We and GWB
edited by Nikki Lee
and David Nett
Random Werewolf

It's hard to say whether the first administration of George W. Bush makes an easy target for satirical bloggers. To those who were more mortified than edified by the unprecedented gall of his first-term foreign policy, plutocratic tax "reforms," and philistine attitude towards issues of gay rights and women's health, there was nothing funny about Bush's venture into nation wrecking. In the first year or so, a zeitgeist of mildly irritated disbelief existed among liberals; after Sept. 11 fear, foreboding, and solidarity unified the nation, however briefly, and any griping about Bush's domestic policies seemed downright petty, even to his most dogged detractors. But when it became clear that the president intended to exploit the terrorist attacks as a political foothold for his and the conservative Congress's hawkish agenda, neglecting pressing economic and domestic issues at home, it was necessary to gripe again.

The writers of "We and GWB," a collection of essays from the blog-cum-news site Clark Schpiell Productions, are some such patriots. The book cleanly mirrors the progression of mood among liberal writers during Bush's first term from incredulous satire and jokes at the expense of his risible grammar to abject disgust and fear. Dated essays read, with not a little nostalgia, on subjects from Timothy McVeigh's execution (remember him?) to Bush's reelection to a second term.

Throughout, the tone is equally acerbic and thoughtful. The wonderfully trenchant gay soapboxer Jeanette Scherrer refers to "The Merchant of Venice," her hopes for the Mizzou Tigers in the 2003 Final Four, and one of the rarest and best arguments against a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Jeremy Groce, Clark Schpiell's resident globetrotter, writes about American religious conservatism as viewed on a television in Kenya. Michelle Magoffin, who "has the distinction of being the only self-proclaimed conservative among CSP's regular contributors," writes with conviction about her socially liberal and fiscally conservative views, and how those values prevent her from supporting a second Bush term.

But the most dominant voice among the "We and GWB" contributors is that of David Nett, and it is in his essays that the book's most solid writing — and fatal flaw — shows best. Nett pens the book's introduction, in which he describes the transformation of Clark Schpiell Productions from a lighthearted "online humor magazine" to a response to a political situation gone "terribly wrong." His name is on the first essay too, a dry, witty satire of the Kansas State School Board's reluctant curriculum changes ("American History Core, Part 79.33: Former President Bill Clinton most likely is not, as suggested in previous curriculum, Lucifer, Lord of Hell, in disguise. Lucifer would surely have been able to place his successor in the seat of the presidency, especially when running against such a pudding-head"). Nett also holds forth on the cultural barbarism of America's celebration of McVeigh's execution, in the last essay before Sept. 11, and the cultic claims of Nostradamus' predictions of the attacks, in the first essay afterward. His tenor is increasingly serious toward the middle and end of the book; some of Nett's strongest writing is in the eight-part series, "My Republican Dad" (later retitled "My Conservative Dad"). In these Nett delineates a dialogue on politics and the state of the union between himself and his Republican/conservative dad, complete with pedantic little lists of Salon links from son to father.

Nett possesses an articulate and commanding voice, and he strikes a fine, eminently readable balance between the linear pursuit of a point and imaginative perspectives on a dire situation. But where Clark Schpiell Productions is, being a blog, a fine vehicle for click-and-go agitprop, "We and GWB" is overcooked in places. On paper, glaring typos, occasionally circular arguments, and a peculiar reliance on variations of "it made me throw up a little in my mouth" just aren't as revolutionary as they are online. Even the very strong Nett is, toward the end, embarrassing in his use of rally-rousing cliché ("If we hold on and continue to believe, there is always tomorrow"), and the reader wonders what the message might have lost in the reformatting.

"We and GWB" is, shortly, a well-researched, heartfelt and historically valuable book about the perspectives of educated American liberals from 2000-2004. If it has suffered in its move from blog to paperback, that is no fault of the authors. But David Nett and company are bloggers at heart; the book invites a dialogue which cannot occur. At its best, "We and GWB" is evidence for the charismatic power of political blogging. At its worst, it suggests a job opening for a vigilant copyeditor or two.

— Eve Adams (ultimaluz at gmail dot com)