The Bush Betrayal
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
His hard-hitting critiques of Democratic and Republican administrations in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Newsweek, and other national publications have made him a "bipartisan scourge." Now, James Bovard launches a blistering attack on the Bush administration that will add new fuel to the fires of Bush opponents while giving presidential supporters much to think about. In a series of cogently argued allegations, Bovard shows how the campaign promises of 2000 have betrayed not only the electorate, but the Constitution itself: from the erosion of civil liberties, massive debt, and the arrogance of federal agencies, to economic policies that favor the wealthy, and the deceptive maneuvers that led to war in Iraq and the alienation of former allies. For every American, The Bush Betrayal will be required reading in this election year.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writing from a libertarian perspective, Bovard (Terrorism and Tyranny, etc.) offers a fierce critique of the presidency of George W. Bush , focusing on restrictions on liberty and expansion of government. After 9/11, he writes, "he simple solution was to increase the power of good i.e., government to vanquish evil." By the fourth chapter, Bovard has moved on to Bush's gyrations on free trade, notably steel tariffs. By the fifth, he's on to No Child Left Behind, arguing that home schooling surpasses government schooling. Bovard takes swipes at AmeriCorps (a wasteful way for Bush to invoke virtue, he says), subsidies for sugar (an industry that gives huge political contributions), the Medicare bill (far more expensive than advertised), the prison industry and the drug war. He asserts that Attorney General John Ashcroft has "effectively encouraged agencies to deny FOIA requests" and points out abuses of 9/11 detainees in New York. Americans, Bovard concludes, should cease looking to a president as a savior and instead view him as a hired hand though he doesn't exactly sketch out the boundaries of such limited government. The book, based on secondary sources, does not break much new ground. It is notable as a comprehensive attack on the administration from a less-often-heard place on the political spectrum.
