num_pages: 208
description: Tavis Smiley, the left's hard-hitting  answer to talk radio conservatives, takes on the  political right and thrashes them at their own  game.Picked by Time as one of  the fifty young leaders of the future, Tavis Smiley  has built a national reputation as a political  commentator with numerous appearances on "Good  Morning America," CNBC, BET, CNN and  "Geraldo"--which he recently co-hosted--as well  as his own highly popular radio commentary show,  "The Smiley Report."In   Hard Left , he presents an impassioned  polemic that will shape the Democratic platform and  the political debate at the Summer 1996 Democratic  and Republican National  Conventions.At last, those on the left have a fast-talking  champion with fresh ideas to counter the outrageous  barbs of conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Rush  Limbaugh, who have cowed Capitol Hill and  dominated talk radio. Smiley is particularly harsh on  Black conservatives like Ken Hamblin and Armstrong  Williams, who he feels have betrayed the Black  community. But Smiley isn't afraid to take on  traditional politics-as-usual liberals as well. Says Smiley,  it was the liberals' determined refusal to  acknowledge the flaws of social programs and policies,  from affirmative action to welfare, that gave  conservatives the opening they needed to rechart the  nation's course. Now, Smiley warns, that course has  taken America dangerously close to the rocky shoals  of the extreme  right.Hard Left is a clarion call to liberal  politicians and leaders to take their heads out of  the sand, tear a page out of the conservative  playbook, and counter the conservative offensive by  tackling the political and racial issues that go to  the core of our society.
language: English
title: Hard Left
titlecomplete: Hard Left
ratings_count: 17
publisher: Doubleday