insiders kissing the ass of media insiders. If it has nothing new to add to the discussion than why was it writing?