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Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush
When it comes to reporting on politics, nobody does it smarter or funnier than bestselling author Molly Ivins. In Shrub, Ivins focuses her Texas-size smarts on the biggest politician in her home state: George Walker Bush, or "Shrub," as Ivins has nicknamed Bush the Younger.
A candidate of vague speeches and an ambiguous platform, Bush leads the pack of GOP 2000 presidential hopefuls; "Dubya" could very well be our next president. What voters need now is an original, smart, and accessible analysis of Bush--one that leaves the "youthful indiscretions" to the tabloids and gets to the heart of his policies and motivations. Ivins is the perfect woman for the job.
With her trademark wit and down-home wisdom, Molly Ivins shares three pieces of advice on judging a politician: "The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record." In this book, Ivins takes a good, hard look at the record of the man who could be the leader of the free world. Beginning with his post-college military career, Ivins tracks Dubya's winding, sometimes unlikely path from a failed congressional bid to a two-term governorship. Bush has made plenty of friends and supporters along the way, including Texas oil barons, evangelist Billy Graham, and co-investors in the Texas Rangers baseball team. "You would have to work at it to dislike the man," she writes. But for all of Bush's likeability, Ivins points to a disconcerting lack of political passion from this ascending presidential candidate. In her words, "If you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing,' wait till you meet this one."
Witty, trenchant, and on target, Ivins gives a singularly perceptive and entertaining analysis of George W. Bush. To head to the voting booth without it would be downright un-American.
From Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush
" The past is prologue in politics. If a politician is left, right, weak, strong, given to the waffle or the flip-flop, or, as sometimes happens, an able soul who performs well under pressure, all that will be in the record."
¸ Bush's welfare record: "Texas pols like to 'git tuff' on crime, welfare, commies, and other bad stuff. Bush proposed to git tuff on welfare recipients by ending the allowance for each additional child--which in Texas is $38 a month."
¸ Bush and the Christian right: "Bush has learned to 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 with too much Elvis, the result is swell entertainment."
¸ Bush's environmental record: Since Governor Bush's election, Texas air quality has been rated the worst in the nation, leading all fifty states in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, cancer risk, and ten other categories of pollutants.
¸ Bush's military career: "Bush was promoted as the Texas Air National Guard's anti-drug poster boy, one of life's little ironies given the difficulty he has had answering cocaine questions all these years later. 'George Walker Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed,' reads a Guard press release of 1970. 'Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics.'"
A candidate of vague speeches and an ambiguous platform, Bush leads the pack of GOP 2000 presidential hopefuls; "Dubya" could very well be our next president. What voters need now is an original, smart, and accessible analysis of Bush--one that leaves the "youthful indiscretions" to the tabloids and gets to the heart of his policies and motivations. Ivins is the perfect woman for the job.
With her trademark wit and down-home wisdom, Molly Ivins shares three pieces of advice on judging a politician: "The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record." In this book, Ivins takes a good, hard look at the record of the man who could be the leader of the free world. Beginning with his post-college military career, Ivins tracks Dubya's winding, sometimes unlikely path from a failed congressional bid to a two-term governorship. Bush has made plenty of friends and supporters along the way, including Texas oil barons, evangelist Billy Graham, and co-investors in the Texas Rangers baseball team. "You would have to work at it to dislike the man," she writes. But for all of Bush's likeability, Ivins points to a disconcerting lack of political passion from this ascending presidential candidate. In her words, "If you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing,' wait till you meet this one."
Witty, trenchant, and on target, Ivins gives a singularly perceptive and entertaining analysis of George W. Bush. To head to the voting booth without it would be downright un-American.
From Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush
" The past is prologue in politics. If a politician is left, right, weak, strong, given to the waffle or the flip-flop, or, as sometimes happens, an able soul who performs well under pressure, all that will be in the record."
¸ Bush's welfare record: "Texas pols like to 'git tuff' on crime, welfare, commies, and other bad stuff. Bush proposed to git tuff on welfare recipients by ending the allowance for each additional child--which in Texas is $38 a month."
¸ Bush and the Christian right: "Bush has learned to 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 with too much Elvis, the result is swell entertainment."
¸ Bush's environmental record: Since Governor Bush's election, Texas air quality has been rated the worst in the nation, leading all fifty states in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, cancer risk, and ten other categories of pollutants.
