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Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America
A simultaneously rollicking and sobering indictment of the policies of President George W. Bush, Bushwhacked chronicles the destructive impact of the Bush administration on the very people who put him in the White House in the first place. Here are the ties that connected Bush to Enron, yes, but here, too, is the story of the woman who walks six miles to the unemployment office daily, wondering what happened to the economic security Bush promised. Here are reports on failed nation-building missions in Kabul and Baghdad. Here, too, the story of a rancher who has fallen prey to a Bush-Cheney interior department that is perhaps a wee bit too cozy with the oil industry. Bushwhacked is highly original and entirely thought-provoking—essential reading for anyone living in George W. Bush's America.
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Molly Ivins
36 books145 followersAmerican newspaper columnist, political commentator, and best-selling author from Austin, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 104 reviews
November 12, 2015
Book on CD read by Molly Ivins
The subtitle really says it all. Oh, how I miss Molly Ivins!
Ivins was a political commentator / journalist based in Texas. In an earlier book, she and Dubose examined the George W Bush’s flawed policies and abysmal record as governor of Texas. In this second book on “Dubya” they look at his presidency and how he has used many of those same strategies in running the nation.
It’s a somewhat dated book, today, and yet frighteningly appropriate in this “primary” season. Ivins doesn’t pull any punches and gives many examples of the effects of his ideology and policies on mainstream Americans struggling to make it – heck, forget “succeeding,” they’re struggling to survive.
Molly Ivins does a great job reading the audio. I feel like my best friend is just telling it like it is over a morning coffee (or a scotch at the bar)….
The subtitle really says it all. Oh, how I miss Molly Ivins!
Ivins was a political commentator / journalist based in Texas. In an earlier book, she and Dubose examined the George W Bush’s flawed policies and abysmal record as governor of Texas. In this second book on “Dubya” they look at his presidency and how he has used many of those same strategies in running the nation.
It’s a somewhat dated book, today, and yet frighteningly appropriate in this “primary” season. Ivins doesn’t pull any punches and gives many examples of the effects of his ideology and policies on mainstream Americans struggling to make it – heck, forget “succeeding,” they’re struggling to survive.
Molly Ivins does a great job reading the audio. I feel like my best friend is just telling it like it is over a morning coffee (or a scotch at the bar)….
April 19, 2017
This book was quite revelatory in regard to George W. Bush; who bought and paid for him; how he rewarded those who bought and paid for him (with some of the worst policy decisions ever); and the price the rest of the country has had to pay ever since he was elected, first as governor of Texas, and then prez of the U.S. It is just so sad that Molly Ivins is not still alive today. She would have a hey-day just freely substituting Donald *rump's name for GWB's name in chapter after chapter. Of course, Ivins would be too busy writing the sequel to Bushwhacked; something biting, insightful, and right on target with the current (sometimes) occupant of the White House. She could reprise and update her chapters dealing with big corporate money buying policy with huge contributions to PACs, parties, and candidates; the Supreme Court decision that equates a corporation with a person; the selling out of our environment to the highest bidder; the lack of access to healthcare; the attack on women's reproductive rights ( and, just a side note, Molly Ivins mentions that penis enlargement is a paid-for benefit of high-end executive health-care plans. I guess men's reproductive rights are not in harm's way); the defunding of programs for public schools; tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations; and on and on and on ad nauseam. The title might be "Trump You !"
Bushwhacked is a primer for the current political landscape. It may be looking backward but the reader can tell that it is a harbinger for the future.
Bushwhacked is a primer for the current political landscape. It may be looking backward but the reader can tell that it is a harbinger for the future.
March 29, 2009
We miss you, Molly Ivins! Being a Texan political reporter and essayist, she knew Dubya better than most when he took office as President, although he surprised even her with his capacity for murderous bungling and meanness. Her approach was, like that of Jim Hightower, to look at the lives of ordinary people and explore how they are affected by the politics of the President and the Congress. She blended laughter and hope with anger and determination not to let wrongdoing go unnoticed. The end result, at least for me, is to leave the reader simultaneously appalled and laughing out loud. We need more like her.
September 22, 2007
Not as good as her first book on Bush.
