Congresses, Senates, & Legislative Bodies Books - Page 12

Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry

John E. O'Neill

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Total reviews: 3122 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Insulting to "True" Veterans 1 out of 5 stars.
11 of 17 people found this review helpful.

As a disabled veteran, I am insulted to read trash like this. While my military background keeps me aboard the conservative party... it's amazing what folks will print/support during election time. I really wish everyone would focus on "issues" rather than conjuring-up campfire stories.

The Verdict of History 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Like a lot of conservatives, I purchased this book when it first came out, but unlike most of them I never got around to reading it straight through until a few weeks ago. Maybe at some level I wasn't sure the book's charges would stand up so I wanted to wait a while before investing the time.

Well, it has been almost four years, and what have we learned? When the book came out, John Kerry and his supporters claimed it was full of lies which they would shortly expose. Not ONE lie has been found, not ONE charge exposed as false. The best that anyone has been able to do is to argue that in a few cases honorable people could disagree about what the evidence shows: one of Kerry's Purple Hearts might not have been a phony, one of Kerry's combat stars might have been deserved. But that is pretty much it.

Some of this could probably be cleared up if Kerry would just execute Standard Form 180, authorizing the Defense Department to release all of his military records otherwise sealed by privacy regulations. President Bush had to execute one in order to disprove all of the lunatic accusations that he had somehow not fulfilled his service obligations, but Kerry never has and presumably never will, despite repeatedly promising to do so. One of the supporters of the SBVT, T. Boone Pickens, Jr., offered Kerry a one million dollar challenge after the election if he could disprove any of their charges. Kerry took him up on it but failed to do so. (Tellingly, Kerry supporters give as their reason that Pickens put some conditions on the challenge which they label as "reneging" on the deal. You'd think that if Kerry could expose any of these charges as lies, he'd be willing to do it for free, wouldn't you?)

What emerges is a sobering portrait of a man singularly unfit to hold any office of leadership and trust, much less POTUS. After failing to avoid military service, Kerry started out rather conventionally by determining to use his military service to advance his political ambitions, hardly the first time THAT has ever happened. But his inconstancy soon began to disturb his colleagues who never knew who was going to show up on the battlefield on a given day: the reckless glory hound or the overly cautious near coward. If Kerry could have settled on one persona for the duration, his peers and his commanders could probably have made good use of him because both personality types have served in every war, but Kerry's unreliablity made him a liability they could not long tolerate.

Then upon taking the hint to leave early, Kerry (in their eyes) betrayed them all by falsely accusing them of atrocities as he switched over to the anti-war side. (Even Kerry supporters will be relieved to learn that whenever his more excitable anti-war friends proposed assassinating pro-war politicians Kerry always voted against it.)

Still, time heals all wounds eventually, and it might have been possible for Kerry to have come to some sort of understanding with his once squadron mates, then bitter foes, if he had only had the sense, not to mention the decency, not to do ANOTHER 180 and attempt to win the White House by touting his "military service". That was just one turn too many for these men, and the rest is history.

Editorial Review:

A shocking indictment of John Kerry by some of the men who knew him best.

Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington

Paul S. Herrnson

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Editorial Review:

Praised for combining solid empirical research with real-world politics, Paul Herrnson provides a thorough and balanced assessment of congressional campaigns and elections. Arguing that successful candidates actually run two campaigns one for votes, the other for resources Congressional Elections shows how this dual strategy affects not only who wins individual races, but who impacts representation in Congress more broadly, and ultimately the entire electoral system. Using campaign data, original survey research, and hundreds of interviews with candidates and political insiders, Herrnson systematically analyzes candidate, party, and PAC strategies to give students a feel for how these crucial avenues of political influence converge. Case studies of individual campaigns are woven throughout to paint vivid portraits of real people raising money, giving speeches, serving constituents, and tackling important policy issues. New coverage and analysis include:

• the 2006 campaign and election results, including the impact the national parties had on the outcomes of individual races;
• the Democrats winning control over the House and Senate;
• the effects of the war in Iraq and political corruption on candidates' issue positioning;
• the role of the Internet in waging political campaigns;
• the use of outside campaigning, advocacy ads, and grassroots activities to influence election outcomes.

John McCain (Gateway Biographies)

Barbara Jane Feinberg

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Special Interest Politics

Gene M. Grossman, Elhanan Helpman

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Editorial Review:

Winner of 2002 William H. Riker Award for Best Book in Political Economy, presented by the American Political Science Association (APSA)

This landmark theoretical book is about the mechanisms by which special interest groups affect policy in modern democracies. Defining a special interest group as any organization that takes action on behalf of an identifiable group of voters, Gene Grossman and Elhanan Helpman ask: How do special interest groups derive their power and influence? What determines the extent to which they are able to affect policy outcomes? What happens when groups with differing objectives compete for influence?

