Rating: 
Summary: Two Biases Don't Make One Bias Right
Review: Many valid points on the liberal bias of the electronic and print media. But, coming from a slanted perspective of her own, she is just as biased. This author is a Spin Doctor, no different than the Libs. in the media. Instead of choosing one or the other, Americans should read, research, and think for themselves. Choosing one side over the other is shallow, myopic, and intellectually limited. Most of the differences between the Right and the Left are diluted today by big government, and big corporations----who are the ones really running America today.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is not what it is portrayed to be - not a vendeta
Review: From what I saw on TV and heard on radio and read in the press, I expected a cover to cover screed with ad hominem attacks followed by more ad hominem attacks. When I actaully READ the book it turned out to be something quite different.What you get is a look at media claims about the objectivity and centrism compared with what they actually say and do. There are 35 (thirty-five) pages of small-type footnotes documenting these stories so you can check for yourself if the author has presented the story or comment accurately. While I can't claim to have made a comprehensive check, what I have looked at has either been dead on or - at worst - maybe a bit ambiguous (and not many of those, however). This is a better track-record than I have seen from FAIR's attacks on the conservatives. Ann Coulter is not objective, and does not claim to be. She is a conservative partisan and given to hyperbole. This is hurt her a couple of times, but it certainly makes her prose vivid. She is also very tough and not willing to make nice-nice with those who want to undermine her credibility via ad-hominem venom masquerading as analysis. And since she is a woman, being that tought is hard for some to accept. At our house, however, she is accepted. We understand her frustration in not seeing her viewpoint given a serious presentation in the mainstream discussion of issues (except on the periphery and always with "distancing quotes" and verbal cues to alert the viewer to be on guard for what is to follow. I live in Ann Arbor and grew up in Wayne County. Being a conservative has not been easy around here. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been trashed or threatened, but there have been many times when I have taken a lonely stance and have had to resist great social pressure to conform. This media bias (witting or unwitting) is also discussed in Bernard Goldberg's wonderful "Bias", but this book is less restrained in its tone and, yes, "Slander" does have an acerbic edge. But being acerbic or sardonic is NOT the same as ad hominm or mean or false. Another wonderful book to read if you are interested in understanding the problem of liberal bias is Thomas Sowell's "The Vision of the Anointed". But that book was also reviewed through ad hominem rather than debated. That this book has zoomed to the top of the best seller list speaks to the vast unreported frustration of citizens with the media. Well, maybe unreported is a bit strong. It is reported, but usually as the frustration of the ignorant, unsophisticated, and uninformed. That kind of reporting only adds to the frustration because we aren't any more ignorant, unsophisticaed, or uninformed than those espousing the liberal viewpoint. This book should be read if for nothing else than its footnotes. If you hate Coulter, fine. Don't read the book itself. Just read the footnotes, and go look up the sources, and then spend some time reflecting on what those articles and statements really mean. Is it really possible that there is NO point here? That is for each reader to decide. But I bet that the great majority of the readers of this book will decide that this book makes a big point that is important for our current media discourse.
Rating: 
Summary: hoisted on her own petard
Review: The danger, of course, of naming a book "Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right," as Coulter has done, is that you're inviting people to check out your own accuracy. And, unfortunately, in Coulter's case, that was a big mistake. That's why the Weekly Standard, right wing but with integrity, panned the book. Let's start with the very title. Coulter named it "Slander," but, of course, what she means when speaking about the media, whether print or electronic, is "libel." Sloppy? Just a preview of things to come. Coulter slams "liberal" newspapers for using the term "Christian right" and "religious right." She says that shows the evil of the mainstream press. But she's SO lazy that she never ran a Nexis search on the term. If she had, she'd realize that The Washington Times uses the same term all the time. Coulter contends that Maureen Dowd attacked Tom DeLay for his religiosity in a June 20, 1999, column. In fact, the object was Al Gore. Sloppy? Par for the course. I'm not going to go into Coulter having to backpedal on her charges against Katie Couric, even on the puffball kind of interview she was subjected to on Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor" on July 11. More serious is how incredibly lazy she was in putting this book together. She laments on the hard time George W. Bush got in campaign 2000. A Nexis search for 1999 and up to the election in 2000 reveals that The New York Times had two stories mentioning Harken Energy. Gee, that was probing! No major newspaper investigated Bush's 1976 DUI conviction in Maine until a smalltown paper broke the story late in the campaign. They were just as lazy -- well, just as lazy as Coulter! Who did a story on Bush's being AWOL from his Air Guard commitment for a 17-month period in the early 1970s? Well, except for The Boston Globe, no one uttered a peep until days before the election. The "liberal" media certainly didn't put Bush under the same microscope as Bill Clinton, whose Vietnam woes surfaced early in 1992. But then the well-funded right-wing media network isn't interested in exposing Bush's faux pas. Oops! Coulter maintains that there is no Richard Scaife-funded media machine. She'll be writing that the world isn't round next. That's why she conveniently left this episode out of her book: In February 2001 at a media panel, Paul Begala noted that, on Nexis, he "found 3,641 stories about Bill Clinton 'dodging the draft' ...and there were 49 stories about Bush and the National Guard." A lot of people think Coulter twists facts. She does, of course, counting on the fact that most people don't have access to Nexis to doublecheck her sources. But, mostly, she's too lazy to research and, therefore, relies on her own prejudices to fill out a book. Do women get a harder time about looks in the media, as Coulter contends? Of course, they do. But it's been N.O.W. and Ms. who make that point -- not the Independent Women's Forum that gave Coulter her start. Funded by none other than that non-existent right-wing conspiracy.
