I could have sworn that just last week I read a review of this book saying it portrayed the Administration in a POSITIVE light.
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JAN 05, 2003 19:25:38 ET XXXXX
WHITE HOUSE ANGER AT BOOK BY BUSH 'AXIS OF EVIL' SPEECHWRITER; CONCERN MEDIA TOUR WILL MUDDLE MESSAGE; FRUM DESCRIBES PRESIDENT AS 'TART'
**World Exclusive**
Former Bush speechwriter David Frum -- credited with the phrase 'Axis of Evil' -- has infuriated top officials at the White House with his controversial new book, the first insider account of the W. Bush Administration, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Frum helped make international headlines when President Bush's 2002 State of the Union address linked international terrorists to Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
But now Axis Man must walk a fine line between the art of hyping a book and overshadowing a president's own words and policy.
WARNINGS NOT TO GRANDSTAND
"He's going on the TODAY show to talk about North Korea, Iraq?!" an alarmed Bush intimate told the DRUDGE REPORT on Sunday. "Mr. Frum should seriously consider letting the president speak for himself on these highly volatile matters."
MORE
Frum, who left the White House less than a year ago, is set to launch THE RIGHT MAN: THE SURPRISE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W, BUSH on Tuesday with a high-impact media tour, giving the speechwriter and journalist a platform to elaborate on his Bush insights.
Among the White House staff, there was a "dearth of really high-powered brains," Frum, a neoconservative, writes in RIGHT MAN, obtained exclusively by the DRUDGE REPORT.
"One seldom heard an unexpected thought in the Bush White House or met someone who possessed unusual knowledge."
MORE
"Bush was a sharp exception to the White House code of niceness. He was tart, not sweet," charges Frum.
[RIGHT MAN was ranked #2134 on the AMAZON hit parade Sunday evening]
Native Canadian-style quips not withstanding, Frum reveals a grudging admiration for Bush throughout his prose.
Frum writes of the president: He "was hardly the obvious man for the job. But by a very strange fate, he turned out to be, of all unlikely things, the right man."
Bush is neither dumb [as portrayed by the left] nor nice [the president assigns cute nicknames to people only to remember who they are], Frum claims.
With his upclose look at White House players Rove, Hughes and Card, Frum is the first Bush insider to publish a firsthand account.
White House insiders question the "quick turn around" of the book, and one top adviser is said to believe Frum rushed to cashout on his direct access to the president, sources said.
RANDOM HOUSE has printed 125,000 copies of the book. The TODAY SHOW has reserved a money slot for Frum on Tuesday morning. And with North Korea/Iraq currently on the covers of both NEWSWEEK and TIME: Enter the speechwriter.
Developing...
http://www.drudgereport.com/frum.htm
Well, Laura Ingraham is pushing it on her web site. I'd say it's probably positive.
Overall, the book does show the administration in a positive light. It's a pro-Bush book. But all these guys who come out of the administration to write books like to add some counterintuitive observation and settle old scores with people they didn't get along with.