Rating: 
Summary: Insightful polemic
Review: Speaking as a former leftist, I have to say that David Horowitz here lays out a pretty hard but in many ways honest map of the "progressive" mindset and how it leads them to certain political strategies. He then goes on to make some pretty interesting recommendations for conservatives and Republicans in order to combat that in politics.It's certainly a pretty good picture of what one side of the political fight looks like today. Leftists especially will find interesting how conservatives view them--there's more here than they might expect. This document has been very popular in Republcan circles and formed at least part of the Bush election strategy in 2000. One question Horowitz fails to ask himself and thus his audience is whether or not the strategies used by the political left are as effective as he thinks. Horowitz mostly seems to advise conservatives to take up the most negative methods used by the left to win elections. The question is: will doing so alienate the "silent majority" types who resent and react negatively to the types of tactics he advocates? Insightful and thought-provoking, this book played a big part in the American political campaigns of 2000, and might well play as big or bigger a role in 2002 and 2004. As such, it's very interesting reading, no matter whether you agree with Horowitz or not.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Horowitz!
Review: The latest addition to his awe-inspiring list of insightful political books, The Art of Political War, is pure Horowitz and is true to his anti left bias. Like The Art of War by Sun Tzu and Machiavelli's, The Prince, The Art of Political War is an intense primer on dealing with one's enemy. Unlike, Tzu's book of strategies, which is not specific to a particular cause, or Machiavelli's strategies for rulers, Horowitz begins this essay with strategies addressed specifically to Republicans. He identifies six "principles of war", beginning with "Politics is war conducted by other means" which he suggests, "the left understands, but conservatives do not". After defining the six principles he very effectively demonstrates how they can be put into practice. He proposes, that Republicans can, if they, among other things "stop complaining that life is unfair", in respect to the media having a liberal bias, and "address the American People directly." He suggests, not at all tongue-in-cheek, the "Democrats cannot be trusted with the nation's security" and with a very sharp tongue, advocates "The bottom line is that Democrats are responsible for everything that has gone wrong with the public schools that can be caused or fixed by public policies." These, and many others frequently inflammatory assertions throughout the book, are vintage Horowitz. They ring true because Horowitz has a long history of being an insider on the left and the right. Friend and foe alike, if they are honest, admit Horowitz has a profound understanding of many sides of the political landscape. They may, and more than many do, disagree on his motives. Some people argue he has seen the light while others say he, in fact, saw a better way to make a living. Either way, his writing, specifically in The Art of Political War, is a modern day espousal of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli. Many of you, who like me, are old enough to remember Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, will be moved with his sensitive use of her declaration that the nation must have "a single standard for every American when judging what is just and unjust." In just a few pages he draws stark contrasts between Congresswoman Jordan's 1980's human rights and civil rights pronouncements with the "demonstration of striking insensitivity and bad taste" of the current civil rights leaders. It's not something you will read in the Times and the Post or hear on the evening news. Probably the best demonstration of his terse writing skill, attention to detail, and his clear memory of past events is his letter to fellow radical Art Goldberg. Goldberg and Horowitz, no longer comrades-in-arms, go toe-to-toe on what each knew and when they knew it, relating to the Black Panthers. Horowitz, a heavyweight, who far outclasses him, easily counters Goldberg's lackluster offense. More important than who won, is how Horowitz, consistent with what he wrote in the Radical Son, works Goldberg, and symbolically the 60's radical left, into a box, indicting them of, at a minimum, ignorance or at worse complexity in murders committed by the Black Panthers. Political ideologues and novices alike will find The Art of Political War helpful; many will see it as a blueprint, analogous to The Contract With America. The Art of Political War is an easy, thought provoking read.
Rating: 
Summary: Horowitz tackles untoched topic - Political Warfare
Review: This book touches on a new topic - political warfare, the marketing of ideology and how the leftists are winning at it. Horowitz offers some answers why the leftists and liberals are so good at it... the media certainly helps... I'd say scare tactics is #1... Horowitz hints that the right needs to shift back to its old platform of economic independence, personal responsibility and limited government - and work at getting its message across. However, this book leaves you wanting for answers on what the right could do to reverse the trends. Horowitz is probably gearing up for another book. It seems the Machiavellian tactics that Republicans in general have taken is to be all things to all people... Their liberal-conservatives, or "compassionate conservatives" and tolerant of a lukewarm regulatory and welfare state. Historically, they don't win by being liberals.
Rating:
Summary: The Art of Political War and Other Radical Pursuits
Review: This is another great book by David Horowitz. He explains how Americans with traditional values just can't seem to play the game of politics like the Left\Democratic Party. He takes the left to task with the hypocrisy of their beliefs!
Rating: 
Summary: Dave is the smartest man alive
Review: What Davey fails to do is establish that there is an actual difference between the "liberals" like Clinton and the those they have supposedly wrenched power from. The fact that Clinton has co-opted many positions of conservatives frustrates Mr. H. to no end, because Bill still uses liberal rhetoric. However, Clinton's allegiance to many of the same positions Dave holds dear (corporate oligarchy, "free" trade, etc.) leads one to believe that the conservatives' loathing of the man and his neo-liberals is more personal than political. Keep writing your op-eds, captain D. Perhaps someday you will have real progressives to attack.
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