BIG LIES
The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine
And How It Distorts the Truth
by Joe Conason

A Review by
Dr. Susan Block

As US President George W. Bush's nose grows longer by the minute, Salon columnist and best-selling author Joe Conason has written a book with it's finger on the pulse of the problem. BIG LIES: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth is a one-two punch to the Bushies, Rummies, Johnnies and Dickies of the hard Right-Wing of the Republican party, now with their reckless, oily, power-drunk hands on the steering wheel of America.

According to Conason, co-author (with Gene Lyons) of The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton , the Right-Wing Republicans' biggest lie is that they stand behind anything more than selfish old "crony capitalism." All their crowing about patriotism, strong defense, family values, fiscal responsibility and "compassionate conservativism" is just pious blather to sucker voters so they can get into office and give sweetheart deals to their family, friends and sponsors.

Of course, the sexiest section is "Private Lives and Public Lies," in which Conason isn't squeamish about waving the filthy panties of some of the more blatant Republican hypocrites, especially the ones who went after Clinton. But his most devastating chapter is "Crony Capitalism, Infectious Greed and the Way the World Really Works." Here, Conason shows how folks like the Bushes support "Family Values" all right, meaning they give valuable deals and influence to members of their own family, as well as friends of the family. Something like the old Saddam regime.

Speaking of which, the chapter "Male Cheerleaders and Chickenhawks" grimly reminds us of the lack of personal war experience in the resumés of all the top Bushies running the war in Iraq like overgrown, sociopathic kids playing Top Gun. The Bush Team's lies about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction probably weren't as crystal clear when BIG LIES went to press as they are now. But Conason's meticulously researched discourse shows that the bogus WMD claims are just the cherry on top of a Right-Wing Republican Monster Sundae of Medacity.

Conason also sheds more light on anointed Attorney General John Ashcroft's two-faced politic style, revealing how Senator Ashcroft once spoke in defense of the very civil liberties that Attorney General Ashcroft now moves to destroy with his USA Patriot Acts.

BIG LIES is more than a hard-hitting attack on the extremists of American conservativism; though it slings its thoughtfully-packed mud with more deadly precision than Karl, Rush or Ann could ever spin. It is also an eloquent defense of liberalism, a lesson in the history of American democracy, and a must-read for anyone longing to call themselves by the L-word again with pride.

"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
Herman Goering
at the Nuremberg Trial

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