June 29, 2008
Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America
Molly Ivins & Lou DuBose
Vintage Books (Random House)
$17 CDN, Paperback
*** 1/2
Newspaper columns come in three varieties: Good, bad and disposable. A good column is provocative. It argues a case. It makes a reader think. It compels even those who oppose the author's stance to read it.
Unsurprisingly, the best-selling Bushwhacked (now available in a mass-market paperback edition) displays all of those qualities, which points to the reason why co-author Molly Ivins' syndicated column is published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers.
Ivins and Texas journalist Lou Dubose present a well-researched account of how the actions and policies of U.S. President George W. Bush -- before and after his election to the White House -- have had a devastating impact on ordinary Americans, while Bush's cohort have gained.
The authors put human faces on ample facts and statistics:
* A single mom who walks six miles to the unemployment office because she can't afford bus fare as she's ineligible for a late-coming aid package that some say the Bush administration delayed for political reasons.
* A doctor dies of a bacterial infection from contaminated meat after the Bush administration relaxed food safety regulations.
* Americans continue to die in Iraq and Afghanistan in wars the Bush administration initiated under a U.S. foreign agenda that coincides -- and is set by -- authors of Israel's right-wing Likud party foreign policy.
Examples abound.
But logical fallacies flaw Bushwhacked. In their zeal to show how terrible Bush is, the authors blame him personally for every unfortunate circumstance, every personal tragedy suffered under his reign, both in corporate and public life.
The failure of a string of companies that counted Bush among their executive ranks is blamed on him, but little or no similar responsibility is assigned to the other officers and directors.
That any needy person is ineligible for social assistance or not grandfathered in is tragic but the reality is that without qualification criteria, it would be impossible to operate any government aid program.
The list of logical fallacies counted along with the substantive and real arguments against Bush's policies goes on.
But the worst and most damaging problem with the book is Ivins' and Dubose's sneering contempt for Bush and his family -- illustrated by the repeated use of unflattering nicknames for Bush clan members, such as Shrub for the president.
The mean-spirited, juvenile diminishment of the individual leaves the reader with an uneasy feeling akin to a realization of swallowing something distasteful in your food, offends the rational reader and irreparably harms the authors' generally strong case.
In a chapter on food laws, Ivins and Dubose write: "Would you like some s--- to go with your quarter pounder? They don't ask that question at McDonald's."
They don't ask it about Bushwhacked either.
Saleem Khan
Molly Ivins & Lou DuBose
Vintage Books (Random House)
$17 CDN, Paperback
*** 1/2
Newspaper columns come in three varieties: Good, bad and disposable. A good column is provocative. It argues a case. It makes a reader think. It compels even those who oppose the author's stance to read it.
Unsurprisingly, the best-selling Bushwhacked (now available in a mass-market paperback edition) displays all of those qualities, which points to the reason why co-author Molly Ivins' syndicated column is published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers.
Ivins and Texas journalist Lou Dubose present a well-researched account of how the actions and policies of U.S. President George W. Bush -- before and after his election to the White House -- have had a devastating impact on ordinary Americans, while Bush's cohort have gained.
The authors put human faces on ample facts and statistics:
* A single mom who walks six miles to the unemployment office because she can't afford bus fare as she's ineligible for a late-coming aid package that some say the Bush administration delayed for political reasons.
* A doctor dies of a bacterial infection from contaminated meat after the Bush administration relaxed food safety regulations.
* Americans continue to die in Iraq and Afghanistan in wars the Bush administration initiated under a U.S. foreign agenda that coincides -- and is set by -- authors of Israel's right-wing Likud party foreign policy.
Examples abound.
But logical fallacies flaw Bushwhacked. In their zeal to show how terrible Bush is, the authors blame him personally for every unfortunate circumstance, every personal tragedy suffered under his reign, both in corporate and public life.
The failure of a string of companies that counted Bush among their executive ranks is blamed on him, but little or no similar responsibility is assigned to the other officers and directors.
That any needy person is ineligible for social assistance or not grandfathered in is tragic but the reality is that without qualification criteria, it would be impossible to operate any government aid program.
The list of logical fallacies counted along with the substantive and real arguments against Bush's policies goes on.
But the worst and most damaging problem with the book is Ivins' and Dubose's sneering contempt for Bush and his family -- illustrated by the repeated use of unflattering nicknames for Bush clan members, such as Shrub for the president.