¸ Bush's military career: "Bush was promoted as the Texas Air National Guard's anti-drug poster boy, one of life's little ironies given the difficulty he has had answering cocaine questions all these years later. 'George Walker Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed,' reads a Guard press release of 1970. 'Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics.'"
193 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 2000
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691 people want to read
About the author
Molly Ivins
37 books145 followersAmerican newspaper columnist, political commentator, and best-selling author from Austin, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
November 6, 2019
If only. Molly Ivins' wishful thinking title to this hilarious and sadly insightful political book details the myriad of scandals in Texas during the catastrophic governorship of Dubya. She had already lampooned the Texas Leg (pronounced "ledge") in You Gotta Dance with Them that Brung You, and her she demonstrates how Bush, Jr profited from the massive corruption in the Lone Star state and his completely inept business dealings. She called him Shrub because of just one of his more glorious capitalist failures. Unfortunately, her warning about this idiot fell upon deaf ears and we got 8 years of Dubya and a war economy and a massive bank crash and bailout as a result - none of which would have surprised Molly in the least. Fortunately, she has passed already because I think that the election of Drumpf would have killed her otherwise.
So, if you want to understand a bit more of why Dubya was such an incredibly incompetent and corrupt president, this is an excellent source. Sadly, due to the abyss that the US has fallen into since 2016, it is almost with a light nostalgia that we look back at Dubya's gaffs.
So, if you want to understand a bit more of why Dubya was such an incredibly incompetent and corrupt president, this is an excellent source. Sadly, due to the abyss that the US has fallen into since 2016, it is almost with a light nostalgia that we look back at Dubya's gaffs.
July 25, 2007
I read this book around the time the Shrub was being "elected" the first time. It was quite possibly the scariest book I've ever read.
Molly Ivins was a genius. I miss her a lot. I got to see her speak towards the end of her life. She had been going through chemo and barely looked like herself, but she was still razor sharp. It made me want to read all of her books.
This, of course, is all old information by now. But at the time it was scary stuff. Still is to an extent, especially now that we've een living with it for 7 years.
Molly Ivins was a genius. I miss her a lot. I got to see her speak towards the end of her life. She had been going through chemo and barely looked like herself, but she was still razor sharp. It made me want to read all of her books.
This, of course, is all old information by now. But at the time it was scary stuff. Still is to an extent, especially now that we've een living with it for 7 years.
August 19, 2020
It's almost impossible to not "get political" with a book like this. There's a more-than-vague representation of an American flag on the cover, with Bush Jr.'s smirking mug in the foreground. From the very beginning, Molly Ivins and Lou DuBose emphasize Bush's record: what was actually said and done while he was governor of Texas. There's a good amount of wry humor along the way, too.*
*An example of this is the very title of the book. Bush named one of his oil interests after what he thought was the Spanish word for "bush," but it ended up being "shrub" instead.
Although it's sometimes funny, this isn't a comedy book, nor an expose filled with second- or third-hand information and gossip. It's a measured, highly readable look at Bush Jr.'s career as governor of Texas, with a little bit of his earlier career at the beginning, and the initial parts of his presidential campaign at the end.
I'm not sure why this book kept poking at my attention from the home bookshelf, but it was a well-timed read. Texas has a huge economy--the 11th-highest in the world as of the writing of this book. When it comes to governments of this scale, and the Republican party and its style of governance, past is prologue. I saw a lot that was familiar, here, over twenty years later.
There are some familiar characteristics in Bush's rise to power and wealth, too. After an education largely at posh schools (with a very short run at a public high school that his gubernatorial campaign emphasized over the posh places), Bush failed upward in business, including an insider trading deal where his reporting of that activity to the SEC was "lost." Hmm. As governor, Bush was not interested in policy, and scoffed at long books about it. He's an apt politician, though, well able to build useful connections and hire people who are good at what they do. He's affable. And sometimes lacking in feeling, to put it lightly.
Continuing on from this short biography--just a chapter or two--Ivins and DuBose move on to his dealings with the Texas legislature. With 31 senators, 150 representatives, all kinds of committees, and interest groups, and individuals within each, things could quite easily have gotten confusing. But the authors make everything crystal-clear, and I got a good feeling of how the wheels of government worked in the Texas of the '90s.
