GREAT AMERICAN HYPOCRITES: Toppling The Big Myths Of Republican Politics by Glenn Greenwald: A Review

 

In his book Great American Hypocrites, author Glenn Greenwald targets various prominent right-wingers/Republicans for their various hypocrisies. For instance, he cites the blatant hypocrisy surrounding the right-wing/Republican notion of "masculinity" involving being so damned gung-ho about going to war when a prominent number of right-wingers/Republicans oftentimes went out of their way by using their prominent family connections and such to keep their cowardly asses out of various wars such as Vietnam--e.g. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney--while using their various "allies" in the media--e.g. Fox News and The Drudge Report--to "question" the actual military service of such prominent left-wingers/Democrats like former Presidential candidate John Kerry. My favorite part of the book is when Greenwald goes after right-wing/Republican "hero" John Wayne who's largely regarded in right-wing/Republican circles to this very day as The Ultimate American Patriot even though he went out of his way to avoid military service during World War II while his fellow thespians were lining up in droves to sign up for military service during WWII. Wayne, as Greenwald also notes in his book, was a staunch "family values" advocate back before the right-wing/Republican catchphrase "family values" even became fashionable in that crowd. Of course, like so many other right-wingers/Republicans who routinely espouse "family values" and whatnot, Wayne was likewise two-faced about his purported beliefs in that he was married--and divorced--multiple times. In fact, as Glenn points out in his book, he actually got married on the very day one of his numerous divorces was finalized to his mistress. Also according to the book, Wayne--whose real name was Marion Morrison, by the way--was also known to pull a Chris Brown a time or two on his wives (and I don't have to tell you what I mean by THAT, do I?). Wayne--again, according to the book--was also a hard drinker who was known to pull a Rush Limbaugh on more than one occasion (and, again, I don't have to tell you what I mean by THAT, now do I?). Regardless of whether you're a right-wing/Republican or not, Great American Hypocrites should be of interest to anyone who detests blatant political hypocrisy of ANY kind. A sidenote: Before I start getting any nasty messages defending the "character" of John Wayne, he actually admitted during an interview that he had all but "avoided" military service during WWII. From what The Duke said in the interview (of which I listened to, by the way), he said that he actually contacted the military about "serving" and they informed him that he would start out as a "lowly" private just like everyone else. According to The Duke, this didn't sit none too well with him, so he decided against actually doing his patriotic duty--as, of course, he demanded others do (and, of course, chastised those who didn't)--and instead chose to play "war hero" in his movies. Put more bluntly, The Duck, uh, I mean, The Duke was apparently afraid that actually serving his country would ruin his burgeoning movie career. How's THAT for patriotic!