The authors develop important theoretical tools for studying the interactions among voters, interest groups, and politicians. They assume that individuals, groups, and parties act in their own self-interest and that political outcomes can be identified with the game-theoretic concept of an equilibrium. Throughout, they progress from the simple to the more complex. When analyzing campaign giving, for example, they begin with a model of a single interest group and a single, incumbent policy maker. They proceed to add additional interest groups, a legislature with several independent politicians, and electoral competition between rival political parties. The book is organized in three parts. Part I focuses on voting and elections. Part II examines the use of information as a tool for political influence. Part III deals with campaign contributions, which interest groups may use either to influence policy makers' positions and actions or to help preferred candidates to win election.

The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle

Kathleen Flake

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Editorial Review:

Between 1901 and 1907, a broad coalition of Protestant churches sought to expel newly elected Reed Smoot from the Senate, arguing that as an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smoot was a lawbreaker and therefore unfit to be a lawmaker. The resulting Senate investigative hearing featured testimony on every peculiarity of Mormonism, especially its polygamous family structure. The Smoot hearing ultimately mediated a compromise between Progressive Era Protestantism and Mormonism and resolved the nation's long-standing "Mormon Problem." On a broader scale, Kathleen Flake shows how this landmark hearing provided the occasion for the country--through its elected representatives, the daily press, citizen petitions, and social reform activism--to reconsider the scope of religious free exercise in the new century.

Flake contends that the Smoot hearing was the forge in which the Latter-day Saints, the Protestants, and the Senate hammered out a model for church-state relations, shaping for a new generation of non-Protestant and non-Christian Americans what it meant to be free and religious. In addition, she discusses the Latter-day Saints' use of narrative and collective memory to retain their religious identity even as they changed to meet the nation's demands.

Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages U.S. Security

Winslow T. Wheeler

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Helpful Reading, More Opinion than Research 4 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Edit of 10 Oct 08 to add comment pointing to author's really excellent and detailed summary of what is wrong with Pentagon today (including budget data), and more links.

Edit of 20 Dec 07 to add links.

What the author does in this book is focus on the failings of Congress. What the author does not do is provide a more documented analysis of why and how Congress has become disconnected from the people it is supposed to represent, or why the Executive does not balance Congress when the latter abuse their powers. The "balance of power" is in fact a "balance of pork privileges," and it is this inability, as the author describes it, to focus on all the facts, in an objective way, in order to make the best application of the taxpayer dollar, that cripples Congress (and the Executive).

I've given the author four stars because I disagree with those who would demean his motives. What I read here is consistent with the other books I have read--and my own experience talking to generally witless under-educated staff (because I am not important enough to get to the few who are "top notch"). When the author open his book by pointing out that ***all*** watchdog or balancing elements--the media, the think tanks--have failed to hold Congress accountable, I must agree with him.

The most interesting "thread" within the book has to do with information--what information gets where, who sees it, what do they do with it. At the end, the author concludes, most Members are not doing their homework, and most staffs are too busy focused on inserting partisan advantage and localized pork to actually serve the people of the United States in an effective manner.

The book is unusual in being focused on national security and defense, where the author spent his entire career, and what jumped out at me is that Congress has no grand strategy--Congress, like the Executive, is fragmented into stovepipes and is not able to make thoughtful trade-offs at the big picture level between Diplomacy Information Military Economic (DIME) instruments of national power.

The author is severely critical, and rightly so, I believe, in lambasting the Members for abdicating their Constitutional power to declare war. On page 221 he says that it is clear that Members consider their re-election prospects more important than the need to stand tall and oppose a war they do not support.

The author ends by proposing 12 steps for Congressional reform, among the most important of which is exposure of the truth to the public: no more Congressional Record "revisions," no more secret back-room meetings, no more fake camera shots showing Senators speaking to an empty room; no more lightweight partisan staff shuttling to jobs in the Executive they are supposed to help oversee; no more stone-walling of the press; and no more lobbyists with direct access--only constituents. These are all common sense suggestions that are helpful to the public interest.

The author's last two sentences of the book are most helpful of all: "There is really only one thing that will force members of Congress to perform as best as they are able. That is for the public to have the information to distinguish the good from the bad and the phonies from the sincere."

Public information in the public interest...this is the key.