Those wheels carry us along to policy, and this is where the book could be really frustrating and depressing. Republicans didn't like spending money on government then any more then than they do now, and given a surplus, a Republican-led "Lege" (Texas legislature) will blow it away on tax breaks for corporations rather than spend it on, say, infrastructure for the colonia slums on the border, which were built without running water or sewer systems. (In late 20th-century America! Really!)
They also hate regulations on big business. Thus a "clean air" bill where the state's worst polluters, belching filth into the sky since the early '70s, must bring their plants up to environmental specs... on a voluntary basis.
There's a thread of cruelty in there, too. Texas has both the death penalty and a justice system where innocent people fall into prison and maybe a death sentence, regularly. Highly punitive drug laws--which wealthy folk "somehow" manage to sidestep--lead to decades-long jail terms for tiny amounts of possessed drugs.
One light in this tunnel of soul-crushing policy is that Bush really did care about education. Unfortunately, his bill equalizing funds for schools in rich and poor areas failed, despite his political savvy and his diligent efforts to have it pass.
I also own a copy of Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America, so I'll read it eventually to get more of Bush's story after the brief peek into his presidential campaign in the latter parts of this book. No doubt it will bring some insight into our political life today, just as this one did. It's too bad that Molly Ivins passed away between then and today, but I very much appreciated her voice from the past here, with its incisive good humor.
*An example of this is the very title of the book. Bush named one of his oil interests after what he thought was the Spanish word for "bush," but it ended up being "shrub" instead.
Although it's sometimes funny, this isn't a comedy book, nor an expose filled with second- or third-hand information and gossip. It's a measured, highly readable look at Bush Jr.'s career as governor of Texas, with a little bit of his earlier career at the beginning, and the initial parts of his presidential campaign at the end.
I'm not sure why this book kept poking at my attention from the home bookshelf, but it was a well-timed read. Texas has a huge economy--the 11th-highest in the world as of the writing of this book. When it comes to governments of this scale, and the Republican party and its style of governance, past is prologue. I saw a lot that was familiar, here, over twenty years later.
There are some familiar characteristics in Bush's rise to power and wealth, too. After an education largely at posh schools (with a very short run at a public high school that his gubernatorial campaign emphasized over the posh places), Bush failed upward in business, including an insider trading deal where his reporting of that activity to the SEC was "lost." Hmm. As governor, Bush was not interested in policy, and scoffed at long books about it. He's an apt politician, though, well able to build useful connections and hire people who are good at what they do. He's affable. And sometimes lacking in feeling, to put it lightly.
Continuing on from this short biography--just a chapter or two--Ivins and DuBose move on to his dealings with the Texas legislature. With 31 senators, 150 representatives, all kinds of committees, and interest groups, and individuals within each, things could quite easily have gotten confusing. But the authors make everything crystal-clear, and I got a good feeling of how the wheels of government worked in the Texas of the '90s.
Those wheels carry us along to policy, and this is where the book could be really frustrating and depressing. Republicans didn't like spending money on government then any more then than they do now, and given a surplus, a Republican-led "Lege" (Texas legislature) will blow it away on tax breaks for corporations rather than spend it on, say, infrastructure for the colonia slums on the border, which were built without running water or sewer systems. (In late 20th-century America! Really!)
They also hate regulations on big business. Thus a "clean air" bill where the state's worst polluters, belching filth into the sky since the early '70s, must bring their plants up to environmental specs... on a voluntary basis.
There's a thread of cruelty in there, too. Texas has both the death penalty and a justice system where innocent people fall into prison and maybe a death sentence, regularly. Highly punitive drug laws--which wealthy folk "somehow" manage to sidestep--lead to decades-long jail terms for tiny amounts of possessed drugs.
One light in this tunnel of soul-crushing policy is that Bush really did care about education. Unfortunately, his bill equalizing funds for schools in rich and poor areas failed, despite his political savvy and his diligent efforts to have it pass.
I also own a copy of Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America, so I'll read it eventually to get more of Bush's story after the brief peek into his presidential campaign in the latter parts of this book. No doubt it will bring some insight into our political life today, just as this one did. It's too bad that Molly Ivins passed away between then and today, but I very much appreciated her voice from the past here, with its incisive good humor.
February 18, 2018
A very well-written account of a very difficult era for one state preceding an even worse one for an entire country.