The mean-spirited, juvenile diminishment of the individual leaves the reader with an uneasy feeling akin to a realization of swallowing something distasteful in your food, offends the rational reader and irreparably harms the authors' generally strong case.
In a chapter on food laws, Ivins and Dubose write: "Would you like some s--- to go with your quarter pounder? They don't ask that question at McDonald's."
They don't ask it about Bushwhacked either.
Saleem Khan
March 4, 2012
WARNING: political content ahead. Read at your own risk!
"For years, bestselling political commentator Molly Ivins has been sounding the alarm about George W. Bush. In Shrub, her 2000 skewering of presidential candidate Bush, the inimitable Ivins, with co-author Lou Dubose, offered a devastating expose of Dubya's career and abysmal record as governor of Texas. Now, in their second book on our current White House occupant, Ivins and Dubose take the wire brush to the Bush presidency and show how he has applied the same flawed strategies he used in governing Texas to running the largest superpower in the world.
"Bushwhacked brings to light the horrendous legacy of the Bush tax cut, his increasingly appalling environmental record, his administration's involvement in the Enron scandal, and the real Bush foreign policy -- botched nation building in Kabul and Baghdad, alienation of former allies-- and, unfortunately, much more. Ivins and Dubose go beyond the too frequently soft media coverage of Bush to show us just how damaging his policies have been to ordinary Americans -- "The Doug Jones Average" rather than the Dow Jones Average. Bushwhacked is filled with sharp observation, humor, and compassion for the people often ignored by the federal government and the Washington press corps.
"With the war on terrorism posing unprecedented challenges to our civil liberties, it is high time for a close look at the state of our Union. Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose provide just that in Bushwhacked -- an incisive, entertaining, and damning indictment of the Bush presidency."
~~front flap
I love Molly Ivins. She was extremely politically astute, and always presented her opinions wrapped in generous doses of humor. I often laughed out loud at her wry twists of language, all the while admiring her courage in "telling it like it is". She was Toto, a small dog drawing back the curtain that hid the charlatan, in order to show her friends the way smoke and mirrors were being used to distort reality.
It took me a long time to read this book. Bushwhacked is very different than her other books -- her sly sense of humor is conspicuous by its absence, and the chapters are filled with facts and statistics, and stories about the people that Dubya's policies have hurt. It's gut-wrenching to read this book, to be face-to-face with just how much his government is not "by the people or for the people." I knew most of this prior to reading the book, but it was still excruciating to read it again, all neatly packaged and no holds barred.
And as always when I read anything she wrote, I wonder what she would be saying about the current political scene. She'd be having a field day with the Republican wannabes, don't you think? Just as she'd be skewering the failings of the current White House occupant.
"For years, bestselling political commentator Molly Ivins has been sounding the alarm about George W. Bush. In Shrub, her 2000 skewering of presidential candidate Bush, the inimitable Ivins, with co-author Lou Dubose, offered a devastating expose of Dubya's career and abysmal record as governor of Texas. Now, in their second book on our current White House occupant, Ivins and Dubose take the wire brush to the Bush presidency and show how he has applied the same flawed strategies he used in governing Texas to running the largest superpower in the world.
"Bushwhacked brings to light the horrendous legacy of the Bush tax cut, his increasingly appalling environmental record, his administration's involvement in the Enron scandal, and the real Bush foreign policy -- botched nation building in Kabul and Baghdad, alienation of former allies-- and, unfortunately, much more. Ivins and Dubose go beyond the too frequently soft media coverage of Bush to show us just how damaging his policies have been to ordinary Americans -- "The Doug Jones Average" rather than the Dow Jones Average. Bushwhacked is filled with sharp observation, humor, and compassion for the people often ignored by the federal government and the Washington press corps.
"With the war on terrorism posing unprecedented challenges to our civil liberties, it is high time for a close look at the state of our Union. Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose provide just that in Bushwhacked -- an incisive, entertaining, and damning indictment of the Bush presidency."
~~front flap
I love Molly Ivins. She was extremely politically astute, and always presented her opinions wrapped in generous doses of humor. I often laughed out loud at her wry twists of language, all the while admiring her courage in "telling it like it is". She was Toto, a small dog drawing back the curtain that hid the charlatan, in order to show her friends the way smoke and mirrors were being used to distort reality.
