The Mix Is the Message #3 A Tale of Two Books

There are two fast-selling books in the marketplace that are remarkable in their repudiation of the general feeling, often reinforced by the media, that George Bush enjoys enormous popularity and stands invincible in the wake of 9/11.

Both Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" and Mark Crispin Miller's "Bush's Dyslexicon" are powerful, damning and even scornful of the President's standing and behavior. And surprise: these books are successful, in Moore's case, unbelievably so. But you wouldn't know it from media appearances, book reviews and bookstore readings.

Moore's book has astonished virtually all observers of politics and the publishing industry by dominating the New York Times bestseller list week after week (13 weeks at last look). Miller's book, at this stage, lacks the public recognition that Moore has, but is still selling modestly well. Yet neither of these two critics gets any respect from the media establishment.

Mark Crispin Miller, whose book has received very little review attention, catalogues in humorous detail Bush's incredible gift for gaffes. It analyzes in an astute and comprehensive way the efforts by Bush's handlers to manage and minimize this President's obvious shortfalls.

But this is no joke book. It's a hair-raising look at the man at the helm by one of the country's most acute media analysts. As Miller notes, post 9/11, the Bush presidency was reinvented: "From the very timely spectacle of his rock-hard demeanor, many viewers -- and especially the press -- now extrapolated other inner qualities, despite the lack of any evidence that he possessed them. Thus, our president ... was, as if by magic, also eloquent, farsighted, well informed and wise -- a testament to the eternal power of wishful thinking."

You would think a close examination of Bush's behavior under duress is a relevant topic in this media moment. But Miller couldn't get a review to save his life for the hardcover edition, except for a pan in the Washington Post and a brief positive mention in the New Yorker. And now that the paperback is out, with an added 100 pages evaluating Bush's behavior post-9/11, things are even worse.

Miller is unsurprised by reviewer hostility, but says he "is more mystified" by the ongoing press blackout and virtual bookstore boycott of the paperback. Miller observes that while Bush's numbers are falling and the post-9/11 fit of anxious national conformity is long behind us, the edifice of corporate media and bookstore chains remains a giant temple of Bush-worship.

According to Miller, his publisher W.W. Norton's contact at Barnes & Noble told the publisher that a book signing for him "wouldn't draw a crowd -- this despite the fact that the paperback is selling like crazy. Norton sold out its first printing three weeks before the publication date. That's unusual for an unadvertised title, to put it mildly."

Meanwhile, Michael Moore's experience of being ignored, given the success of "Stupid White Men," is truly remarkable.

For the first three months of the book's release, Moore says, "I did not appear on a single broadcast network (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX) show other than one appearance on "Politically Incorrect" -- which on that particular night did not air until 1:05am. Since then I have appeared only on the network show "The Today Show" -- and only if I agreed to appear with a rightwing author (as they did not want to put me on alone, even though by then my book had been number one for four weeks). The book has been completely ignored by every single show on NPR and PBS, and 95 percent of the daily papers in the country, including the New York Times have refused to review it."

So what does this mean? It appears that consumers, who are craving more authenticity, are increasingly disregarding corporate media hype. In many cases, traditional media exposure may even mean less success as buyers get their signals through email, word of mouth and independent media of all sorts.