Whacked Off

Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose

I get worried when I start to hear repeated items of anti-Bush information from, say, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Ivins' Bushwhacked. Because either Michael Moore has been blatantly using Ivins as a textbook of liberal criticisms of the current administration, or there only exist those few critical points, surrounded by a cloud of bluster.

If the former, then much of the current hullaballoo about Moore's documentary, no matter how accurate, is two years too late. If the latter, there is an equal amount of deception from the loudspoken left as from the rhetoric-loving right.

Nevertheless, many of Ivins' points are difficult to contest (particularly when Moore bears them out, or repeats them, either one). I think this is a book meant to be read in increments, rather than all at once -- too much of Ivins' rhetoric is self-supporting, or rather is structurally similar, so that the book takes on the aesthetic tone of a plate of identical sugar cookies, row after row and column after column of objections, evidentiary critiques, and humorous polemic. And while a single cookie, or even two -- say, after a hearty non-cookie meal -- would be refreshing, luxurious, and satisfying, trying to consume an entire baker's dozen leaves the palate somewhat tried and tired.

Which is not to say the book is unconvincing -- I'm currently more frightened of this administration than I was before. Hopefully Jon Stewart's upcoming book, America: The Book, will avoid this pitfall. Otherwise, I truly shall begin to despair.