Product Description

"Waldman gets right to the heart of the con." -Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #351220 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Building on tenets laid out in The Press Effect, which he coauthored with Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Waldman deconstructs Bush's image as plainspoken, compassionate Dubya and accuses the media of failing to properly scrutinize the values of his presidency. Bush's inarticulateness misleads a gullible public into perceiving the president as a "real," ordinary American, Waldman argues, contending that Bush's administration actually serves a business elite rather than the average American. Meticulously combing through footnoted sources, Waldman carves an alternative portrait of a privileged and ruthless Bush who was gleeful over executions as Texas's governor, guilty of Enron-style business practices and contemptuous of the protective role of government. American journalists, in Waldman's view, are either muzzled or lack the policy expertise and research strengths to expose Bush effectively; as a result, the public is woefully confused. Waldman goes on to demythologize the so-called liberal bias of the media, comparing journalists' past persecution of Clinton with the relative mildness of present-day critiques of Bush. In his breakdown of Bush's tax policies and of the Republican Party's dominance by ultraconservative Southerners, Waldman is particularly strident. An assembly of sources and facts and a useful guide to right-wing rhetoric makes this handbook of anti-Bush ammunition-complete with an appendix that provides a "Guide to Key Lies and Misdirections-useful to partisans along with other Bush critiques by David Corn, Eric Alterman and Mark Green.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The word liar has been used so many times in recent book titles about George Bush that Waldman, a political analyst and media critic, needed to come up with something different, although he manages to get lies into the subtitle. And, in fact, this book covers very much the same territory as the offerings of David Corn, Joe Conason, and others. As in those books, there is much here on Bush's image versus the reality of his history; the disconnect between his rhetoric and his actions; the events surrounding the buildup to the war in Iraq. But this volume stands out in the way it shapes the usual knocks against Bush into a well-thought-out strategy and then shows how the media's halfhearted perusal of various charges led to the party line becoming ensconced as truth. Waldman writes with ease and authority about his topic (footnotes appear on every page and then are expanded in an appendix, making it easy to check his sources). The occasionally sarcastic tone may grate on anyone who is reading to be persuaded, but in all probability, the book's audience will come largely from those already on Waldman's side. More red meat to feed the anti-Bush beast. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Paul Waldman is a rising star in the world of political commentary. Formerly the associate director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, he is currently the executive editor of The Gadflyer, an Internet magazine about politics launched in January 2004.

In late 2002, Waldman published The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists and the Stories That Shape the Political World, coauthored with Kathleen Hall Jamieson. Publishers Weekly called The Press Effect "fascinating, well documented and entertaining...Intelligent and timely, this is an important addition to the literature on media and current events."

Waldman's writing has appeared in the American Prospect, the Washington Post, Newsday and a wide variety of scholarly journals and edited volumes. He has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor and been quoted in outlets such as the Associated Press, Newsday and USA Today as an expert on media coverage of politics, and he has been interviewed on numerous radio programs, including the Diane Rehm Show, On the Media and the Leonard Lopate Show.

Waldman holds a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Pennsylvania's renowned Annenberg School and has been analyzing the interplay of media and politics for the last decade.

Customer Reviews

Excellent, Logical Arguments
This book has excellent arguments which shows that various major media providers put George Bush in a false light, a pretty one, in order to make him out to be a good or innocent person when in reality, he is not at all.

Mr. Waldman skillfully and logically explained using even subtle evidences as to how the media puts him in an undeserved good light.

One of the things I found fault with however was that he said that George Bush was not evil, yet ironically, his description of Bush, despite whatever else Waldman was saying about Bush Jr. in his book, was a man who with the help of his friends and allies as well, made and makes deliberate efforts to portray him as someone who he is not, that includes him having a humble, God-fearing personality, and who is honest about his true goals for the laws and speeches he makes. For example, Bush hiding the fact that his true intent is to fatten the rich and keep the poor poor. According to the Bible, and many major religions, and even obscure ones, to give to the rich (those who already have) as well as steal from and oppress the poor, especially to fatten the rich by doing so, is EVIL. Even non-religious people sense that to take advantage of the poor to increase the wealth of people who are already rich is an evil act.

Despite that flaw, this book is a great help for reformed type Christians in showing the hellish direction the U.S.A. and the countries it oppresses are going.

Very interesting book..........explains media oversight
Paul Waldman exposes one of the most corrupt Presidents to take office and the news media that has supported him.

Fraud shows how the public has been grossly misled. The American Media has portrayed President Bush in a favorable light. Partly because they are gullible, partly because I suspect the news media is owned by very wealthy individuals or large corporations and partly because the Bush Administration has used "bullying tactics" to get bias coverage.

If one looks closer you see that the facts speak for themselves and Paul Waldman lays down the facts.

This book not only lists many of the lies uttered and policies enacted by our 43rd President but lists the exact sources of information (like a college thesis paper) so there is no doubt as to the validity of the information provided. This isn't "Bush Bashing" as much as it's a laying down of documented utterings by none other then W himself.

People that are still pro Bush will not see this, they will make excuses and allowances for the more then 262 lies documented as the American Public sees what they want to see.

We have a President that has bent all rules in favor of his own personal agenda vs the public good. He habitually says one thing, the press reports what he says and then he turns around and quietly does whatever he wants. The media seems to not see or want to see the discrepancy and in the process Americans are being deceived.

I suspect historians will verify that Fraud was accurate and the American People were misled.

I found page 52 very interesting, here Paul Waldman compares Bill & Hilary Clinton's Whitewater scandal to George W. Bush's Harkin Scandal and shows how the American News Media has twist and shaped the publics perception in favor of George Bush Jr.

The Whitewater Scandal was the target of an Independent Counsel investigation that spent more than $70 million in taxpayer funds. And how much money was involved? Approximately $220,000.

George W. Bush made $848,560 on his "timely sale" of Harken stock, the $20 million in losses Harken hid from shareholders, and the $8 million in sham profit it created out of thin air with the Aloha deal".

The New York Times ran more than 1,000 articles on Whitewater and only 9 for Harken. Seems the press largely ignored the "Harken Scandal" while climbing all over Whitewater.

The above is only one sample of how the news media has failed the American People big time. We're not getting the full unbiased story. The public at large has no comprehension of the extent we are being manipulated by the press.

Reviews by Nan Kilar and Bobby Miller
Lucid and compelling. By far one of the best anti-Bush books I've read. It's done with a scholar's scrupulous attention. Waldman placed this book at the head of the line with me by repeatedly providing thought provoking comparisons. Frankly, I'd like to compare it with my anti-Bush book, but really the two are incomparable. You will see Bush as he really is. What you will learn, and this pleases me because I've been, okay I'll say it, preaching that Bush is not some dumb clown that doesn't know his left from his right. He knows damn well what he's doing and he's doing it according to plan like a champ. The greatest trick the devil ever played on earth was to convince people he didn't exist. The pleasure was all mine, Waldman.