Politicians are People, Too

Politicians are People, Too PDF Author: Richard Benedetto
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780761834229
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
Across the span of his 35-year career reporting on local, state, and national politics, USA TODAY White House correspondent Richard Benedetto has interviewed and closely watched a wide variety of politicians and public servants. This memoir and personal reflection considers the coverage and treatment of politics and politicians by today's media and offers suggestions for improvement. Benedetto argues that despite the often-cynical news coverage, most politicians are good people who, like all human beings, have strengths and weaknesses. He believes politicians deserve to be praised when they do well, as much as criticized when they fail. Politicians Are People, Too celebrates and offers personal insights on many of the thousands of public figures Benedetto has encountered--an eclectic list of politicians, public servants, and even a few celebrities, including George Wallace, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Dan Quayle, Mario Cuomo, Gary Hart, Paul Newman, Spiro Agnew, George W. Bush, Henry Cisneros, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Ted Williams.

Politicians are People, Too

Politicians are People, Too PDF Author: Richard Benedetto
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 9780761834229
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Get Book Here

Book Description
Across the span of his 35-year career reporting on local, state, and national politics, USA TODAY White House correspondent Richard Benedetto has interviewed and closely watched a wide variety of politicians and public servants. This memoir and personal reflection considers the coverage and treatment of politics and politicians by today's media and offers suggestions for improvement. Benedetto argues that despite the often-cynical news coverage, most politicians are good people who, like all human beings, have strengths and weaknesses. He believes politicians deserve to be praised when they do well, as much as criticized when they fail. Politicians Are People, Too celebrates and offers personal insights on many of the thousands of public figures Benedetto has encountered--an eclectic list of politicians, public servants, and even a few celebrities, including George Wallace, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Dan Quayle, Mario Cuomo, Gary Hart, Paul Newman, Spiro Agnew, George W. Bush, Henry Cisneros, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Ted Williams.

All Too Human

All Too Human PDF Author: George Stephanopoulos
Publisher: Back Bay Books
ISBN: 0316041920
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
All Too Human is a new-generation political memoir, written from the refreshing perspective of one who got his hands on the levers of awesome power at an early age. At thirty, the author was at Bill Clinton's side during the presidential campaign of 1992, & for the next five years he was rarely more than a step away from the president & his other advisers at every important moment of the first term. What Liar's Poker did to Wall Street, this book will do to politics. It is an irreverent & intimate portrait of how the nation's weighty business is conducted by people whose egos & idiosyncrasies are no sturdier than anyone else's. Including sharp portraits of the Clintons, Al Gore, Dick Morris, Colin Powell, & scores of others, as well as candid & revelatory accounts of the famous debacles & triumphs of an administration that constantly went over the top, All Too Human is, like its author, a brilliant combination of pragmatic insight & idealism. It is destined to be the most important & enduring book to come out of the Clinton administration.

The Righteous Mind

The Righteous Mind PDF Author: Jonathan Haidt
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307455777
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The acclaimed social psychologist challenges conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to conservatives and liberals alike—a “landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself” (The New York Times Book Review). Drawing on his twenty-five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, Jonathan Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. In this subtle yet accessible book, Haidt gives you the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation, as well as the curse of our eternal divisions and conflicts. If you’re ready to trade in anger for understanding, read The Righteous Mind.

Throw Them All Out

Throw Them All Out PDF Author: Peter Schweizer
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547573146
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Schweizer, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, discusses the state of government and the depths of its political corruption.

Politics Lost

Politics Lost PDF Author: Joe Klein
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0767916018
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
People on the right are furious. People on the left are livid. And the center isn’t holding. There is only one thing on which almost everyone agrees: there is something very wrong in Washington. The country is being run by pollsters. Few politicians are able to win the voters’ trust. Blame abounds and personal responsibility is nowhere to be found. There is a cynicism in Washington that appalls those in every state, red or blue. The question is: Why? The more urgent question is: What can be done about it? Few people are more qualified to deal with both questions than Joe Klein. There are many loud and opinionated voices on the political scene, but no one sees or writes with the clarity that this respected observer brings to the table. He has spent a lifetime enmeshed in politics, studying its nuances, its quirks, and its decline. He is as angry and fed up as the rest of us, so he has decided to do something about it—in these pages, he vents, reconstructs, deconstructs, and reveals how and why our leaders are less interested in leading than they are in the “permanent campaign” that political life has become. The book opens with a stirring anecdote from the night of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Klein re-creates the scene of Robert Kennedy’s appearance in a black neighborhood in Indianapolis, where he gave a gut-wrenching, poetic speech that showed respect for the audience, imparted dignity to all who listened, and quelled a potential riot. Appearing against the wishes of his security team, it was one of the last truly courageous and spontaneous acts by an American politician—and it is no accident that Klein connects courage to spontaneity. From there, Klein begins his analysis—campaign by campaign—of how things went wrong. From the McGovern campaign polling techniques to Roger Ailes’s combative strategy for Nixon; from Reagan’s reinvention of the Republican Party to Lee Atwater’s equally brilliant reinvention of behind-the-scenes strategizing; from Jimmy Carter to George H. W. Bush to Bill Clinton to George W.—as well as inside looks at the losing sides—we see how the Democrats become diffuse and frightened, how the system becomes unbalanced, and how politics becomes less and less about ideology and more and more about how to gain and keep power. By the end of one of the most dismal political runs in history—Kerry’s 2004 campaign for president—we understand how such traits as courage, spontaneity, and leadership have disappeared from our political landscape. In a fascinating final chapter, the author refuses to give easy answers since the push for easy answers has long been part of the problem. But he does give thoughtful solutions that just may get us out of this mess—especially if any of the 2008 candidates happen to be paying attention.

