SHRUB, The
short but happy Political Life of George W. Bush
by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, October, 2000, Random House Books
Book report by Pam Green
Try to imagine being able to step back and take an objective look at
the man who calls himself president. Given the frustration we are
dealing
with now, it's a tough thing to do. Molly Ivins (nationally syndicated
columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Lou Dubose (editor
of
the Texas Observer) published "Shrub" in 2000, after spending 6 years
researching the ascendancy of George W. Bush through the political cartoon
that is Texas government. From the side of the looking glass that
we occupy
in 2003, the book seems like a syllabus for the Bush presidency.
Unlike Mr. Bush, Ms. Ivins is a master of the English language and
of the unique art of Texan phrasing. Her witty condensation of the
Bush
philosophy (if he can be said to have one) will force a chuckle even as
you
are shaking your head at the facts that are presented. Take, for
example,
her assessment of Bush's legendary 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 who
suffers from too much Elvis, the result is swell entertainment."
Remember
wondering how on earth people came to conclude that serious, straight arrow
Al Gore was less moral than the smirking frat boy with cocaine smudges
on
his lapels? "Shrub" presents a different picture. "As a young
man, he (Al
Gore) returned from his tour as an Army journalist in Bien Hoa and went
to
divinity school for a year. After his (aborted) tour with the National
Guard,
Bush spent a lot of time in the bars of Houston."
Do you know where the idea for handing over welfare programs to
"faith-based initiatives" came from? Molly does. Texas,
"the National
Laboratory for Bad Government" actually tried the concept during the 70's.
One result was a plethora of "homes" for delinquent youth, in which "many
innovative instructional techniques were brought to bear on the wayward
children, such as putting them in cages, dousing them with ice water, and
making them scrub themselves with wire brushes. In November 1972,
a
fourteen-year-old girl at Artesia Hall, a school in Liberty County, was
forced to swallow lye and left without medical care for three days.
That probably would have reformed her, if she hadn't died instead."
Saddam Hussein might have done well to study Bush's campaign against
Ann Richards in 1994. According to Ivins, "Some who know the Bush
family
well believe Dubya ran against Richards at least in part out of a vindictive
grudge stemming from her making fun of his daddy." Apparently, Ms.
Richards
once remarked that George Sr. was "born with a silver foot in his mouth".
Senior, always a classier act than Junior, had a silver pin made up in
the
shape of a foot and presented it to the Governor. She wore it with
pride on
many occasions.
W's focus on tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the poor is nothing
new, either. According to Ivins, "While he was fighting to deny children
health care at the beginning of the 1999 session, he was personally flogging
the only bill he designated 'emergency legislation': his $45 million
tax break
for owners of marginally productive oil and gas wells." Sound
familiar?
Summing it up, "The dirty secret of Texas government is that we keep our
'low tax, low services' tradition going by cheating the poor."
Lack of accountability to the media seems to have followed Bush from the
Governor's Mansion in Austin. "The Texas Observer once opined that
if the
press corps' noses got any closer to Dubya's behind, reporters would be
in
violation of the state sodomy laws." Likewise his positions on the
environment:
In response to Bush's 1999 claim that the air in Texas had become cleaner
since he became Governor, Molly says, "By no known standard has the air
of
Texas improved under governor Bush, nor has anything else involving the
environment. He personally intervened to protect major air polluters
in the
state, and his appointees in this area are staggeringly dreadful."
From his questionable military career, to his laughable attempts to
present himself as a "rags-to-riches" oil industry entrepreneur, to his
invocation of imminent domain for the purpose of taking land away from
Arlington homeowners to build his baseball stadium, Molly Ivins cuts to
the
chase and calls 'em like she sees 'em. She reminds us of what journalism
used to be all about: presenting the truth in an entertaining manner
without
personal vindictiveness (ala Coulter) or slavish fawning (ala Sawyer).
As she states in the introduction, "Young political reporters are always
told
there are three ways to judge a politician. The first is to look
at the record.
The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record."
And look at the record she does. This book will enlighten you, educate
you,
entertain you, and encourage you. If every voter in America reads
this book
before November 2004, there just might be a chance for this country.