Product Description

Partisan warfare has never been so much fun.

How to Win a Fight With a Conservative is the ultimate survival guide to arguing politics, filled with all the cunning strategies, damning facts, and merciless ridicule liberals need to give their conservative "friends, neighbors and countrymen" the verbal smackdown of a lifetime.

With the presidential election approaching, this irreverent yet practical guide is essential reading for unpracticed neophytes and seasoned politicos alike—the perfect primer for anyone who's ever fantasized about smacking sense into a misguided right-wing adversary.

Includes:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective Partisans
• The Conservative Hall of Shame
• How to Detect Lies, Propaganda, and General BS
• Kick-Ass Arguments: A Step-by-Step Guide

...and much, much more!

This roadmap to success will help you size up, knock down, and win over your conservative rivals—without making yourself the target of the local militia.

PRAISE FOR DANIEL KURTZMAN

"You should pick up this book before your next dinner party."
Gayle King, editor-at-large of O, The Oprah Magazine and host of "The Gayle King Show" on Oprah and Friends

"Daniel Kurtzman doesn't have a political axe to grind. He has two axes to grind. And he does it with the sharpest wit seen in these bipartisan parts for quite some time. Crisscrossing the aisle with wicked glee; no matter which book you finish first, you'll immediately want to run out and get the other one to discover what he said about your side. Just remember to wear a disguise."
Will Durst, political satirist and author of The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing

"No one knows political satire like Daniel Kurtzman."
Andy Borowitz, creator of The Borowitz Report and author of The Republican Playbook

"When the folks over at JibJab are looking for a fair and balanced laugh, Daniel Kurtzman's our guy. His How to Win a Fight with a Liberal / Conservative will have you in stitches regardless of your political affiliation!"
Gregg Spiridellis, co-founder of JibJab.com

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18880 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 177 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781402208805
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"You should pick up this book before your next dinner party."
--Gayle King, editor-at-large of O, The Oprah Magazine and host of "The Gayle King Show" on Oprah and Friends

About the Author
Daniel Kurtzman chronicles the absurdities of politics as editor of politicalhumor.about.com, the popular website that is part of The New York Times Company's About.com network. A former Washington correspondent-turned-political satirist, his work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and Salon.com, among other publications. As an equal opportunity offender, Kurtzman is also the author of How to Win a Fight with a Liberal.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
No one can pinpoint the exact moment it happened, but sometime in the last quarter century, between Ronald Reagan's withering ridicule of all things liberal and George W. Bush's bullying crusade to stamp out political dissent, conservatives gave liberalism a giant wedgie.

Liberalism didn't see it coming. It was busy navel-gazing and admiring itself in the mirror when conservatives snuck up from behind, grabbed it by its tighty-whities, and hung it up on the flagpole, where it kicked and flailed as conservatives pointed and taunted and called it a pantywaist and a loser.

Democrats, even some Republicans, used to wear the liberal label with pride. Time was, liberalism was a word that conjured such core American principles as social justice, national compassion, and human freedom. But then conservatives had an idea. What if liberalism could be turned into an embarrassing perversion, like pedophilia, or a disease, like leprosy? And so they told anyone who would listen that liberals were sick, weak, deranged, traitorous perverts.

The problem is, liberals stood there and took the abuse. They let conservatives bullyrag them, beat them down, and get inside their heads until they ran away with their hands over their ears, screaming, "I'm not a liberal!" And thus a proud ideology was thrown under the bus.

Customer Reviews

A Really Humorous Book, Just Don't Take it Too Seriously
A friend gave me this book for Christmas this year because she knew how much I enjoyed ranting about politics. While it is not truly a self-help book, and I doubt anyone will win a fight with a conservative by following its directions, it is an enjoyable little diversion that made me laugh. Daniel Kurtzman is a good satirist and his jabs are hilarious. For instance, he divides the conservative movement into several cleverly named segments:
(1) Rapturfarians--Christian fundamentalists.
(2) Enron-omists--über capitalists.
(3) Big Brethren--militant authoritarians.
(4) Gunfederates--people with confederate flags and gun racks in their pickup trucks.
(5) Spongebob-ophobes--militant anti-gay activists.
(6) Crusadomasochists--imperialistic neoconservatives.
Clever names to be sure, but the descriptions are just as humorous. The rest of the book is just as much fun. I should mention that Daniel Kurtzman is an equal opportunity satirist; he also published in 2007 another guide, "How to Win a Fight with a Liberal," that takes aim at those on the left. It is just as humorous.

Entertaining and surprisingly insightful
I picked up a copy of this book before taking a flight home for Thanksgiving. I come from an ultra-conservative family, and figured I could use a little ammunition just in case things turned ugly at the dinner table, like they usually do. I found some surprisingly useful tips, especially the chapter on how to detect logical fallacies. But most of all, the book made me laugh. My favorite parts were the dueling Liberal and Conservative Manifestos ("Conservatives believe in beautiful Hummers befouling spacious skies, amber waves of abstinent teens, and crowning thy good with estate tax cuts"). I'm planning to give out copies to a few friends whose families are even crazier than mine.

Pure Fabulosity.
I came across this book (and its partner) by accident and bought them as a gift for someone who spends most evenings yelling at Fox News. Since his yelling doesn't seem to make any difference to the TV, I thought maybe if he had some practical advice for handling a political debate things might improve...

These books (Of course I bought both. How can you not?) are so clever and funny that I ended up reading them both myself before turning them over to the gift recipient. They are chock-full of "funny-because-it's-true" moments, great quotes, and my personal favorite, a schedule for a typical day in the life of liberals and conservatives. Hysterical.

Oh yeah, and the gift recipient loved them, too.