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Title: Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First by Mona Charen ISBN: 0-89526-139-1 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: February, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.54 (157 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Anxiously awaiting a sequel
Comment: Mona Charen has been telling the truth about liberals for quite a few years now. A good measurement of her success is the liberals' reactions to her columns. When the liberal Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World used to run her columns (sadly, Cal Thomas and George Will are the only two conservatives currently included on that newspaper's opinion pages), regular Journal-World columnist and professor emeritus of the "prestigious" White Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas, labeled Charen a "troglodyte." "Useful Idiots" is sure to elicit much more name-calling from the left. Such name-calling is the best evidence that a conservative has made an excellent argument.
When I first saw the cover of Charen's book, and noted the photos of, among others, Phil Donahue, Peter Jennings, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy Carter, I thought the book was about the war on terrorism. However, the subtitle, "How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First," tells us that the book deals with events during the second half of the last century.
Charen details how liberals claimed they helped win the Cold War after that war was over, but were clearly on the other side during the actual battles. In the pages of "Useful Idiots," we find Sen. Chris Dodd lambasting the Reagan administration for fighting against the "tide of history" when it sought to rid Central America of the Marxist Sandinistas. Seven years later, the Soviet Union had fallen and the Sandinistas were voted out of power. This is merely one example of how liberals got it wrong during the Cold War. (Note: Sen. Dodd has been one of President George W. Bush's harshest critics vis-a-vis the Iraq war. Given his poor track record, why does anyone still take him seriously?)
One reviewer noted that, while he liked the book, "Useful Idiots" offered nothing that he hadn't already read elsewhere. It is true that much of the information in this book has been documented in other sources. However, what makes "Useful Idiots" so valuable is the fact that we have all of these cases of the liberals being wrong in one book. I, too, have read about most of these cases before. However, there are many that I had forgotten about. Americans need to be reminded about the outrageous actions of the liberals during the Cold War as the same liberals make similar arguments regarding the war on terrorism.
One of these same liberals is Rep. John Conyers on Michigan. This useful idiot wanted to impeach President Reagan over the invasion of Grenada. The same Rep. Conyers is now talking about impeaching President Bush over the liberation of Iraq. Some clever fellow once observed that Democrats try to impeach Republican presidents when those presidents act presidential, while Republicans impeach Democratic presidents when they act unpresidential.
As I read through "Useful Idiots" and listened to liberals debating the war on terrorism, it struck me that Charen could write another book in several years. The title and photos on the cover could remain the same. Only the subtitle would have to be changed to "How Liberals Got it Wrong in the War on Terrorism and Still Blame America First."
I had to laugh after reading the account of Peter Jennings reading poll results in January 1990 that showed Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas would win big in Nicaragua's presidential election. It turns out that opposition candidate Violetta Chamorro actually won 55 percent of the vote. The same Peter Jennings is on television today telling his shrinking audience that Iraqis are not welcoming Americans with open arms. One would think that Jennings would know by know that oppressed people are too intimidated to express their true opinions. In the privacy and safety of the polling booth, Nicaraguans rejected the communists. Once Saddam and his regime are clearly out of power, Iraqis will express what they truly feel. Jennings will once again have egg on his face, but that won't stop him from continuing to be a useful idiot.
One minor problem with "Useful Idiots" is the editing. The names of Ramsey Clark, John Maynard Keyes, Sidney Bluemnthal, and Anastasio Somoza are misspelled. This is minor, but liberals are likely to try discrediting Charen's work on this basis in lieu of dealing with the substance (which, unlike Bill Clinton, is unimpeachable). None of those who gave this book a poor rating noted the misspelled words. This leads me to believe that they did not actually read the book.
