Why Not Me?: The Inside Story of the Making and Unmaking of the Franken Presidency (Thorndike Press Large Print Basic Series) - Hardcover

Franken, Al

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786218665 ISBN 13: 9780786218660

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 1999

Synopsis

The author shares his thoughts on the rise and fall of America's forty-third president, drawing on his personal campaign diaries, newspaper clippings, confidential memos, and media responses on his tumultuous 144 days as president

About this title

Review

"An imaginatively funny and fresh satire...part autobiography, part manifesto, part diaryand part eulogy."
--"The Washington Post"
"[A] witty send-up of presidential politics...Franken proves again that he's one of our savviest satirists."
--"People"
"A gleefully absurd, rambling jaunt through the ritual ofAmerican campaigning...a hilariously farcical account."
--"Entertainment Weekly"
"Hilarious throughout...Franken has perfect pitch."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
Don't miss Al Franken's #1 bestseller Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations
"Wickedly funny."
--"Newsweek"
"This book establishes Al Frankenas a master of political humor."
--"The Washington Times"
"Funny, angry and intelligent."
--"The New York Times Book Review"
"It's a scream!"
--"The Seattle Times"
"A very funny book."
--"USA Today"

"Very funny--.--.--.--Franken has perfect pitch." --P.J. O'Rourke, The New York Times Book Review
"Screamingly hilarious." --Newsday
"An imaginatively funny and fresh satire--.--.--.--part autobiography, part manifesto, part diary and part eulogy." --The Washington Post
"[A] witty send-up of Presidential politics--.--.--.--Franken proves again that he's one of our savviest satirists." --People "

From the Back Cover

First came Theodore White's The Making of the President, 1960. Then All the President's Men. Now the searing chronicle that will forever change the way we view the man and the office...

... chronicles the dramatic rise and dizzying fall of Al Franken, who would become the first Jewish president of the United States. Meet the president as a young man. Witness the Franken campaign in its infancy, as the candidate pledges "to walk the state of New Hampshire, diagonally and then from side to side". Go behind the scenes and meet Team Franken, the candidate's brain trust: including brother and deputy campaign manager Otto, a recovering sex addict and alcoholic, and campaign manager Norm Ornstein, the think-tank policy wonk who masterminds the single-issue (ATM fees) campaign. Cheer as Franken stuns the pundits by defeating Al Gore for the Democratic nomination, then is swept into office carrying all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Then, through excerpts from Bob Woodward's detailed account of the first hundred days, The Void, go inside the Franken White House, which is gripped by crisis from day one. After the highly medicated chief executive exhibits a roller coaster of bipolar behavior, Franken is forced to cooperate with the Joint Congressional Committee on the President's Mood Swings. And when the committee releases Franken's personal diaries to the public, his presidency faces its ultimate crisis.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786218665
• ISBN 13: 9780786218660
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480