It took me a long time to read this book. Bushwhacked is very different than her other books -- her sly sense of humor is conspicuous by its absence, and the chapters are filled with facts and statistics, and stories about the people that Dubya's policies have hurt. It's gut-wrenching to read this book, to be face-to-face with just how much his government is not "by the people or for the people." I knew most of this prior to reading the book, but it was still excruciating to read it again, all neatly packaged and no holds barred.
And as always when I read anything she wrote, I wonder what she would be saying about the current political scene. She'd be having a field day with the Republican wannabes, don't you think? Just as she'd be skewering the failings of the current White House occupant.
October 4, 2016
Peer back through the mists of time to the year 2003, when a man named George W. Bush was President of the United States. This is the era under review by noted Texas columnist Molly Ivins and her coauthor. I sometimes read Ivin's syndicated column in the newspaper around this time period, and I've never shared many liberals' love of her brand of humor (if you think it is funny to refer to Bush as GeeDubya, then you'll laugh a lot), but this book is a good time capsule back into the broad concerns that were being raised during Bush's first term in office.
I thought the strongest portion of the book was the first chapter as Ivins discusses the Bush record as Governor of Texas. As a Texas political observer, Ivins has a lot of insight into his Governorship, much of which I either didn't know or forgot at this point. I take it her earlier book, Shrub, is exclusively about this topic, and I would guess might be a better read because of it.
After that initial chapter, there isn't much rhyme or reason to what topics are addressed throughout the rest of Bushwhacked. We spend a lot of time on food safety regulation and ergonomic workplace safety regulations, which are important topics, but seemed to occupy a larger than expected portion of this volume. Enron also features heavily in the book, as well as a chapter toward the end on the Iraq War, which was just in its early stages at the time Bushwhacked was published.
The writing style is very informal, and the audience is clearly those already in the anti-Bush choir. Though Democrats receive occasional light criticism, Ivins is eager to generally paint them in a positive light. All of that is fine, but good to know from the outset. Ivins is safely within the mainstream of Democratic opposition to Bush, and not engaged in a deeper, rigorous examination of what drives our politics.
Books like this aren't really meant to stand the test of time. It is of its moment, and I'm sure was enjoyed by many people on airplanes in the year or two after it was published. But unless you are looking for a walk down memory lane, its time has mainly passed at this juncture.
I thought the strongest portion of the book was the first chapter as Ivins discusses the Bush record as Governor of Texas. As a Texas political observer, Ivins has a lot of insight into his Governorship, much of which I either didn't know or forgot at this point. I take it her earlier book, Shrub, is exclusively about this topic, and I would guess might be a better read because of it.
After that initial chapter, there isn't much rhyme or reason to what topics are addressed throughout the rest of Bushwhacked. We spend a lot of time on food safety regulation and ergonomic workplace safety regulations, which are important topics, but seemed to occupy a larger than expected portion of this volume. Enron also features heavily in the book, as well as a chapter toward the end on the Iraq War, which was just in its early stages at the time Bushwhacked was published.
The writing style is very informal, and the audience is clearly those already in the anti-Bush choir. Though Democrats receive occasional light criticism, Ivins is eager to generally paint them in a positive light. All of that is fine, but good to know from the outset. Ivins is safely within the mainstream of Democratic opposition to Bush, and not engaged in a deeper, rigorous examination of what drives our politics.
Books like this aren't really meant to stand the test of time. It is of its moment, and I'm sure was enjoyed by many people on airplanes in the year or two after it was published. But unless you are looking for a walk down memory lane, its time has mainly passed at this juncture.
March 11, 2010
First of all, I LOVE EVERYTHING MOLLY IVINS!
I read this just before and after Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and after the first several months of the Bush/Cheney economic meltdown --- due mostly, but not entirely, to Republican policies which have wreaked havoc on the world economy. Molly Ivins eerily predicts this in her book. She castigates Bush and the Republicans for dismantling economic safeguards which had been in place since the Great Depression.
I MISS MOLLY! She would have had so much to say since the meltdown.