Ivins claims that Ann Richards - a feminist Democrat - could have only been elected in a state like Texas because her opponent was so blatantly idiotic (bragging that he liked to "get serviced" in whorehouses south of the border). It seems to me that the United States elections have very much evolved this way - unless he's an absolute lunatic, the public will vote Republican over any non-centrist Democrat because progress is risky and the conservative approach appears safer.
Ivins claims that Ann Richards - a feminist Democrat - could have only been elected in a state like Texas because her opponent was so blatantly idiotic (bragging that he liked to "get serviced" in whorehouses south of the border). It seems to me that the United States elections have very much evolved this way - unless he's an absolute lunatic, the public will vote Republican over any non-centrist Democrat because progress is risky and the conservative approach appears safer.
February 25, 2007
I credit this book with giving me my first political education on George W. Bush. Ivins conveys just how abominable a governor and undeserving a leader he is. May she rest in peace.
September 28, 2019
Molly Ivins was a dang National treasure and its a tragedy that she left us so soon. Her wit gets most of the attention, which is fair bc she was funny as hell. But the real brilliance of Shrub (her and Lou Dubose’s 1999 bio of George W. and easily the best titled political book ever written) is how it uses straight-forward facts about Bush’s record to expose the true cruelty of his supposed “compassionate conservatism.” For a guy who ascended to the presidency by campaigning as a moderate do-gooder, W had already blazed a clear enough trail in Texas as a loyal syndicate for corporations and the top 1%. From cutting off health care for children to self-dealing for personal friends, it was all in the record. And Molly tried to warn you, America.
March 24, 2020
Quite an eye opener!
February 1, 2013
Molly Ivins was an amazing journalist, and this book is proof of that. In it Ivins traced the ignorant, self-absorbed young George W.'s embarassing and self-destructive behaviour during college, on through his failed attempt to run a private business (which he drove into bankruptcy) and on through his time as governor and the harm his policies did to many Texans.
Every contention Ivins makes is sourced, and I went and looked up a bunch of them, and every single one proved out as confirmable.
This book is definitely a slam of Bush the younger, make no mistake that Molly Ivins was not a fan of George's. However, she's also a strong enough writer that she details the list of embarassments that have made up Bush's career in ways that are actually funny and quite entertaining.
If you think George W. Bush is terrific, then this book isn't for you - you won't like it. But if you are interested in actual, documented facts about how Bush has been protected and shielded from the negative consequences of his incompetence and bad choices throughout his entire life, you may want to check this out!
Every contention Ivins makes is sourced, and I went and looked up a bunch of them, and every single one proved out as confirmable.
This book is definitely a slam of Bush the younger, make no mistake that Molly Ivins was not a fan of George's. However, she's also a strong enough writer that she details the list of embarassments that have made up Bush's career in ways that are actually funny and quite entertaining.
If you think George W. Bush is terrific, then this book isn't for you - you won't like it. But if you are interested in actual, documented facts about how Bush has been protected and shielded from the negative consequences of his incompetence and bad choices throughout his entire life, you may want to check this out!
September 17, 2008
Well, you can't expect even-handedness in a book about the (at the time) future President Dubya, especially from Molly Ivins -- but this quick-reading little tome is less overtly partisan than you might expect, actually giving 43 some credit in areas where he deserves it (education and, uh, education) in his reign as guv-ner of Tejas, and delving very little into his sordid party-boy past. Intended as a primer for those doubtful in 2000 of the damage that "Shrub" might be able to inflict, this might just as well serve as a cautionary tale to voters 8 years later, whether they are intending to vote for McCain/Palin or Obama/Biden: yes, the candidate's preoccupations, strengths, weaknesses, and voting records certainly ARE a good predictor of what kind of President s/he might become -- and this little book is stunningly prescient.
August 13, 2016
Molly Ivins' book was written before Bush was elected (err... ah hem, "elected") President in 2000 and details G.W.'s various life achievements up to that point, such as founding Arbusto Energy (thought to be spanish for "bush" but it actually means "shrub"), buying a stake in the Texas Rangers and paving the way to build a new baseball stadium and his various accomplishments (or lack thereof in many cases) during his tenure as governor of Texas.
