Taking Heat

The listener's perspective of Fleischer's memoir will most likely be shaped by his or her political views. Supporters of President Bush will describe the book as a candid memoir of Fleischer's years as press secretary; on the other hand, President Bush's detractors will view the book as a paean to a president who divided the country while using people like Fleischer to lie to the American people. While the reality is probably somewhere in between, the title offers no new insights into President Bush or the events of his first term. Fleischer reads with the same sense of confidence/smugness that characterized his contentious relationship with the press, a style as polarizing in audio as in the White House. D.J.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

February 7, 2005
A former White House press secretary, Fleischer became a lightning rod for accusations about the Bush administration's alleged spin, secrecy and hostility to the press, claims that may not be quieted by this sunnily defensive memoir. Fleischer acknowledges the White House's fanatical "message discipline," which still seems in force in his glowing portrait of Bush as a decisive leader, stalwart in advancing freedom and opposing "evil," forever comforting the families of terror victims and military casualties. And he cops to some stonewalling at press briefings, explaining, with some justice, that many questions concerned security and military operations he couldn't discuss. The many lengthy fencing matches he reprints sometimes evoke sympathy, as reporters badger him with provocative questions and he responds "with the same non-answer every time." Mainly, though, he blames his testy relations with the media on the media themselves and what he sees as their knee-jerk controversializing and pervasive liberal bias, and gleefully cites examples. Fleischer is less forthcoming on his own responsibility for relating false claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction; "we may all have been wrong," he shrugs, but contends it doesn't matter because Saddam might have gotten WMDs someday. Seldom have a press secretary's inaccuracies had such momentous consequences, so Fleischer's reluctance to examine how and why they occurred is disappointing indeed. Photos.Agent, Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly.

November 15, 2005
Fleischer served as White House press secretary from the beginning of George W. Bush's term in January 2001 to shortly after the start of the war against Iraq in 2003. He gives an inside view of the President's initial reaction to the announcement of the 9/11 attacks and details Bush's puzzling response as he continued to address elementary school students. Action taken by the White House in the months following the World Trade Center tragedy is sketchily outlined by Fleischer, as is the reaction of the media and their alleged misinterpretation of the events. In fact, the strongest statement the author makes is his belief that the media is a flawed and biased system; he claims that most reporters are Democrats, therefore news coverage is given a liberal, Democratic slant. Fleischer closes with an explanation of the infamous picture of President Bush in the flight suit, the visit to Auschwitz, and a final attack on the media. The book, as read by the author, can be a little flat and brief at times but is recommended to all audiences for its inside view of the 9/11 and post -9/11 White House." -Deb West, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA"

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