See also, published since then:
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (Institutions of American Democracy)
Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders

New Links 10 Oct 08:
The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
War is a Racket: The Antiwar Classic by America's Most Decorated Soldier
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency

Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections (Women in American Politics)

Barbara Palmer

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Editorial Review:

Why has the integration of women into Congress been so slow? Is there a "political glass ceiling" for women? Although women use the same strategic calculations as men to decide when to run, the decision regarding where to run is something else. While redistricting has increasingly protected incumbents, it also has the unintended consequence of shaping the opportunities for female candidates. The political geography and socio-economic profile of districts that elect women differ substantially from districts that elect men. With data on over 10,000 elections and 30,000 candidates from 1916 to the present, Palmer and Simon explore how strategy and the power of incumbency affect women’s decisions to run for office.

Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling is the most comprehensive analysis of women in congressional elections available. The Second Edition is fully updated to reflect the pivotal 2006 mid-term elections, including Nancy Pelosi’s rise to Speaker of the House, Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency, and a record number of women serving as committee chairs. Additionally, the authors have created a website, found at politicsandwomen.com, to highlight key features of the book and provide updates throughout the election cycle.

Guide to State Legislative Lobbying, Revised Edition

Robert L. Guyer

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Essential Information 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Consider this Legislative Lobbying 101. Robert Guyer's Guide to State Legislative Lobbying is as practical and informative a guide to the fundamentals of successful legislative lobbying as you are likely to find. And it's packed into cogent, readable chapters. The straightforward, accessible narrative carefully describes the major legislative procedures, political tactics and strategic choices confronting any modern lobbyist or advocacy group attempting to achieve visibility and influence in state legislative policymaking. The candid discussion constitutes a practical education in the legislative process especially useful to policy advocates new to legislative decisionmaking, but there's plenty of helpful information for anyone who wants to understand how policy is actually made in legislative chambers. In addition to thoughtful tactical advice, the book is especially valuable in leading the reader through the labyrinth of the formal legislative process which can easily intimidate and confound the uninitiated. The book is a keeper.

Editorial Review:

Guide to State Legislative Lobbying is an inside look at the tools proven to win in the state legislature. It provides in detail, principles and techniques necessary for effective state lobbying.

Topics include:

What Is Lobbying?

Assessing Your Chances of Success;

Developing the Lobbying Campaign;

Hiring & Working with Contract Lobbyists;

Negotiating;

Legislative Procedure;

Lobbying Visits;

Succeeding with Committees;

The Rest of the Session and Post-Session. 10 flow charts describing the more than 100 steps related to state lobbying, 23 action lists, and an extensive glossary of legislative terms help to provide a clearer understanding of successful state legislative lobbying. Whether you represent government, professional or industry associations, the public interest, or business, the Guide's tools will help you become a better lobbyist.

Inside Congress: The Shocking Scandals, Corruption, and Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes on Capitol Hill

Ronald Kessler

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

MONEY, SEX, AND SELF-INTEREST TAKEN CONTROL OF CAPITOL HILL

Now more than ever, Congress runs the country. But who is running Congress? New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist Ronald Kessler takes you behind the scenes, conducting unprecedented interviews with more than 350 insiders to reveal the shocking answer to that question. Here are the sex scandals, the dirty financial deals, the abuses of power -- the deepest, darkest secrets of Congress -- exposed for the first time, including:

• How congressional members -- including the entire House Republican leadership -- used taxpayer dollars to lavishly redecorate their offices with custom-made furniture, including $20,000 chairs.

• Eyewitness accounts of members engaging in adulterous affairs and wild orgies in the parking lots, back rooms, and hidden chambers of Capitol Hill.

• Evidence of special-interest money-laundering schemes that put millions into the pockets of our elected officials.

Meticulously documented and chock-full of sizzling revelations, Inside Congress is making headlines across the country. Read it -- and find out what your senators and representatives don't want you to know.

Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics (Dover Books on History, Political and Social Science)

Woodrow Wilson

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Wilson's Insights Still Stand 100 Years Later 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

In the gutsiest political manifesto of American history, Woodrow Wilson dared to say that the Founding Fathers had it wrong. What's amazing is that his analysis holds up after 100 years. Wilson believed that "separation of powers" did not exist, and that the building impenetrable walls between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches produced abdication of responsbility. Wilson held up as a model the Westminster cabinet form of government as a model of clarity, openness, and responsibility. You can read Wilson's 1884 pages as if he wrote them today. The style is pure Victorian -- run-on sentences galore -- but the analysis is rapier-sharp. My opinion -- get this book, and have your mind changed. You will never see American government the same way again.

PATRICK McGRATH The Campaign for Responsible Government Stony Point, NY

Editorial Review:

This remarkable work of scholarship addresses the difficulties inherent in the American Constitution's separation of legislative and executive powers. In his first book, Wilson argues that in the years following the Civil War, the legislature received unfair advantages from the system of checks and balances, threatening the effectiveness of the constitutionally mandated separation of powers.