The book provides an interesting insight into the past (and privileged) life of the man who is our current President. While there are people who like to rail on Barack Obama for not having enough experience to potentially be President, this book definitely shows that experience really isn't everything. ;)
The book provides an interesting insight into the past (and privileged) life of the man who is our current President. While there are people who like to rail on Barack Obama for not having enough experience to potentially be President, this book definitely shows that experience really isn't everything. ;)
March 29, 2009
The late Ms. Ivins wrote this as Dubya was making his move from the Texas governor's mansion to the White House, and is her account of his doings as chief executive of her home state. She wasn't mean or petty, but she pulled no punches in pointing out how he'd conducted himself as governor of Texas, an unimpressive record at best; he apparently changed for the even-worse, or had hidden some darker aspects of his character, though, because as she looked ahead to his presidency she said that the man wasn't mean and wasn't dumb, and he turned out to be meaner than Nixon and dumber than Harding. A good read for a snapshot of how things stood a bit more than eight years ago now, sad in some ways in the light of all that's happened since then.
September 18, 2007
Not sure what kind of masochist would read a book written before GWB was elected that is making the case for why he shouldn't get elected. Definitely reminds me how perverse and inexplicable politics is - e.g., how outraged conservative voters were over Clinton's avoidance of military service and Kerry's supposedly minimal tour in Vietnam, but didn't seem to mind Bush using his family connections to avoid being sent overseas. This catalog of Bush's flaws is amusing at times, but also demonstrates that the outcomes from his presidency are very much predictable from traits that were obvious years ago.
September 13, 2008
She wrote this shortly before Bush's selection in 2000. Apparently, not enough people read this book. My copy has an additional chapter added right after the selection process was over, and it gives me a chill to read it today. In it, Molly basically tells us not to worry; after all, she asks - - how bad can he be?
There's an even later edition with an additional chapter covering his first two years in office, but it all comes down to the same thing: we can't say that we weren't warned.
There's an even later edition with an additional chapter covering his first two years in office, but it all comes down to the same thing: we can't say that we weren't warned.
October 24, 2011
Why didn’t more people read this before the 2000 Presidential election? This expose of George Bush’s failed dealings in business and as Governor of Texas fairly predicted his failings as President. It is genuinely scary that this nincompoop was given the keys to the White House, and even scarier that his failings as revealed in this book were not better known and not considered sufficient reason to vote for anyone else.
September 6, 2007
This tool is President... must read.
February 17, 2023
"If y'all had read /Shrub/, I wouldn't've had to write /Bushwhacked/." --Molly Ivins
July 7, 2014
If you’re looking to save some time, and not too keen on any kind of reminder of George W. Bush’s existence, let alone his not-short-enough career in politics, (Why? WHY couldn’t he have discovered his talent for painting putty tats much sooner?!) I can boil this down into two sentences from Shrub.
Clearly not enough Americans were reading Ivins at the time.
For leftys, Shrub offers something more than just a giant “told you so”. This review of Bush’s early career, if you’ve got the stomach, is well worth the time spent. Ivins helps dissect “The National Laboratory of Bad Government” under Dubya’s watch as governor of the Lone Star State in her fine style. Let’s face it. If you were a woman journalist in Texas covering the Bush years, you would have needed a really, really good sense of humor too. Without that this book, if it could still exist, wouldn’t have been readable at all. There’s an Ivins quote somewhere about having fun, and we should all be glad she did.
Ivins has lots of fun picking apart the sleeping defense attorneys, incompetent surgeons, and especially the bat-shit crazy Christian-right that dominate Texas politics. She hits the nail on the head with this one…
Titanic stench. Yep.
George W Bush is promising to do for the rest of the country what he has done for Texas.
There it is.
Clearly not enough Americans were reading Ivins at the time.
For leftys, Shrub offers something more than just a giant “told you so”. This review of Bush’s early career, if you’ve got the stomach, is well worth the time spent. Ivins helps dissect “The National Laboratory of Bad Government” under Dubya’s watch as governor of the Lone Star State in her fine style. Let’s face it. If you were a woman journalist in Texas covering the Bush years, you would have needed a really, really good sense of humor too. Without that this book, if it could still exist, wouldn’t have been readable at all. There’s an Ivins quote somewhere about having fun, and we should all be glad she did.
