Spin This! : All the Ways We Don't Tell the Truth

by Bill Press; Bill Maher

• ISBN13: 9780743442671
• ISBN10: 0743442679
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-10-30
• Publisher: Atria

Summary

We're all familiar with the warning, "Don't believe everything you see or hear." Bill Press, the popular co-host of CNN's Crossfire, will have you wondering whether you should believe anything at all. Spin -- intentional manipulation of the truth -- is everywhere. It's in the White House, in the courtrooms, in headlines and advertising slogans. Even couples on dates -- not to mention book jackets -- are guilty of spin. Now, analyst Bill Press freeze-frames the culture of spin to investigate what exactly spin is, who does it and why, and its impact on American society as a whole. Depending upon who is doing it, spinning can mean anything from portraying a difficult situation in the best possible light to completely disregarding the facts with the intent of averting embarrassment or scandal. Using examples drawn from recent history -- the Clinton presidency, the Florida recount, and the Bush White House -- Press first probes spin's favorite haunt: politics. In addition to surveying the incarnations of spin in the fields of journalism, law, and advertising, Press also chews on the spin of sex and "dating," a word that has become the very embodiment of spin. Perhaps surprisingly, however, Press argues that spin isn't all bad, and that without it the harsh truths of our times might be too tough to swallow. With the same keen sense of humor that helped make CNN's Crossfire television's premier debate show and the limited run of The Spin Room so popular, Press turns the tables on the prime purveyors of spin -- called spin doctors -- noting some of their biggest guffaws and blunders. As Press notes, it has become abundantly clear that the twenty-first century, beginning as it has with a president who was "spun into office," will be a fertile stomping ground for spin.

Author Biography

Bill Press, an award-winning commentator, squares off against Tucker Carlson and Robert Novak on CNN's Crossfire. He and Carlson also launched and co-hosted The Spin Room. His twice-weekly newspaper column is distributed nationally by Tribune Media Services.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Bill Maher
Introduction: Spinning This Book	xiii
The Best Possible Light	1	(23)
Spin Hall of Fame: Robert D. Novak on Al Gore	8	(4)
Spin Hall of Fame: Kate O'Beirne on Hillary Clinton	12	(12)
It Didn't Start with Clinton	24	(10)
Spin Hall of Fame: Cal Thomas on Satan	24	(10)
All the Spin That's Fit to Print	34	(19)
Politics: Slippery Not Only When Wet	53	(36)
Spin Hall of Fame: Margaret Carlson on Max Kennedy	55	(22)
Spin Hall of Fame: Hendrik Hertzberg on Jimmy Carter	77	(12)
Clinton: The Man Who Broke the Spinning Wheel	89	(15)
Spin Hall of Fame: Tony Blankley on Lanny Davis	98	(6)
Campaign 2000: The Spin Derby	104	(26)
Spin Hall of Fame: Paul Begala on George W. Bush	109	(5)
Spin Hall of Fame: Oliver North on Al Gore	114	(10)
Spin Hall of Fame: Al Franken on Karl Rove	124	(6)
President Bush: New Spinner in the White House	130	(30)
Spinning the Legal System	160	(16)
Spinning to Sell a Product	176	(26)
Everyday People, Everyday Spin	202	(22)
Spin Hall of Fame: Tucker Carlson on Joe Carollo	208	(2)
Spin Hall of Fame: Mary Matalin on James Carville	210	(14)
Sex and Dating: Where Spin Begins...and Ends	224	(17)
Closing Comments	241	(2)
Acknowledgments	243