When it comes to reporting on politics, nobody does it
smarter or funnier than bestselling author Molly Ivins. In
Shrub, Ivins focuses her Texas-size smarts on the biggest
politician in her home state: George Walker Bush, or
"Shrub," as Ivins has nicknamed Bush the
Younger.
A candidate of vague speeches and
an ambiguous platform, Bush leads the pack of GOP 2000
presidential hopefuls; "Dubya" could very well be our next
president. What voters need now is an original, smart, and
accessible analysis of Bush--one that leaves the "youthful
indiscretions" to the tabloids and gets to the heart of his
policies and motivations. Ivins is the perfect woman for the
job.
With her trademark wit and down-home
wisdom, Molly Ivins shares three pieces of advice on judging
a politician: "The first is to look at the record. The
second is to look at the record. And third, look at the
record." In this book, Ivins takes a good, hard look at the
record of the man who could be the leader of the free world.
Beginning with his post-college military career, Ivins
tracks Dubya's winding, sometimes unlikely path from a
failed congressional bid to a two-term governorship. Bush
has made plenty of friends and supporters along the way,
including Texas oil barons, evangelist Billy Graham, and
co-investors in the Texas Rangers baseball team. "You would
have to work at it to dislike the man," she writes. But for
all of Bush's likeability, Ivins points to a disconcerting
lack of political passion from this ascending presidential
candidate. In her words, "If you think his daddy had trouble
with 'the vision thing,' wait till you meet this
one."
Witty, trenchant, and on target, Ivins
gives a singularly perceptive and entertaining analysis of
George W. Bush. To head to the voting booth without it would
be downright un-American.
From Shrub: The Short
but Happy Political Life of George W.
Bush
" The past is prologue in politics.
If a politician is left, right, weak, strong, given to the
waffle or the flip-flop, or, as sometimes happens, an able
soul who performs well under pressure, all that will be in
the record."
¸ Bush's welfare record:
"Texas pols like to 'git tuff' on crime, welfare, commies,
and other bad stuff. Bush proposed to git tuff on welfare
recipients by ending the allowance for each additional
child--which in Texas is $38 a
month."
¸ Bush and the Christian
right: "Bush has learned to dance with the Christian
right. It has been interesting and amusing to watch the
process. Interesting because it's sometimes hard to tell
who's leading and who's following; amusing because when a
scion of Old Yankee money gets together with a televangelist
with too much Elvis, the result is swell
entertainment."
¸ Bush's environmental
record: Since Governor Bush's election, Texas air
quality has been rated the worst in the nation, leading all
fifty states in overall toxic releases, recognized
carcinogens in the air, cancer risk, and ten other
categories of pollutants.
¸ Bush's
military career: "Bush was promoted as the Texas Air
National Guard's anti-drug poster boy, one of life's little
ironies given the difficulty he has had answering cocaine
questions all these years later. 'George Walker Bush is one
member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks
from pot or hashish or speed,' reads a Guard press release
of 1970. 'Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics.'"