From Publishers Weekly
Working with a broadly inclusive pantheon of "the Left" that places Ralph Nader and Barbra Streisand on equal footing with Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, Schweizer (The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty) suggests that liberalism's heroes conduct their lives in ways that prove their philosophy to be "ultimately self-defeating, self-destructive, and unworkable." While acknowledging that conservatives can be high-profile hypocrites as well, Schweizer employs a double standard, arguing that "when conservatives betray their publicly stated principles, they harm only themselves and their families," but when liberals misbehave, they harm their principles first and foremost. Sometimes his research uncovers significant contradictions, as when Schweizer points out that Noam Chomsky, who tends to demonize the military establishment, wrote his first book, Syntactic Structures, with grants from the U.S. Army, the Air Force and the Office of Naval Research. But many of his charges are egregiously hyperbolic, as when he suggests that Cornel West is a "segregationist" because he bought a home in a largely Caucasian suburb. Schweizer clearly knows the limitations of his argument, since he backpedals from many of his most damning statements in his closing remarks. For all its revelations, in the end, this volume reads less like a critique of liberal philosophy than a catalogue of ammunition for ad hominem bloggers. (Oct. 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Audiofile
Peter Schweizer takes aim at liberal political figures who he says fail to put their money where their mouths are. With his keen articulation and lightly sardonic style, Grover Gardner is the perfect choice to read these seven profiles in hypocrisy. With a sly twinkle in his voice, Gardner articulates the authors criticism of Noam Chomsky, who condemns American imperialism while charging $12,000 per speaking engagement and storing his gains in offshore accounts. Also profiled are Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi, Barbra Streisand, and the Clintons. Most eye-opening is hearing Gardner gleefully describe Michael Moore, whose criticism of American enterprise smacks up against a $380,000 corporate stock and bond portfolio that has included shares in Merck, McDonalds, General Electric, and Halliburton. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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