Ivins has lots of fun picking apart the sleeping defense attorneys, incompetent surgeons, and especially the bat-shit crazy Christian-right that dominate Texas politics. She hits the nail on the head with this one…
One of the most consistent reactions in politics is the unholy uproar that follows whenever you try to take away special privileges. Makes no difference how obvious the unfairness is, those who have been favored over others by the system invariably feel entitled to that favoritism. It is theirs by right, by heritage, tradition, and divine providence, and if you try to take it away, you are in for the fight of your life. The underprivileged in this country can still raise a fair political stink on occasion, but it is nothing compared with the titanic stench that erupts when the overprivileged are invited to a level playing field.
Titanic stench. Yep.
October 11, 2013
When it comes to reporting on politics, nobody does it smarter or funnier than bestselling author Molly Ivins. In Shrub, Ivins focuses her Texas-size smarts on the biggest politician in her home state: George Walker Bush, or "Shrub," as Ivins has nicknamed Bush the Younger.
A candidate of vague speeches and an ambiguous platform, Bush leads the pack of GOP 2000 presidential hopefuls; "Dubya" could very well be our next president. What voters need now is an original, smart, and accessible analysis of Bush--one that leaves the "youthful indiscretions" to the tabloids and gets to the heart of his policies and motivations. Ivins is the perfect woman for the job.
With her trademark wit and down-home wisdom, Molly Ivins shares three pieces of advice on judging a politician: "The first is to look at the record. The second is to look at the record. And third, look at the record." In this book, Ivins takes a good, hard look at the record of the man who could be the leader of the free world. Beginning with his post-college military career, Ivins tracks Dubya's winding, sometimes unlikely path from a failed congressional bid to a two-term governorship. Bush has made plenty of friends and supporters along the way, including Texas oil barons, evangelist Billy Graham, and co-investors in the Texas Rangers baseball team. "You would have to work at it to dislike the man," she writes. But for all of Bush's likeability, Ivins points to a disconcerting lack of political passion from this ascending presidential candidate. In her words, "If you think his daddy had trouble with 'the vision thing,' wait till you meet this one."
Witty, trenchant, and on target, Ivins gives a singularly perceptive and entertaining analysis of George W. Bush. To head to the voting booth without it would be downright un-American.
March 26, 2011
If you're a political junkie you'll love this book. First published in 2000 during the campaign, the authors lay it all out and accurately predict exactly what is going to happen during the next unhappy 8 years. It's all there: the lying, the cynical exploitation of every decent feeling, the absolute and total devotion to realizing the vision of complete domination by corporate interests of every aspect of American life and community (or what I like to call the corporatization of America), the war with Iraq, the wrongheaded "education reform," Karl Rove and the art of dirty politics, the stupidity, the inattention, the heartlessness, the meanness. Molly Ivins is so funny I actually laughed out loud even though what they did to our country is certainly no laughing manner. This book should have been issued to every voter before the 2000 election, although I doubt the people who needed to have read it would have bothered.
November 14, 2007
Molly Ivins, the famous Texan journalist, passed away earlier this year, and I promised I would finally get around to reading one of her books. This one is focused on George W. "Shrub" Bush, during the 2000 campaign. It really does shed a good deal of light on how he managed to bumble his way into the Presidency with every step of his life. Seriously, the only thing you can say about the guy is that he knows how to use his name to make money. Everything from his failed oil ventures, to his ownership of the Texas Rangers, to his short and unproductive reign as governor of Texas is addressed. And while Ivins' bias is obvious and she probably overlooks some of Ann Richards' shortcomings as well, she lays out a clear indictment of Bush and pretty much everything he's done.
July 23, 2009
First and foremost, I love Molly Ivans. I once met her and she was just the coolest lady ever.
The book is one of those that is so well written and entertaining and depressing all at the same time. It makes you a little upset w/ Ann Richards - and I almost said something to her this one time I saw her in Curras in Austin, but I held my tongue (amazingly).
A book that will give you great insight into what Bush is all about in a humorous way - but like I said, prepare for depression... how this guy won a single election is still an amazement to me. Wait - there was money, and lots of it. Okay, fine... but I'm still amazed that the American public isn't just a LITTLE smarter than that! Just a little... that's all I ask.
The book is one of those that is so well written and entertaining and depressing all at the same time. It makes you a little upset w/ Ann Richards - and I almost said something to her this one time I saw her in Curras in Austin, but I held my tongue (amazingly).
