Genre: Non-fiction/Political

Title: Sinking the Ship of State

Author: Walter M. Brasch

The disastrous Bush administration is only slightly ameliorated by the humor found in the President’s many verbal gaffes.

            “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah,” said President George W. Bush.  This is just one of the Bushisms peppering the book.  These bits serve to lighten up what becomes a bit tedious.  The book is mostly a collection of newspaper columns, with occasional updating.  It has been said that there is nothing so deadly as yesterday’s news.

            Brasch, a journalism prof and syndicated newspaper columnist, covers the Bush years from 2000, with newspaper columns dealing with the usual complaints about his administration.  We read of the smear campaign against John McCain (after all, his campaign manager was a Jew, and McCain was seeking the gay vote), the illegal invasion of Iraq and the inept conduct of that war, the systematic measures consistently used by the president to harass peaceful protesters at his public appearances, torture at Guantanamo and mistreatment of suspects shipped off to overseas secret prisons, corporate welfare, and on and on. 

            I found Brasch’s description of the massive entertainment budgets of certain corporations for delegates to the conventions enlightening.  But while Brasch found Clinton’s years something to crow about, his welfare “reform” measures targeting the poor, lead me more to Michael Moore’s view, which Brasch quotes—that Clinton was perhaps the greatest Republican president.

            In 440 pages, Brasch could have produced a solid book on Bush, rather than just a collection of warmed-over newspaper clippings.  The stuff is all largely there.  Annoyingly, the book lacks an index. 

            How can we evaluate Brasch’s book?  In terms of what it tells us, it is very solid.  In the format, it stumbles.                      Reviewer: Reuel S. Amdur, Allbooks Reviews

 Available at: Amazon.com and orders@booksurge.com

                                    Title: Sinking the Ship of State

                                    Author: Walter M. Brasch

                                    Publisher: BookSurge Publishing

                                    ISBN: 978-1-4196-6950-7

                                    Pages: 440  Price: $24.95