110 People Who Are
Screwing Up America
(and Al Franken is # 37)
by Bernard Goldberg
HarperCollins
2006
Grade: F
I didn't intend to read this book. I first intended to simply look at Goldberg’s photo and chuckle, but I had to find out who the 110 were, and I had to read some of what Goldberg thinks is his wonderful sense of humor. He fancies himself to be like PJ O’Rourke or, yes, Al Franken, which is just adorable. So I sat at a Barnes & Noble for maybe an hour, thumbing through it. Goldberg uses each of his books not only to bash the left, but also to get back at Dan Rather. (Read Bias for his fire-breathing hatred on ole Dan.) I can just picture Goldberg with boxing gloves and a punching bag in his basement with "What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?" playing on his record player, shouting, "Take that, Dan!"
Al Franken receives special mention in the book's title because Franken hammered Goldberg on Donahue a few years ago, and wrote about the exchange in his book Lies…and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. Goldberg will never win a battle of wits with Franken, or even Frankenberry for that matter.
To his credit, Goldberg does include six republicans in his book. That’s six out of 110. This includes easy targets James Kopp (who shot an abortion doctor), Jimmy Swaggart, and David Duke. Goldberg is clearly going out on a limb with these choices. But after a murderer and a Klansman, some other nasty people should pop up before Howard Stern and Jerry Springer. Surprisingly, he does include conservative radio host Michael Savage, who, Goldberg says, "makes Ann Coulter look like Mary Tyler Moore." He says Coulter is as vicious as Savage, but she says things "with a twinkle in her eye." So, I guess, if Savage were hot (at least to a 70-year-old man) he wouldn't be included in Goldberg's list? Sounds like someone's in love. Pervert. What a dirty old man. Goldberg’s next book may be titled "I Want to Nail Ann Coulter (Then Maybe Bang the Cancer Out of Laura Ingraham)."
A good portion of the rest of the list includes well-known liberals. A lot of them write blogs, such as Noam Chomsky and Barbara Streisand, and, like them, someday I hope to screw up America with my blogs. Of course, this brings up some inevitable questions. Who is reading these blogs? Who knew Barbara Streisand even has a blog? It probably has thousands of hits just from Goldberg checking it every hour. Goldberg shocks us all by going after the liberal media and the not-so-hard-hitting interviews done by Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, and all the "crap" that's on news today. Meanwhile, there is no mention of Fox News. None. Fox contributes nothing to this "crap," but Barbara Walters should be excommunicated. So the liberal media is bad when they report the news, and bad when they do fluff. What a bitter old codger!
Democrat politicians flood the book: Ted Kennedy, John Edwards, Al Gore, Howard Dean, Jesse Jackson, Jimmy Carter (that bastard!), and numerous other Democrats make the cut. But who were strangely left out? The Clintons. Come on, Bernie, if any other Republican had written this book, both Bill and Hilary Clinton surely would have made the list. The Clintons must be upset at being shafted.
There is also a lot of "Everyone who thinks he or she is discriminated against ought to go to hell." He attacks feminism, environmentalism, animal rights activism, and black activism like a good little conservative. He attacks political correctness, yet also attacks left-wing cartoonists and columnists for what they have written. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. After attacking rappers Ludacris and Eminem for their anti-female lyrics, Goldberg then attacks no less than four feminists.
The expected not-so-celebrities are also represented, the ones made famous by the right: Michael Newdow, of take the word God out of The Pledge fame; Ward Churchill, every conservative’s favorite ultra-liberal; and Dr. Martin Haskell, who has supposedly performed over 1000 partial-birth abortions. As opposed to Goldberg's three abortions you can find at bookstores everywhere.
George Soros, the moneyman behind many liberal causes made the Hot 110, but no mention of any of the dozens of conservatives who fund the Republican Party. And are basketball player Latrell Spreewell and John Green (the guy who threw the drink at the Indiana Pacers player and started the infamous riot) really "screwing up America?" Or harmless, stupid Anna Nicole Smith? I guess Goldberg wanted to show that his attacks aren’t all politically based; some are actually because he’s senile and insane.
He attacks Harry Belafonte for implying Colin Powell is an "Uncle Tom." This is one of my big complaints about ole Bernie. One silly statement that someone makes puts him or her in his stupid book. Meanwhile, in his section on Courtney Love, Goldberg simply writes "Ho." Hey, that's classy. For all his attacks on people who may have said one silly thing, Goldberg could have included oodles of remarks made by Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coutler and Bill O'Reilly (or anyone at Fox News).
Finally, there are four that kind of pop out at you:
"The Unknown American Terrorist." Jesus Christ. Way to just give up and start being vague to reach 110. "Damnit, I’ve only got 96! Who else? What about that guy at Dunkin Donuts who put ham on my breakfast sandwich instead of bacon like I asked for? Damn Canadians!"
"The Dumb Celebrity." This seems redundant, since Goldberg has already included celebrities we’re to assume he thinks are dumb. But is it that they’re dumb, or just liberal? If people like Goldberg or Laura "Shut Up And Sing" Ingraham had it their way, celebrities with views differing from theirs would all just go away. This book should be called The People Screwing Up America Are Liberals. That’s what Goldberg wants to say.
"The Vicious Celebrity." Who is this, Rin Tin Tin? Godzilla? I swear, I think Goldberg and Bill O'Reilly must be the same person. O'Reilly must LOVE this book. He so could have written it. Goldberg is definitely looking out for him.
"The Dumb and Vicious Celebrity." This is very clever. Because not only are they dumb celebrities, or vicious celebrities, they’re both. So they must be really bad. Wow, Goldberg really hates celebrities. I'll bet he likes Arnold and Ted Nugent, though. What about a chapter called "The Dumb, Vicious and Unknown American Terrorist Celebrities?"
Anyway, horribly written. F.
by Michael Frissore
| by Michael Nappi @ 03 Mar 2007 09:50 pm |
 I think Mike Frissore is a nasty stuck up Lib. Of course a Liberal would say a book made by a conservative is junk because they don't like that the truth that is published because it hurts. I bet you though if it was a Liberal writing a book about the 110 conservatives that screw up America (there is not even that may, compared to Liberals) it would receive an A+++. The usual Liberal mentality. All Liberals are a bunch of nasty American-haters that don't understand that the Conservatives do a hell of a lot more than the Liberals ever did(Ex: Bill Clinton). |
| by Mike Frissore @ 14 Mar 2007 01:14 pm |
| You're 100% right, Sir. |
| by Anodyne @ 19 Mar 2007 02:53 pm |
| If only there was such a thing as unbiased. |
| by FreedomFighter @ 11 May 2007 11:02 pm |
| Here's what I find ironic, the book points out how liberals tend to be senseless, insensitive, unpatriotic people these days, and sure enough someone who would fit quite nicely on the list gives the book an F. When I look at this article, I can't help but laugh. All he can seem to do is make jokes about how Bernard somehow would consider a guy at dunkin donuts to be on the list. Thats sad.  |
| by Some Random Person @ 18 Oct 2007 08:59 pm |
| Anonymous Yelling Person, you clearly are a liberal, just with the intention of deflecting attacks on yourself. Awful, one-sided review. |