[Chefelf]

Bush under attack by a barrage of books

Tue Feb 17, 6:55 AM ET
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

When White House spokesman Scott McClellan was asked about The Price of Loyalty, the best seller about former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill's disillusionment with the Bush administration, he replied, "I don't do book reviews."

If he did, it would be a full-time job. The Price of Loyalty is part of a wave of books bashing Bush.

In the first half of 2004, major commercial publishers will publish at least 25 books critical of Bush. Some may add to the criticism about his decision to go to war in Iraq (news - web sites). Among the titles:

• House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, who promises to document how financial and personal ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family affects U.S. foreign policy (March).

•Against All Enemies: Inside the White House's War on Terror by former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who joins O'Neill as the second Bush insider to break ranks with his former boss (March).

•Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John Dean, President Nixon's counsel (April).

•Bush on the Couch by psychoanalyst Justin Frank, who diagnoses Bush as a rigid thinker with a simplistic worldview (May).

•Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror by "Anonymous," a member of U.S. intelligence community (May).

Also out this month: Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell Youby Paul Waldman and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America by Eric Alterman and Mark Green.

Former president Bill Clinton (news - web sites) used to be fodder for best-selling conservative authors. Now, the only two political books on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list are critical of Bush: The Price of Loyalty (No. 24) and Kevin Phillips' American Dynasty (No. 40).

http://story.news.ya...abarrageofbooks

Those close to Bush are keeping this headline a secret from the president. The accusations and exposure of facts in the book are the least of his worries according to his top advisors. Bush's top aides fear that Bush may not be able to recover from the panic of learning that he was going to be attacked by books.

[K1NGWARREN]

I don't think anyone needs to wory about these books hurting Bush's feelings. Oh, wait---they don't have pictures, right?

[Despondent]

So, this McClellan guy is being criticized because he's *not* doing something which would be a futile effort

[Heccubus]

When I first read "Bush Under Attack By A Barrage Of Books", I had a mental image of Bush being pelted with vast amounts of books thrown by angry judges. Typical cartoon-type judges with those long white curly wigs.