Rating:
Summary: Thorn in the backside
Review: Slander is one of those books you cannot put down after you've read the first several pages. It's a must-read if you're conservative. Equally so if you're liberal. Ann Coulter is a new breed of conservative commentator. In this no-holds-barred book, Miss Coulter documents the inconsistencies, ommissions and not so subtle tactics of the liberal establishment. Indeed, this well footnoted book leaves few questions where Coulter gathered her information. The footnotes are as much fun to read as the book itself. Some of the book is eye-opening. Some of it plain weird. From the New York Times fawning over authors that carry on the liberal agenda to Rober Ebert dabbling in politcal commentary (note to Roger: stick to film reviews), there is plenty to digest and think about. Ever wonder why some republicans are introduced (on TV, radio, etc) as conservative, but you'll never hear a democrat introduced as liberal (or rarely anyway)? This book will help you understand. I wonder what the liberal response will be? If I've learned anything from this book, it will probably be a personal attack on Ann Coulter. Not to worry....she can take care of herself. Ann.....great job!
Rating:
Summary: Tough and Funny
Review: You have to buy this book. Ms. Coulter has pulled the wool off and the zippers down on just about every liberal celebrity (excuse the redundancy), elected official and publication you can name. And name them she does and does it with a style that will have you either laughing out loud or screaming "foul". Example: A popular hollywood actor said on the television program "Politically Incorrect" that George W. Bush is "stupid". Ms. Coulter points out that the "stupid" Mr. Bush is a graduate of Yale and the Harvard Busines School while the actor never attended college because he flunked his entrance exam! Who is the actor? Buy the book. It is the New York Times more than any other publication that falls under the sights of Ms. Coulter's withering fire. In example after example she points out the mean spirited, holier-than-thou hypicrosy of the Times and does it by quoting their own editorials and "news" articles. It's a good thing hate speech is not a hate crime or the entire editoral staff of the Times would be in Attica. Ms. Coulter backs up her attacks with 35 pages of footnotes. If Teddy or Martin or Keith or Hillary say, "I never said that" they will also have to explain away the documentation that proves they did. Instead of the liberals being able to to spout pious indignation they will be running red faced for cover. Simply put "Slander" is one heck of a read. Ann Coulter is witty and very funny but more importantly her book rings with objective truth. It is sure to be a "surprising" best seller.
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Summary: A wonderful display of conservatism
Review: Of course, those who trash this book would be crying liberals, wouldn't they? The liberal mind operates on lies, deceit, and covering up the truth. This book explains all that, and more, in great detail. Ann Coulter represents the new breed of, not only conservatism, but just plain ol' outright honesty. Thanks for showing us all the true meaning of liberalism: me, me, me.
Rating:
Summary: The Stars War
Review: I hesitated purchasing this book until I read the very first six reviews of the book. All were one star and on the release date. That was enough proof for me to make the purchase. Now having read and enjoyed the book, I get additional pleasure in reading all the one star reviews because they prove Ann's point of the book. Get the book, read it, and see what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: Ann Coulter takes it to the liberal establishment
Review: This book is exactly what fans of Ann Coulter, and conservatives in general, have come to expect from our diva on the right. Liberals, based on some of the other reviews I read, have either bought it, or more likely read the book jacket, and then came up with some insightful commentary like "IT'S TRASH!" Ann does a thorough job of discussing an obvious attempt by the left to methodically destroy anyone who disagrees with their thoughts and ideas. In example after example, she meticulously documents examples of the liberal media's attempt to twist and pervert conservative's ideas, and demonize those who express them. The chapter on Al "Inventer of the Internet" Gore is especially entertaining. If you enjoy Ann's insightful commentary, or are a liberal desperately in need of deprogramming, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Truth with style
Review: It's so good people *DON'T* want you to read it! This is a combination of devastating fact and unashamed style. The personal attacks on the author are proof that this book is not only stylish and powerful, but that it's also right on the mark when it talks about the cheap shots and cheaper tricks the liberal-dominated media have used as their stock in trade for decades, now. Each time liberals slam Coulter it's like an endorsement for open-minded people to grab this book and read it. One has to ask. What's in this book that democrats and other liberals DON'T want YOU to see? it's well worth finding out. This is a book each and every American should read, precisely because the left doesn't want them to read it. The truth hurts and while this work delivers pain to the left-leaning media big-bugs it helps us all to further realize the enormity of the problem that occurs when *any* single political party's faithful have a strangle hold on a vast majority of a people's sources of information.
Rating:
Summary: Coulter Rocks!
Review: This is yet another kicking book from Ann! It is quite funny how angry it is making many liberal.. I would liken that to hitting a sore spot. Of course if you have anything against intellectual analysis on the state of affairs, and like living in your own little world, then you may not enjoy it. Though if you are interested in logical, intellectual data well analyzed by a pretty cool mind, then this might be great summer reading. check out coulter's other books, and her editorials as well. she is also a lady of the right at repunk.com
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