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klarastan's review against another edition
5.0
1. I love gossip.
2. I loved the 2008 campaign.
Thus, I loved this book. I could not put it down and blazed through it in just a couple days.
2. I loved the 2008 campaign.
Thus, I loved this book. I could not put it down and blazed through it in just a couple days.
traciemasek's review against another edition
4.0
I've loving this. You have to take it with a grain of salt; this is basically the US Weekly of political books. It's full of all the awesome juicy gossip bits, and of course it does not have a bibliography or site a single reference or source. But: it's so, so engaging and enthralling. And wonderfully suspenseful. I mean, duh, I know who wins, but I'm still biting my nails about the outcome of the New Hampshire primary; this is such a page turner. (An additional caveat is that these dudes so clearly hate the Clintons. This is a very one-sided book.)
Finished it; it's engaging all the way through. If you were at all wrapped up in the 2008 election, I highly recommend reading this. It's an easy enough read and gossipy enough to count as a beach book. As Molly pointed out, they warm up to the Clintons a little bit, and really I think their beef is with Bill, not so much Hilary.
Finished it; it's engaging all the way through. If you were at all wrapped up in the 2008 election, I highly recommend reading this. It's an easy enough read and gossipy enough to count as a beach book. As Molly pointed out, they warm up to the Clintons a little bit, and really I think their beef is with Bill, not so much Hilary.
deirdrelistens2books's review against another edition
5.0
An interesting behind the scenes look at the 2008 presidential/primary campaigns. I had seen the movie Game Change, which is about the McCain campaign selecting Sarah Palin as a running mate—that’s a big feature in the book but not at all the main focus.
You get a behind the scenes look at the Obama, Clinton, John Edwards primary race. All the John Edwards parts are so incredibly slimey. The whole book comes full circle with the Clintons/Obama - going from admirers of one another, to rivals, to again admirers and Obama feeling like he really needed Hillary Clinton in his cabinet. So the development of the relationship was interesting.
The Sarah Palin parts were troubling to think a Vice President was vetted in less than five days, without looking at her ties to a secession movement in Alaska. When Palin joined the campaign, the rallies appear to foreshadow the tone of the Trump rallies in 2015-today—with racist, violent rhetoric. McCain did eventually catch on to this being problematic and would condemn it, most famously telling a woman at one rally that Obama was a “good family man” and not an “Arab,” but I don’t think the condemnations could really correct the damage done by adding Palin’s voice to our national discourse.
One of the authors of this book, Mark Halperin was fired a few years back for sexual harassment, so I think this authorship issue is also just important to be mindful of when reading, especially considering some of the tone for female politicians and wives of politicians.
You get a behind the scenes look at the Obama, Clinton, John Edwards primary race. All the John Edwards parts are so incredibly slimey. The whole book comes full circle with the Clintons/Obama - going from admirers of one another, to rivals, to again admirers and Obama feeling like he really needed Hillary Clinton in his cabinet. So the development of the relationship was interesting.
The Sarah Palin parts were troubling to think a Vice President was vetted in less than five days, without looking at her ties to a secession movement in Alaska. When Palin joined the campaign, the rallies appear to foreshadow the tone of the Trump rallies in 2015-today—with racist, violent rhetoric. McCain did eventually catch on to this being problematic and would condemn it, most famously telling a woman at one rally that Obama was a “good family man” and not an “Arab,” but I don’t think the condemnations could really correct the damage done by adding Palin’s voice to our national discourse.
One of the authors of this book, Mark Halperin was fired a few years back for sexual harassment, so I think this authorship issue is also just important to be mindful of when reading, especially considering some of the tone for female politicians and wives of politicians.
2catmom's review against another edition
4.0
wow, really interesting and i don't like politics.
john mccain taught my 2 year old daughter to swear~ i am listening to the book in the car and while he says fuck 100's of times, she starts listening and repeating that word too after he lets go of a string of them. great.
john mccain taught my 2 year old daughter to swear~ i am listening to the book in the car and while he says fuck 100's of times, she starts listening and repeating that word too after he lets go of a string of them. great.
mrsfligs's review against another edition
5.0
THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE AUDIOBOOK
This is a book about the ins and outs of the 2008 campaign (you know … the one where a young upstart named Barack Obama beat out Hilary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and went on to defeat John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin). I’m not into politics AT ALL but I found this book utterly fascinating (which makes me wonder if I’m more interested in politics than I think or if it was just such an interesting campaign). I mistakenly thought it dealt more with Sarah Palin than it does (her part is only the last third of the book), but it didn’t matter—the battle between Obama and Clinton provided more than enough drama and intrigue. (And the whole John Edwards disaster was like watching a car accident in slow motion.) However, I did get the payoff I was looking for as the book provides a rather damning look into the selection of Palin and the realities of her candidacy. (If you didn’t guess by that last sentence, I’m not a big Palin fan.) Trust me … you don’t need to be a political junkie to enjoy this book. It was gripping from the start and, even though I knew how things turned out in the end, I was still on the edge of my seat as all the various aspects of the race unfolded. I listened to this book on audio, and Dennis Boutsikaris was the perfect choice of narrator. I’m hoping that the authors chronicled the 2012 campaign as I’d LOVE to read about it and find out the details and behind-the-scenes stuff that we don’t really get in regular news coverage. This will definitely be on my “best of the year” lists.
This is a book about the ins and outs of the 2008 campaign (you know … the one where a young upstart named Barack Obama beat out Hilary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and went on to defeat John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin). I’m not into politics AT ALL but I found this book utterly fascinating (which makes me wonder if I’m more interested in politics than I think or if it was just such an interesting campaign). I mistakenly thought it dealt more with Sarah Palin than it does (her part is only the last third of the book), but it didn’t matter—the battle between Obama and Clinton provided more than enough drama and intrigue. (And the whole John Edwards disaster was like watching a car accident in slow motion.) However, I did get the payoff I was looking for as the book provides a rather damning look into the selection of Palin and the realities of her candidacy. (If you didn’t guess by that last sentence, I’m not a big Palin fan.) Trust me … you don’t need to be a political junkie to enjoy this book. It was gripping from the start and, even though I knew how things turned out in the end, I was still on the edge of my seat as all the various aspects of the race unfolded. I listened to this book on audio, and Dennis Boutsikaris was the perfect choice of narrator. I’m hoping that the authors chronicled the 2012 campaign as I’d LOVE to read about it and find out the details and behind-the-scenes stuff that we don’t really get in regular news coverage. This will definitely be on my “best of the year” lists.
jminaya's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Insider perspective on the 08 presidential elections. Insightful and interesting.
jamiebooks15's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent! Loved the behind the scenes look at the candidates and families, and even though I thought I had an inkling of the "juice" that'd be contained it surprised me constantly. Evidently, it was based on dozens of interviews with top staffers and is all pretty well established truths. I'll never look at the Clintons and Edwardses the same again!! And still eternally grateful McCain isn't the president (and Palin isn't anything at all!)
diannehult16's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating insight into the "behind the scene" of the 2008 election.