|
A Heckuva Job: More of the Bush Administration in Rhyme |  | Author: Calvin Trillin
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy Used: $0.01
as of 8/1/2010 00:09 PDT details
You Save: $12.94 (100%)
New (42) Used (133) Collectible (13) from $0.01
Seller: oncesoldtales
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 586546
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition
Pages: 128
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 1400065569
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9781400065561
ASIN: 1400065569
Publication Date: May 30, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Somehow, despite everything Calvin Trillin wrote about the Bush Administration in Obliviously On He Sails, his 2004 bestseller in verse, George W. Bush is still in the White House. Taking a philosophical view, Trillin has said, âWe werenât going to know whether you could bring down a presidency with iambic pentameter until somebody tried it.â
Now Trillin is trying again, back at his pithy and hilarious best to comment on the Presidentâs decision to go to war in Iraq (âThen terrorists could count on what weâd do: / Attack us, weâll strike back, though not at youâ), his religiosity (âHe treats his critics in the press / As if theyâre yapping Pekineses. / Reporters deal in mundane facts; / This man has got the word from Jesusâ), and whether he was wearing a transmitting device in the first presidential debate (âCould this explain his odd expressions? Is there proof he / Was being told, âIf you can hear me now, look goofyâ?â)
Trillin deals with the people around Bush, such as Nanny Dick Cheney and Mushroom Cloud Rice and Orange John Ashcroft and Orange Johnâs successor, Alberto Gonzales (âThe A.G.âs to be one Alberto Gonzalesâ / Dependable, actually loyal Ăźber allesâ). He tries to predict the behavior of the famously intemperate John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations in poems with titles like âBolton Chases French Ambassador Up Treeâ and âWhite House Says Bolton Can Do Job Even While in Straitjacket.â
Finally, in dealing with whether the entire Bush Administration, like the unfortunate Brownie, has done a heckuva job, he composes a small-government sea chantey for the Republicans:
âCause governmentâs the problem, lads,
Americans would all do well to shun it.
Yes, governmentâs the problem, lads.
At least it is when weâre the ones who run it.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Our nation's second term-ite June 1, 2006
Jon Hunt (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA)
163 out of 177 found this review helpful
The president's a perfect foil
For author Calvin Trillin.
The nation's in a big turmoil
Thanks to our dimwit villain.
But to the rescue comes "C. T."
Who sheds some light on "Dub-ya".
Each page evokes a firm "teehee"
And will the right way rub ya.
His commentary lights upon
Those Bushies lacking shtick.
There's Mushroom Cloud and Orange John
And Five Deferments Dick.
Yet our commander is the one
That Trillin writes the most of.
It could be said that when he's done
The president's made toast of.
I highly recommend this work
For wit that's nicely offered.
And in '09 that White House jerk
Is goin' home to Crawford.
A Gosh Dang Heckuva Job, Mr. Trillin June 19, 2006
H. F. Corbin (ATLANTA, GA USA)
73 out of 79 found this review helpful
In A HECKUVA JOB Calvin Trillin continues his rhymed assessments of the current Bush administration that he began in OBLIVIOUSLY ON HE SAILS. His title is obvious to anyone who owned a radio or television set during the Katrina debacle. For the two Americans who missed Bush's comment, he informed FEMA Chief Michael Brown that he was doing a "heckuva job" as some New Orleans citizens were stranded on housetops as they held signs begging for help while others lay floating in the waters caused by Katrina. All the usual suspects are back; actually most of them never went away although the country did lose Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank and John Ashcroft and a couple of others resigned as Mr. Bush began the second four years of his reign. Mr. Trillin takes aim at Mushroom Cloud Rice and Five Deferments Dick-- or if you prefer-- Nanny Dick-- as well as a host of other Bush accomplices.
Here are some of Mr Trillin's gems: About Cheney's statements of Iraq's role in 9/11; "If you say it enough, then it's true." About Bush's current abysmal approval rating: "But those pols don't have Jesus on their side." Condoleezza Rice is described as "cold as ice," but "precise with her advice." George Bush may be remembered by historians as "the Great Conflater." And Trillin on Colin Powell: "It's sad to see, as we remember when/Some thought he was the president-elect to be,/How easily is done a Colinectomy." The most devastating "poem" by far has to be "A Short History Of Someone Who Failed To Get Into The Champagne Unit of The Texas Air National Guard In 1958."
Historians may not recall
My name, now chiseled on that wall.
Still, they might say I played a role
By going on that last patrol
And not returning to my base:
I might have died in Bush's place
There are a lot of other rhymes here of course, but that one stops me in my tracks. Many of them explode upon impact. Sadly Trillin has found out that he could not bring down a presidency "with iambic pentameter." At least not yet.
A Heckuva Job Writing A Heckuva A Book! June 20, 2006
Jaci Rae (New York, NY)
59 out of 68 found this review helpful
A Heckuva Job Writing A Heckuva A Book! If you want a political satire that will make you laugh, this is the one. Using rhyme to state the obvious that the powers that be haven't a clue what is really going on, just note Katrina and other disasters if you want a clue. The President had to finally go down to New Orleans to make a public show.
The rhythm of the rhyme is hysterically funny, using many of the Bush Admin's people as caricatures. This is a witty (yet powerful prose) style book that will help you laugh at the dire situation this administration has placed our country. It's better to laugh than cry, but taking action in both is best and that's what this author begins to do by cutting in and placing truth in the rhymes.
A HECKUVA JOB, ON A HECKAVA DANGEROUS PRSIDENT! June 21, 2006
Oregon Reader (Oregon)
35 out of 49 found this review helpful
Trillin cuts through the crap and nails this admin for the what it is! Never "preachy" just lots of facts and things the press were to worried to print for fear of Bush & Company.The press gave Bushy a pass, but not Trillin!
CALVIN TRILLING, AGAIN November 4, 2006
Leroy E. Foley (SCHENECTADY, NY)
CALVIN TRILLIN DOES SUPER WORD PICKS TO SATIRICALLY HANDLE THE PRESENTM POLITICAL SCENE(S).
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED âAS ISâ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. orangedigm.com | |
