Description
How to Build a Fraud - Portray son of one of America's most influential families as down-home Texan - Berate media as "liberal" until they stop asking tough questions - Take advantage of reporters' tendency to not check the facts - Mask reactionary policies in compassionate words and pictures - Push false stories from right-wing media into mainstream media - Extol the virtues of workers while systematically pushing an anti-labor agenda - Propose a series of tax cuts aimed at the wealthy, but sell them as a boon to ordinary Americans - Disguise destructive initiatives with friendly sounding names - Befriend media with "genuine guy" routine - Keep the public from accessing information - Maintain message discipline at all times - Question patriotism of anyone who disagrees - Repeat above until it all seems true
In Fraud, leading political and media analyst Paul Waldman exposes the truth behind the rise of George W. Bush. What is revealed is more shocking than just a pattern of lies and incompetence. It is the story of how a clever political machine built a high-stakes game of deception, a policy of lies to capture the highest office in the free world, a fraud that continues to this day.
The power of the fraud lies in the ability of the Bush machine to manipulate the press, and thereby avoid having the truth exposed. Waldman's findings reveal an astonishing record of how the nation's media has not only given Bush a pass again and again, but have failed to follow up on even the most openly dishonest parts of the Bush agenda.
For all Americans who have been uneasy about the honesty of the Bush administration, but unsure what it means or how far it goes, Fraud is a shocking wake-up call.
