Blowing Smoke

Why the Right Keeps Serving Up Whack-Job Fantasies about the Plot to Euthanize Grandma, Outlaw Chris

Contributors

By Michael Wolraich

On Sale
Oct 12, 2010
Page Count
352 pages
Publisher
Da Capo Press
ISBN-13
9780306819377

HAS AMERICA LOST ITS MARBLES?
  • Television sensation Glenn Beck warns of White House plots to institute fascism, communism, and other terrifying “isms.”
  • Radio titan Rush Limbaugh charges that a racist Obama regime encourages black schoolchildren to beat up white kids.
  • Evangelical luminary James Dobson frets that Christians will be arrested for thought crimes and people will be allowed to marry donkeys.
  • Protesters in knickers and colonial-style hats march on Washington with signs that order Hitler-like caricatures of President Obama to return to Kenya.

As madness reigns, pundits, politicians, and cab drivers debate the source of the hysteria. Some blame ignorance; some blame racism; some blame the economy.

After poring over mountains of political screeds and heedlessly subjecting himself to countless hours of Fox News, author Michael Wolraich discovered the secret formula that turns ordinary men and women into fire-breathing, smoke-blowing, right wing maniacs. It’s “persecution politics” . . again.

In Blowing Smoke, Wolraich documents, dissects, and deconstructs the myths that underlie the right’s growing reliance on the politics of persecution, from Joe McCarthy to the Tea Party movement. In the process, he delivers an original and compelling hypothesis with penetrating insight and blistering wit.

At turns hilarious, disturbing, and edifying, Blowing Smoke is a must-read account of modern American politics.

Formats and Prices

Price

$14.99

Price

$19.99 CAD

Format

ebook

Format:

ebook $14.99 $19.99 CAD

Michael Wolraich

About the Author

Michael Wolraich is a former contributor to the popular blog Talking Points Memo Caféi>. In 2008, Wolraich founded dagblog.com, which offers a mix of political commentary and vigorous repartee. He lives in New York City.

Learn more about this author