I read this just before and after Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration and after the first several months of the Bush/Cheney economic meltdown --- due mostly, but not entirely, to Republican policies which have wreaked havoc on the world economy. Molly Ivins eerily predicts this in her book. She castigates Bush and the Republicans for dismantling economic safeguards which had been in place since the Great Depression.
I MISS MOLLY! She would have had so much to say since the meltdown.
June 5, 2013
I have always loved Molly Ivins. She is so sharp. So funny, so right that I enjoyed reading her book on one of the worst Presidents in my 70 year life. George may be smart or he may have just been a poster boy, but the policies he approved or permitted were horrible. We are still suffering from the taxes he cut to the rich and the two wars he started. So even years later it is still fun to read Molly.
Her suggests as to the solutions match up with Tom Friedmann's That Used to Be Us. The solutions to our problems are not hard to find. Just hard to get enacted.
Her suggests as to the solutions match up with Tom Friedmann's That Used to Be Us. The solutions to our problems are not hard to find. Just hard to get enacted.
Want to read
February 16, 2010This book is EXCEEDINGLY DIFFICULT for me to get through. It is definitely not the writing... Molly Ivins is completely passionate and plain-speaking... I am still not over my disgust of the George W. Bush administration. Perhaps as things improve during the duly-elected President Obama's administration I'll be able to pick up the book again and feel less tense about it. God bless and rest in peace, Ms. Ivins. You've done your job.
October 1, 2008
You don't really have to read this book if you have already read "Shrub". They kind of say the same thing. Ivins makes it clear that Bush is definitely NOT the idiot he so obviously seems to be (what with his decimation of the English language and all...). That is what is really scary--that he is actually very intelligent. Is is 2009 yet?
December 5, 2007
Molly Ivins at her finest! The talking book was a lot of fun, with Anna Fields and her droll accent, and I found myself laughing out loud at some parts (while wanting to bang my head against the wall at the same time...no easy feat). The world of political punditry misses this lady, that's for sure.
October 14, 2010
Should this book be classified under "horror, nonfiction"? Thank goodness Molly Ivins is(was) a writer gifted with a very funny wit, cuz these tales will scare the poop outta ya. Very educational as well, and she makes it pretty clear that, though we no longer have a shrub in the White House, this book is still extremely relevant. Yikes.
January 15, 2011
This was my first reading of Molly Ivins, prompted by her untimely death this year and a number of related articles which introduced me to her life/work. Without a doubt, the mission is an expose of W’s misdeeds and failures, but she does it without meanness and with humor. Fans of George W. Bush probably wouldn’t like it, but it/she should be required reading.
December 6, 2011
Good book on the 'Bush legacy', tries for equal parts of serious approach and humorous.
Much as I love Molly Ivins, I just find the subject matter so depressing and blood pressure raising that it costs the book a star, as I read to stay informed, but when it comes to Republicans, I never enjoy the book and so generally subtract a star.
Much as I love Molly Ivins, I just find the subject matter so depressing and blood pressure raising that it costs the book a star, as I read to stay informed, but when it comes to Republicans, I never enjoy the book and so generally subtract a star.
July 2, 2017
A very interesting and disturbing look at George W. Bush and the Republican's oxymoronic "Compassionate Conservatism." It really made me think of what's happening today in Washington. The last chapter made the point that we, the people, can change how thing are by voting and contacting our elected officials to let them know how we feel about what is going on.
June 16, 2007
Story of George W. Bush and how his brand of compassionate conservatism has changed America and how it changed Texas beforehand. Very fond memories in reading his book at the Lubbock Airport in 2004 after the wedding of my good friend, Bryan.
October 29, 2007
A slow read, but several flashes of Ivins' wit appear amidst the exhaustive reporting. Well done, of course. It prompted me to lament that the wrong Texas natives die prematurely. Long live Molly Ivins!
October 26, 2008
Molly writes about Texas, and in this book she shows what the impact of Bush policies has been in Texas, as a predictor for what we can expect as a nation. She is often amusing, although not nearly enough of the time. It is interesting and frightening.
May 22, 2009
This is a very entertaining and informational book. I would recommend this if you are the type of person who is interested in politics and likes to do their research (whether u are a Bush fan or not). A MUST read for those who are Anti-Bush.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 104 reviews