BIG LIES

Reviewed 3/08/2010

Big Lies, by Joe Conason

Access to this book courtesy of the
San Jose, CA Public Library
BIG LIES
The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth
Joe Conason
New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003

Rating:

5.0

High

ISBN-13 978-0-312-31560-3
ISBN-10 0-312-31560-0 245p. HC $24.95

First and foremost among these lies is the one repeated with wearisome regularity by self-described conservatives: the claim that the media have an overwhelmingly liberal bias. The right claim these media purposely suppress or ignore their point of view. Conason debunks that one handily in Chapter 1, which includes this research by Stanford's Geoffrey Nunberg:

"In the newspapers I looked at," he wrote in The American Prospect, "the word 'media' appears within seven words of 'liberal bias' 469 times and within seven words of 'conservative bias' just 17 times—a twenty-seven-fold discrepancy. Now there's a difference that truly deserves to be called staggering . . . Certainly critics on the left haven't been silent about what they take to be conservative bias in the media, whether in the pages of political reviews or in dozens of recent books. But the press has given their charges virtually no attention, while giving huge play to complaints from the right about liberal bias."

– Pages 33-34

Whether it's economics, patriotism, the rule of law, "family values," or simple honesty, the most of conservatives are competent at only one thing: talking a good game. They say, for example, that the way to insure prosperity is to cut taxes on the rich, who will then invest in businesses, creating new jobs and more wealth that will then "trickle down" to the middle class and the poor.1 But it was Bill Clinton, who increased taxes on the rich by 2%, cut taxes on the middle class, and raised the minimum wage, who created 22 million jobs and erased the federal budget deficit he inherited.2 Joe Conason shows in this wide-ranging and well-researched book how they cannot help themselves — or the country they claim to love and defend.

During his presidential administration, George W. Bush closely followed the conservative playbook. Conason devotes considerable attention to him, examining his record as president in detail, and delving into some aspects of his previous history, including his time in the Air National Guard. But this is not a Bush-bashing book; Conason merely shows how Bush follows the right-wing pattern of rewarding privilege and punishing poverty.3

Conason's topic by topic dissection of the conservative record over the past three decades is required reading for anyone who thinks the quality of governance in this country is important. It comes with chapter-by-chapter endnotes and an excellent index.

If there is any defect in the book, it is that Conason goes overboard at times, indignantly reprising all the slurs used by Republicans in past campaigns, and all they hokum they spew daily, in order that the reader may share in his revulsion. But that is a small defect indeed, considering the targets.4 Highly recommended.

1 See pp. 25-26. In fact, conservatives' economic policies are more than fair — to the wealthy who generously donate campaign funds. The increased income the wealthy receive as a result comes mostly from investments and tax shelters, and they typically use it for more investments, for luxuries, or for personal causes like foundations which disseminate misinformation on e.g. climate change. That's the bad news. The good news is that the rich are not all like that.
2 The Republican line on this, of course, is that it was the biggest tax hike in history. As you can read on page 77, this is another lie: That honor goes to the one put together in 1982 by Reagan and then-Senator Bob Dole. But Clinton did make some economic history. His achievements are detailed on page 79.
3 One statistic sums Bush's performance as president up: The tax cuts he gave the rich were 50 times what he requested for No Child Left Behind. As Conason notes on page 174, "At that rate, millions of schoolchildren will be left far behind." But the pattern was already set; during his time as Governor of Texas, Bush:
4 Indeed, some deserve more scorn than Conason dishes out. Foremost among them in my opinion is Tom DeLay, who told the press that "patriotic folks" like himself did not serve in the Vietnam War because the Army was full up with blacks (page 67) and accused reporters who covered sexual misbehavior by Republicans like Helen Chenoweth of "obstructing justice" (page 117). It was DeLay, you may recall, who protected the sweatshop owners on Saipan from regulatory reform by Congress. (And the more I learn about Newt Gingrich...)
Valid CSS! Valid HTML 4.01 Strict To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.
Copyright © 2010-2018 Christopher P. Winter. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on 12 April 2018.