Charen's book is an invaluable contribution to those of us who care about history being portrayed in an accurate manner. Liberals were clearly on the wrong side during the Cold War. As we continue to fight the war on terrorism, we should keep that in mind as the same liberals attempt to block President Bush's efforts.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great List
Comment: We have to call this a "list" because the author, in her enthusiasm,
names so many "useful idiots," she doesn't have time to provide
fully developed stories about all the people who have worked againast the U.S., even while enjoying all the benefits of this country. The people she names, with some detail and with full
references, were considered "useful idiots" by the Communists.
And, most unhappily, many continue to this day.
But she gives a nice overview of all the liberals, leftists, Communists, and even Democrats, who have applauded the Communists of the USSR whatever they did, and who continued
to give plaudits to the later Communists of Cuba, various Eastern
European Soviet satellite states, as well as the Communist-backed insurgents of Central America. She correctly points out
that even when Stalin was responsible for the murder of multi-millions of subjects--more than Hitler's Germany was responsible for--many Americans continued to support him and to overlook
or disregard those imprisoned or slaughtered by his "Bolshi"
government. When all literate people could read about the
deaths of millions by state-induced famine in the early '30s,
and when Stalin put on a series of "show trials" for the world
to see, as he was making infamous and unbelieveably false
charges against his own party leaders and the survivors of
their own 1917 revolution, all for the sake of killing for killing sake,
and for silencing all potential opposition, the American liberals
continued making excuses for the atrocities and supporting Stalin.
The author shows that the blind support of Communism, and the
constant criticism of their own country, continues to this day,
as she gives quotes from famous network TV anchors and newscasters, as well as the "Hollywood elite," and she shows that their unifying theme is ignorance and a refusal to face facts.
As she reports, the leftist-leaning liberals in the US have never
met a Communist they didn't like.
Even now, most of those ignorant, close-minded liberals refuse
to admit there ever was a "cold war," and they slide along enjoying
all the fruits and benefits of a free society while they support the
exact opposite. One measure of their ignorance is knowledge
that Communists, once they get in power, always imprison or
murder the rich, the idle, the educated, etc., and the very US liberals who mouth such insane support for Communism would be
among the first to be eliminated.
The author does a first-class job of enumerating instances of
liberals who support Communist rulers, but she doesn't purport
to give full details of each Communist failing. For the interested,
she does cite the more full, detailed accounts, and they should
be "must" reading for anyone concerned about freedom. If anyone
has any doubts about how the Communists really operate, there
are excellent accounts available. Read some Solzhenitsyn, as
he recounts his personal experience in the Soviet Gulag, as well
as the experiences of others he has known, and you can't possibly believe there was any good, laudable reason for such
horrible labor and death camps. For your further education, read
some of the Robert Conquest accounts of the Great Famine and
the Great Terror. The facts of Communist repression are far
worse than any novelist could dream up.
This is a very nice list of how the liberals have worked against
their own country for upwards of 100 years, and she show many
of those who continue to work to undermine the interests of the
US to this day.
Very valuable.
Rating: 1
Summary: The naive Neocons--The latest useful idiots
Comment: Now that it has broken that the Neocons were played like violins by Ahmed Chalabi and his handlers in Iranian intelligence, and foolishly believed all the silliness that Iran thought up for them, I guess the phrase "useful idiots" now has a new and even sadder definition. Doing the misguided bidding of Iran, an axis of evil, is not an example of hard-headed analysis--it is utter gullible naivete.
Can't wait for Charen's scathing account of how the Neocons turned America's credibility and intelligence services into the Keystone Kops, gullibly suckling at the teet of Iran. Good job, fellas!
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Title: Treason : Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism by ANN COULTER ISBN: 1400050308 Publisher: Crown Forum Pub. Date: 24 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN are Subverting America by Laura Ingraham ISBN: 0895261014 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: 15 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Endangered America's Long-Term National Security by Robert Patterson ISBN: 0895261405 Publisher: Regnery Publishing Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values by TAMMY BRUCE ISBN: 0761516638 Publisher: Prima Lifestyles Pub. Date: 22 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Arrogance: Rescuing America From the Media Elite by Bernard Goldberg ISBN: 044653191X Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 03 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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