funny liberal attack on Bush & cohorts

some of this is outdated and childish (in his joking style) but i am glad to have read this now, before this upcoming election. it was such a great reminder both of how truly radically terrible donald trump has been (i mean, i in no way need this reminder as i have one every single day; but with specifics about actual governing that you could forget in all the chaos and fascism and general danger and stupidity.) as well as a needed reminder of how truly bad george bush was. he has looked so much better since donald trump was elected that i'd nearly forgotten all the awful stuff he did and was responsible for. also, moore doesn't spare bill clinton, and has a chapter in here about him, too.

in particular, i'd never really paid close attention to the language around george bush becoming president back when it happened, and i was in my early twenties. sure, i voted for gore, and i thought it was a travesty what happened. but the language of george bush stealing the election felt like so much political speech always does - extreme and as if they weren't using the words they should be using. but holy shit! this election was totally and completely stolen! he really truly didn't win, and not just because gore won the popular vote. gore won florida! and seeing now, this much later, how much this mattered. wow. (i mean, i think moore would actually argue that in some sense it didn't matter that much at all, because clinton/gore weren't that much different than bush/cheney, but they were in some important ways that would be making a difference now.) but for it to have been so blatant and for it to still have happened this way, wow. stunning.

this is where the book is strong. when he talks politics, specifically bush and the election.

he is on less solid ground in other areas. for example i'm not sure his framework of racism as a mental illness is helpful or useful. other areas where his jokes feel childish or like he's reaching. and a lot of the numbers are very outdated and so don't land as powerfully as they would have when he wrote this. still, the political stuff was worth reading, especially right now, even though it's almost 20 years later.

"...the three richest men in America own more personal assets than the combined assets owned by the entire populations of the sixty poorest countries." ( )

Somewhat underwhelming, not his best book. ( )

A bit over-the-top in some ways, but impressive in others, like:
P. 258-259 offering to personally help Palestinians non-violently resist Israeli government oppression. ( )

A bit over-the-top in some ways, but impressive in others, like:
P. 258-259 offering to personally help Palestinians non-violently resist Israeli government oppression. ( )