Book Review: "Bush Must Go" by Bill Press

*Get the book on Amazon here*

(I picked up this book over a decade ago when I was being brow-beaten into "reading the other side" of my conservative political views. I'm not a fan of Bush anymore, but I still hold this tome up as a reason to not read the other side again. I'm presenting my original review in its entirety):

While George W. Bush has not been our president since January 20, 2009, the disease Bush Derangement Syndrome will be around for a long time to come. Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) is a mental disorder suffered mostly by Democrats. They believe that everything wrong in the world is George W. Bush's fault. War in Iraq? Bush's fault. 9/11? Bush's fault. The economy? Bush's fault. Big giant hurricane destroys New Orleans while Louisiana state government sat on their hands? Bush's fault. Dog just pee on the rug? Bush's fault. It is a victimhood mindset that many liberals suffer from when afflicted by BDS. The government coddles them, takes care of them, is smarter than them, and promises to give them everything they could ever need. When a conservative Republican gets elected president, "independence," "self-reliance," and "personal responsibility" become evil buzzwords. "Look, I bought a house" becomes "It's Bush's fault the nefarious predatory lender didn't let me read my mortgage agreement thoroughly" and so on and so on.

I thought it would be interesting in this era of Obama's "change" and "hope"- where Californians voted to "change" to a Democrat in the White House, then voted to "change" the law that allowed gays to marry; where Obama "hopes" his new cabinet nominees aren't all tax cheats- to look back at an early case of BDS- Bill Press, unashamed liberal and former co-host of CNN's "Crossfire." Press, who is not a victim but only lives with BDS, since there is no cure, comes up with ten reasons George W. Bush was supposed to lose the White House four years ago: the War in Iraq, the War on Terror, Jobs, the Deficit, the Patriot Act, Crony Capitalism, Foreign Policy, the Environment, Broken Promises, the Credibility Gap, and a bonus reason- the "stolen" 2000 election. While these are the chapter titles, Press likes to bounce around and combine the subjects. I cannot go into all that much detail on each reason because they have been covered in dozens of books since this volume's 2004 copyright date. I can go into Press' writing style, or lack thereof.

Instead of presenting reasons for a John Kerry victory in 2004, Press probably couldn't find any, our brave author used anti-Bush books and websites to make the case that Bush cannot be reelected. The bibliography and organizations/websites lists in the back of the book run nine pages and feature well-known left-wing names like Moore, Franken, Begala, moveon.org, and others. Press even states that it does not matter what Kerry believes, BUSH MUST GO (he puts that phrase in all-capital letters at the end of each chapter, a mantra you come to hate until you see your next Obamantra like YES WE CAN or CHANGE or HOW AM I GOING TO PAY FOR ALL THESE PROMISES I MADE TO GET ELECTED?). Press does not get specific with footnotes when citing Bush's evils. We might get a speech date, book source title, or something equally vague. This entire book's content feels like it was forwarded from an even longer email, and Press took out all the juicy bits to fit his needs. Press' tome is a hissy fit in print. He repeats himself often, uses personal attacks- I counted three or four Rush Limbaugh drug addiction slams, tries to sound tough with the "s-word", and basically throws a juvenile, published temper tantrum. Strange to read in this "bipartisan era of hope and change."

According to Press, Bill Clinton did no wrong even when he did, and Al Gore's only flaw was giving up too easily in the Florida recount. It was mind numbing to read about Bush's "errors," just to have Press gloss over Clinton's identical "errors." Alright, one example- let me find it, this thing isn't even indexed, okay, page 75 in the Jobs chapter, Press writes: "Fact: George Bush did not inherit a recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research, which keeps track of such things made it official: The recession started in March 2001. George Bush took office in January 2001. From the get-go, this was a Bush recession. He had already spooked Wall Street after only two months in office." Wow! The truth is out! The minute your hand hits that Bible and you are sworn in, you bear all responsibility and blame! With this logic, Obama is already the worst president in history the minute he took that oath. Funny, though, I remember Bill Clinton blaming Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush for all those deficits he got stuck with back in 1993, and Obama uses the word "inherited" more often than a Anna Nicole Smith estate hearing- surely Press wouldn't contradict his Bush recession myth in his own book...what's this? On pages 115 and 116 in the Deficit chapter, Clinton ran deficits from 1993-1998, with surpluses only from 1999-2001- hey, Bush was in office in 2001! What a great job he did! For the record, every one of Carter's years in office was also marred by deficits. When did Reagan bring that up? Sure I can wait- the entire book is filled with this kind of contradiction.

Press also gets rabid about our environment. Evil lumber companies are raping the land as coal burning electric plants spew poison into the air. What many global warming advocates have not figured out yet is that they are doing more environmental harm than I am, while telling me how much environmental harm I am doing. I checked, this book is printed on acid-free, but not recycled, paper. How many trees had to die for Press to tell you Bush is in the lumber industry's back pocket? Does your computer come with a hand crank? Well that's okay, visit one of the many websites listed in the back of the book, burning precious electricity, to find out how Bush is too friendly with power companies. The environmental double standard is maddening, from the "Today" show jetting all around the world in great big airplanes to cover how YOU are killing Mother Earth to Al Gore's limo service to and from lectures about how YOU are making us all sick with your combustion engines. I have a feeling people are realizing greenhouse gases are not warming the earth as much as the politicized hot air is.

We know from history that Press' book did not work, despite anti-Bush quotes from such credible, moral men as Senators Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd. Of course, liberals argue that Bush stole the 2004 election, too. Press's sour book, with his angry pinched face on the cover, went right back to the library donation drive the next week. I just realized I may be the last person in the country to read this mad diatribe.

Conservatives are personas non grata, I won't be baited into the same old tired "Bush is Hitler" arguments, and I do not support our new president (Obama), I did not vote for him, and his first couple of months in office have only confirmed by beliefs about him. Liberals have had a certain Theodore Roosevelt quote to themselves for the past eight years, excusing their hit jobs, like this book, so now let Libertarians and Republicans dust that sucker off and let it loose: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." You keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

(Little did I know when I wrote this that the wrath a President Donald Trump would unleash on the Left makes Bush bashing look like child's play. Seriously, you derangers look ridiculous and a little creepy.)