Running Scared

Running Scared PDF Author: Anthony King
Publisher: Free Press
ISBN: 9780684827308
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
A hard-hitting book, this work is a penetrating and provocative look at the American political scene. Succumbing to the pressure of the permanent campaign, King argues that our politicians have become vulnerable. Thus, all major policies and all the major features of our system have fallen profoundly under the sway of this vulnerability.

The Politics Industry

The Politics Industry PDF Author: Katherine M. Gehl
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1633699242
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

Politics Is for Power

Politics Is for Power PDF Author: Eitan Hersh
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1982116781
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A brilliant condemnation of political hobbyism—treating politics like entertainment—and a call to arms for well-meaning, well-informed citizens who consume political news, but do not take political action. Who is to blame for our broken politics? The uncomfortable answer to this question starts with ordinary citizens with good intentions. We vote (sometimes) and occasionally sign a petition or attend a rally. But we mainly “engage” by consuming politics as if it’s a sport or a hobby. We soak in daily political gossip and eat up statistics about who’s up and who’s down. We tweet and post and share. We crave outrage. The hours we spend on politics are used mainly as pastime. Instead, we should be spending the same number of hours building political organizations, implementing a long-term vision for our city or town, and getting to know our neighbors, whose votes will be needed for solving hard problems. We could be accumulating power so that when there are opportunities to make a difference—to lobby, to advocate, to mobilize—we will be ready. But most of us who are spending time on politics today are focused inward, choosing roles and activities designed for our short-term pleasure. We are repelled by the slow-and-steady activities that characterize service to the common good. In Politics Is for Power, pioneering and brilliant data analyst Eitan Hersh shows us a way toward more effective political participation. Aided by political theory, history, cutting-edge social science, as well as remarkable stories of ordinary citizens who got off their couches and took political power seriously, this book shows us how to channel our energy away from political hobbyism and toward empowering our values.

Strangers in Their Own Land

Strangers in Their Own Land PDF Author: Arlie Russell Hochschild
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 1620973987
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestseller that became a guide and balm for a country struggling to understand the election of Donald Trump "A generous but disconcerting look at the Tea Party. . . . This is a smart, respectful and compelling book." —Jason DeParle, The New York Times Book Review When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. As Jedediah Purdy put it in the New Republic, "Hochschild is fascinated by how people make sense of their lives. . . . [Her] attentive, detailed portraits . . . reveal a gulf between Hochchild's 'strangers in their own land' and a new elite." Already a favorite common read book in communities and on campuses across the country and called "humble and important" by David Brooks and "masterly" by Atul Gawande, Hochschild's book has been lauded by Noam Chomsky, New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, and countless others. The paperback edition features a new afterword by the author reflecting on the election of Donald Trump and the other events that have unfolded both in Louisiana and around the country since the hardcover edition was published, and also includes a readers' group guide at the back of the book.

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians

Why We Get the Wrong Politicians PDF Author: Isabel Hardman
Publisher: Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1782399747
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
REVISED AND UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE EXPLOSIVE EVENTS OF 2021 and 2022 Winner at the Parliamentary Book Awards Shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year Longlisted for the Orwell Prize ____________ Daily Telegraph's Best Books of the Year Guardian's Best Books of the Year Evening Standard's Best Books of the Year Daily Mail's Best Books of the Year BBC's Biggest Books Prospect's Best Books of the Year Politicians are consistently voted the least trusted professional group by the UK public. They've recently become embroiled in scandals relating to everything from expenses to sexual harassment to illicit parties. Every year, they introduce new legislation that doesn't do what it sets out to achieve - often with terrible financial and human costs. But, with some notable exceptions, they are decent, hard-working people, doing a hugely difficult and demanding job. In this searching examination of our political class, award-winning journalist Isabel Hardman tries to square this circle. She lifts the lid on the strange world of Westminster and asks why we end up with representatives with whom we are so unhappy. Filled with forensic analysis and revealing reportage, this landmark and accessible book is a must read for anyone who wants to see a future with better government. 'This book has the power to fundamentally change how we do things in this country.' Emily Maitlis 'An entertaining read that addresses hard questions... invaluable for those who think they know what's wrong with Westminster but have no idea how to put it right.' John Humphrys