A book that will give you great insight into what Bush is all about in a humorous way - but like I said, prepare for depression... how this guy won a single election is still an amazement to me. Wait - there was money, and lots of it. Okay, fine... but I'm still amazed that the American public isn't just a LITTLE smarter than that! Just a little... that's all I ask.
November 7, 2010
This was a perfect book to read during election week only 2 weeks after a couple of days in Austin. The book was written during Bush's last term as Governor of Texas, prior to his first term as President. Ivins gave a bit of biographical information, but much of the book was about politics in Texas in a comfortable, fluent, sometimes ironic style. The most profound impact on me was remembering once again that a thoughtful, open, respected press is crucial to good government, which in turn is crucial to a well-run society.
January 21, 2011
After the jaunt with Edward Abbey, decided to read about Dubya. I miss Molly Ivins' writing, and enjoy Lou Dubose, so headed to TX. They cover alot of territory in a short book and take readers into Bush's Guard service, oil field career, baseball franchise ownership, the '94 campaign for governor, religious beliefs/ties to the "Christian Right," as well as criminal justice, education and the environment. Confirmed my position that he was one of the absolutely worst of American presidents given his craven and callow attitudes and actions. The smirk on the jacket cover says alot.
January 2, 2012
As always, a very clever and interesting look at politics, but frightening that people thought this knucklehead would be a great President.
Interesting, in that W pretty much either stumbled into success or was nudged along by his family and their well connected friends.
You do find yourself feeling a bit sad for W as he is so obviously in over his head, ill-prepared for any political office and doesn't seem particularly happy in his chosen career.
Can't help think he ( and the world) would have been happier if he'd just taken the job as commisoner of baseball in Texas.
Interesting, in that W pretty much either stumbled into success or was nudged along by his family and their well connected friends.
You do find yourself feeling a bit sad for W as he is so obviously in over his head, ill-prepared for any political office and doesn't seem particularly happy in his chosen career.
Can't help think he ( and the world) would have been happier if he'd just taken the job as commisoner of baseball in Texas.
October 22, 2013
Ivins' style is fun and conversational, the best type of journalistic writing. Her politics are heavy-handed in places, and, at times, overshadow her research and point. Although this book is very critical of Dubya, to say the least, it is also very Texan. There were moments in the book when I wondered how it would read to someone not intimately familiar with Texas and its political culture. All in all, "Shrub" serves as a very useful and concise left-wing political biography of President Bush before he was president.
November 21, 2013
So much fun reading about Little George's shenanigans. The tone of this book is "Some of this you may not have known but don't let it shock or surprise you. After all, this is Texas." I know exactly the feeling, being a South Carolinian. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush Lite has done for the rest of us what he did to Texas. And more unfortunately, we enthusiastically embraced it. The Apostle's Greed, the holy trinity of derisive arrogance, decisive amorality, and divisive Bible-thumping. Love the names for all his failed or tanked rip-offs, though. Shrub, indeed.
December 18, 2008
I read this back when W. was still a relatively innocent letter. Molly Ivins is a legendary Texas writer who gives us a pretty thorogh history of our mighty leader and his many failures. I still have no idea why people are surprised we are where we are after electing this guy who has consistantly failed at every undertaking he has taken on. Anyway, a good quick read that will give you a greater appreciation for how easilly Americans can be fooled into following a complete imbecile.
March 16, 2010
People remember the great Molly Ivins for her fantastic sense of humor, and rightly so, too, but she also did her homework and knew what she was talking about and this book was surprisingly meaty for being such a fun, quick read. I know, people most likely to enjoy it probably don't want to tunnel back into those days when it felt like we'd never seen the end of the Bush presidency, but still, an excellent book.
April 4, 2010
Okay, this one's a little dated, having been written during Dubya's first presidential campaign ten years ago. But if you miss reading the late, great Molly Ivins and her unique perspective like I do, you should give this book a chance. If nothing else, we can at least rejoice over the fact that this dimwit used up all his eligibility as leader of the free world. I found the passages describing his atrocious environmental record as governor of Texas the most telling. What an asshole.
July 27, 2011
I highly recommend enjoying this as an audio book, read by the author, in a Texas twang that compliments the material. This book was written prior to W's 2000 election, and should have been required reading then. It's just as interesting now, hearing about Rove, Rice, and others pre-election. It covers a lot of Texas politics, but it adds to the flavor of the book. Enjoy listening to the late great Molly Ivins.
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