Shermy and I had been discussing what seemed to be a fundamental disconnect: i.e., the blatant anti-Bush bias which discredits the author, utterly collapses when the book itself is thoroughly parsed. I thought maybe it was just us, but this reviewer spotted it, too. Weird.
It is worth reading (a borrowed copy... there is no need for us to fund Clarke's post-retirement tour of gay resorts) because it is the Demo game plan on security issues for the election, which is paying far greater dividends than they had dared hope. Brilliant campaign: waking up Vietnamese ghosts and pinning the Nixon donkey-tail on good ole GWB.
As far as Clarke goes, WFB hit the nail on the head with his psychological profile (which I read on Drudge). Check it out., (Forgive me for not providing a link ...doing dial-up with AOL on a borrowed unit. Would some one please tell AOL to lie down? Nowadays, it's a bad idea that's friggin dead!)
Now to Against All Enemies. On nearly the last page, 289, he reveals that "[t]his book is...from my memory." This after he has quoted other people scores of times. Throughout the book he says that Person X said such-and-such, and surrounds the alleged statement with quotation marks. To use quotation marks does not mean that the person in question said more-or-less such-and-such, but that he said precisely those words. Anything less than the precise, verbatim quotation of a statement means that quotation marks cannot be used. Clarke breaks this sacred rule constantly. In addition, virtually every person he quotes talks like virtually every other person. How odd. In my eyes this gross fault renders the entire book suspect.
On, Off, or grab it for a Media Shenanigans/Schadenfreude ping:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~anamusedspectator/
I guessed last week's winning lottery numbers before they were drawn, but no one believes me.
I am on page 40 of the book and have hit the point where each page is a gag. The first chapter sounded like something Tom Clancy would write, in fact Clancy uses the same name for one of his heros. Maybe Dick Clarke is wanting to see himself in a Clancy noval as - super hero!
I find it hard to believe all the intimate conversations he relates and as far as all the quotes go, I thought he must have kept a pretty good journal to remember the exact words said by all he worked with on 9-11.
The book could actually be slightly credible if it were not for the obvious axe he is grinding with the two Bush administrations. As far as his comments on past presidents who did nothing, I notice the name Jimmy Carter is only found in one place in the book. No mention of the failed foreign policies of that administration.