The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth in Bush's America

click here for more details, find new or used items	Frank Rich Our price £7.21 New from £3.91 Used from £2.91 Pages: 352 (Paperback) ISBN: 0143112341 Pub: Penguin Books Pub date: 2007-08-28 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 30675

Reader Reviews:

Documentary Evidence of Political Manipulations and a Sleeping Media Corps (2/3 people found this helpful)

While Bob Woodward partially described the cover-ups and cynicism behind the deceptions aimed at the American public by the Bush II administration, Frank Rich has delivered the goods in his devastating account of how Bush II moved beyond spin to routine fabrication of who knew what, when, and where. If you don't want to believe Mr. Rich, ignore the text and look at his section called Time Lines in the back of the book (pp. 229-307) where he compares the public statements of Bush II to what independent sources later revealed.

What's most frightening about this account is that while some newspaper reporters (and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) were revealing these discrepancies all along, the nightly network television news shows simply marched to the White House drummer. Reporters used to be the first line of defense against government wrong-doing. That seems to no longer be the case. Reporters now only play a role in publishing leaks from government insiders who are so appalled by the misstatements made in public that they are trying to get the truth out . . . even at the risk of breaking the law.

But what's almost as frightening is the account of how poorly the Democrats performed the traditional function of the loyal opposition in challenging Bush II at key junctures.

The next most frightening thing is how long it took for the American public to grasp that the natural fears of domestic terrorism after 9/11 were being cynically used to justify the political agenda of Bush II . . . which was to be re-elected with as many Republicans in Congress as possible.

Here's where this book goes wrong. Clearly, Mr. Rich has a bone to pick with President Bush. The characterizations of the president and his key people are over the top . . . and display bias . . . perhaps even dislike.

Where the book was most impressively right to me was in revealing how many times Bob Woodward held back on reporting knowledge he had about Bush II double-dealing, such as in regard to the illegal harassment of Joseph Wilson and the outing of his wife's identity as a CIA agent (Valerie Plame). I can see that I'll have to look beyond Mr. Woodward in the future if I want to know the whole story about this administration.

Ultimately, this book teaches us to be much more careful whom we vote for. Perhaps the better the person sounds and looks . . . the more careful we should be. It may all be just a play . . . which has been the case now for some time . . . rather than reality.

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