The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina

Frank Rich came here in the fall of 2001 to discuss politics at a time when he was in transition to becoming a columnnist for the New York Times, rather than remain a theater critic. After his remarks, one questioner asked him to admit that the nation was better off with Bush in office, following the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01, than with (implicitly) "girly man" Al Gore. Rich was cautious, and rightly so. Who could have predicted then that Bush and his "neocons" would start a war for domestic political purposes? Most of the nation still is in denial about that, but that IS Rich's conclusion for the motivation behind the Iraq War and he is absolutely correct. This book, like Rich's columns for NYT (which I hope will soon be collected and published) is brilliantly written. The "time line" is a fabulous idea (and will be updated at his web site as things go on. I missed a couple of things. One was a discussion of the military meeting that went on in August 2002 at Crawford, Texas where Powell was not included and later Bush and Cheney claimed that Iraq was not on the agenda. Yeah, right. Another was more discussion of the utter ineptitude of the Kerry/Edwards campaign in not making some key points that Rich repeatedly makes. The Bush administration's resistance to the 9-11 Commission, the isolation of Powell (the one guy having military experience in the Bush cabinet), the failure of Bush to consult with his father, the fact that WE kicked out the UN inspectors. But this is a wonderful read. Rich is coming back here this month. Last time, I bought a copy of his book of collected reviews, talked with him briefly. He is a wonderfully gracious person as well as the best political columnist writing today. This book exposes Bush as the worst President ever, but I am still a little pessimistic that the American people will ever recognize just how they have been conned. That reminds me of something else that is missing in Rich's account; the treachery of Ahmed Chalabi. This is a guy who sat behind Laura Bush at the State of the Union speech in January 2004. It now appears that he may have been an agent for IRAN all along. The irony of this cannot be underestimated: the U.S., including Cheney and Rumsfeld, the same people, had supported Iraq as a buffer to radical Islamic states like Iraq in the '80s. Now, by removing Saddam's secular state and opening it up to Shiite domination, we have likely delivered another nation to the radical Islamic cause. What a disaster.

Frank Rich, Paul Krugman and Keith Olbermann are among the few current journalists looking behind the Oz-like curtain of the Bush administration to call all the spades exactly what they are -- spades.Month by month, sometimes even day by day, Rich lays out the "do as we say, not as we do" battle plans of Bush, Cheney, Rove et al on Iraq, Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, the economy, civil rights, education, health care and scores of other issues that affect all Americans.The book takes the fragments of news we've received for the past five-plus years and puts them in a better context than other writers (save the aforementioned trio) have done.As a former newsman who now does public relations consulting, I found Rich's book especially interesting. It reminded me of when I and other Air Force public information officers were ordered by another president to tell Americans that Francis Gary Powers was taking air samples -- not spying -- when his U-2 was shot down in 1960.A few days later, President Eisenhower had to admit what the Russians and everyone except some American citizens knew -- Powers was indeed spying. Unfortunately, today's administration is even less truthful than the one in charge then, and it will take longer for all Americans to realize it. Rich's book will help speed the process.

As a republican myself, I am amazed at the blind loyalty of these bush supporters. Almost every item in this book has been proven to be true. Unfortunatley most of these people only watch fox for their "news" otherwise they might be aware of the truth of this book. I doubt most have even read the book or any other book for that matter. This country is being destroyed by the likes of these people and most are too stupid to realize it or worse they are in on the destruction of our country. Just answer one question if there is a real war on terror why are our borders wide open?

There are many one-star reviews here from the foaming-at-the-mouth crowd about a book they have not read. I was forwarded an email asking me to come here and freep (I hold an acct. at freerepublic)- some of these folks are the same people who wrote reviews about their favorite right-wing books and included comments FREAKING! out that the left hasn't even read, say, Ann Coulter. Sad really. Such hate and twisted hypocrisy. Anyway--I really have read this book, and it is very well written. But then I don't consider Bush a true Republican, he is an extremist of another kind, and even people like Joe Scarborough are coming around to see this.

When Frank Rich sits at his type writer people in the White House shudder. And with good reason, for the New York Times columnist skewers them every Sunday with a combination of able research and wry wit. People taking pleasure in his Sunday columns will delight in this book. Those who detest him will likely have an aneurysm. Already, as can be seen among the reviews for this book, GOP attacks have either taken out their long knives to stab or tried to dismiss Rich as just another Bush Hater. Such ad hominem attacks fail to reply to the care with which Rich approaches the topic or the strength of his argument. Seeing the Bush White House at its heart as arrogant and disdaining the constraints of tradition and law, the book traces a parade of failures and attempts to explain how time and again the administration can distract the American people from reality. In this Rich saves his greatest venom for his own peers in the media in general and at his own paper in particular. Why did they not challenge the White House when it made charges, often demonstrably false, such as Dick Cheney's recent claims never to have claimed Saddam was involved in 9/11? How did they give the government a pass on Afghanistan even as the US began shifting troops to Iraq leaving that country on the precipice of falling back into the hands of the Taliban? Remember how every prisoner at Gunatanamo was "the worst of the worst," and only now we know many innocent people remain in a legal limbo, turned over by bounty hunters in Pakistan to the US military, and even now remaining in captivity because the White House is loath to admit its mistake? Or how come the media does not question why terrorists become the most active in the summer and fall of even years? At its heart, Rich blames the media's desire for access, its disinterest in analysis, and its fear of being painted as not patriotic. Since 9/11 the White House has succeeded in silencing those who offer any competing narrative to its own (remember Bill Maher's suggestion that we're deluding ourselves if we think cowards fly airplanes into buildings?) more interested in controlling the story than winning the war. As with the excellent history of Iraq "Fiasco" Bush partisans will not give this work a read, nor even consider the possibility of fault, let alone bad intentions. Even honorable men who shed blood in war for the country such as Senator's McCain, Graham, and Warner, find themselves under attack because disagreement for many of my fellow Americans now seems synonymous with betrayal. Those who reflexively revile works such as this one should take a deep breath and hear out his argument. A dose of his rational outrage would be a tonic for us all.