Title: The Greatest Story Ever Sold
First published: September 19, 2006
Description: New York Times columnist Frank Rich examines the trail of fictions manufactured by the Bush administration from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, exposing the most brilliant spin campaign ever waged.When America was attacked on 9/11, its citizens almost unanimously rallied behind its new, untested president as he went to war. What they didn't know at the time was that the Bush administration's highest priority was not to vanquish Al Qaeda but to consolidate its own power at any cost. It was a mission that could be accomplished only by a propaganda presidency in which reality was steadily replaced by a scenario of the White House's own invention-and such was that scenario's devious brilliance that it fashioned a second war against an enemy that did not attack America on 9/11, intimidated the Democrats into incoherence and impotence, and turned a presidential election into an irrelevant referendum on macho imagery and same-sex marriage.As only he can, acclaimed New York Times columnist Frank Rich delivers a step-by-step chronicle of how skillfully the White House built its house of cards and how the institutions that should have exposed these fictions, the mainstream news media, were too often left powerless by the administration's relentless attack machine, their own post-9/11 timidity, and an unending parade of self-inflicted scandals (typified by those at The New York Times). Demonstrating the candor and conviction that have made him one of our most trusted and incisive public voices, Rich brilliantly and meticulously illuminates the White House's disturbing love affair with "truthiness," and the ways in which a bungled war, a seemingly obscure Washington leak, and a devastating hurricane at long last revealed the man-behind-the-curtain and the story that had so effectively been sold to the nation, as god-given patriotic fact.
Subjects: Friends and associates, Deception, Guerre en Irak, 2003-, Hurricane Katrina, 2005, Relations publiques et politique, Amis et relations, Politics and government, Ouragan Katrina, 2005, Attentats du 11 septembre 2001, États-Unis, Aspect politique, Propagande américaine, Foreign relations, Spin doctors, Relations extérieures, Doreurs d'image, Tromperie, Iraq War, 2003-2011, Propaganda, Iraq War, 2003-, September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001, Public relations and politics, American Propaganda, Bedrog, Influence, Politique et gouvernement, Nonfiction, Politics, Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-, Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946, -Friends and associates, Wahrheit, 2001-, September 11 Terrorist Attacks (2001) fast (OCoLC)fst01112794, Elfter September, Political aspects, Iraq War (2003-2011) fast (OCoLC)fst01802311, United States, Diplomatic relations, Friendship, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.), Verschleierung, Hurricane Katrina (2005) fast (OCoLC)fst01755264, Irakkrieg, Propaganda, american, United states, politics and government, 2001-2009, United states, foreign relations, 2001-2009, New York Times reviewed
Places: United States, États-Unis, Verenigde Staten
People: George W. Bush (1946-)
Time periods: 2001-, 2001-2009