Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in U. S. Presidential Campaigns

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Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots, and October Surprises in U. S. Presidential Campaigns Pub. Date: 9/6/2007 Publisher: Quirk Publishing

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Overview

A History of Mud-Slinging, Character Assassination, And Other Election Strategies

Today’s political pundits express shock and disappointment when candidates resort to negative campaigning. But history reveals that smear campaigns are as American as apple pie. Anything for a Vote is an illustrated look at 200-plus years of dirty tricks and bad behavior in presidential elections, from George Washington to Barack Obama and John McCain. Let the name-calling begin!

     • 1836: Congressman Davy Crockett accuses candidate Martin Van Buren of secretly wearing women’s clothing: “He is laced up in corsets!”
     • 1864: Presidential candidate George McClellan describes his opponent, Abraham Lincoln, as “nothing more than a well-meaning baboon!”
     • 1960: Former president Harry Truman advises voters that “if you vote for Richard Nixon, you ought to go to hell!”

Full of sleazy anecdotes from every presidential election in United States history, Anything for a Vote is a valuable reminder that history does repeat itself, that lessons can be learned from the past (though they usually aren’t), and that our most famous presidents are not above reproach when it comes to the dirtiest game of all—political campaigning.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781594741562
Publisher: Quirk Publishing
Publication date: 9/6/2007
Pages: 304
Sales rank: 379,611
Product dimensions: 5.25 (w) x 7.99 (h) x 0.88 (d)

Meet the Author

Joseph Cummins is the author of several nonfiction books and one novel. He lives in New Jersey.

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Anonymous

Posted October 23, 2007

Bias, Inaccurate & poor writing

this book'thick propaganda pamphlet'is in itself a smear against the 2 party system with overt glorification of democratic candidates and outright rumor mongering and unbelievable attacks on republican presidental candidates. One example is the lovefest directed at Clinton, Gore, and Kerry mentioning the Swift Boat Vets but not the Dan Rather/60min incident. Also not mentioning Soros and moveon.org or the clinton attack machine while trying to create some paranoid justification for the delusion of a 'Vast Right Wing Conspiricy'. In all a very poor partisan fantasy coverage of what could be a very interesting and entertaining subject.
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Anonymous

Posted November 9, 2007

A reviewer

This author did some outstanding research and crafted a highly entertaining book. It gave me comfort to know that political dirty tricks are nothing new. Anything for a Vote makes history come alive by showing us that our founding fathers were not the passionless patrons in powdered wigs that we sometimes mistake them for. They were real men with all the flaws and ambition we see in today's politicians. No political party emerges unscathed. By the book's conclusion I felt confident that even with the fiascos of the 2000 (Florida) and 2004 (Ohio)elections, the American people really are capable of picking some good apples out of the barrel. The author takes a wonderful tone and even compares the degree of impropriety or downright dirty-dealing by rating each election on a 'Sleaze-o-meter'. It was particularly fascinating to learn how mudslinging was accomplished prior to the development of electronic mass media. This book could probably be read as a supplement to textbooks in high school History classes. It would engage young people and let them know that studying US history can be colorful and fun as well as vitally important to understanding the country which they will someday be running.
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Anonymous

Posted November 9, 2007

A great read if you love democracy

The reader who calls himself an unbiased poitical observer' is obviously anything but. Anything for a Vote is a hilarious and informative look at the political shenanigans of both parties. Sure, Cummins covers the Repubican smearfests of 1988 and 2004, but he also covers the dirty tricks played by the Democrats in 1964 (where he says Democratic President Lyndon Johnson should have been impeached) 1960 and elsewhere. This book contains more information on American elections--and presents it wittily and with an absolute lack of bias -- than any book ever written.
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Anonymous

Posted November 15, 2007

Fun, surprising, and extremely informative

The research behind this book is extraordinary, and the author draws on it to create a sort of stroll through American politics that's as entertaining as it is educational. I liked the author's voice--informed, intelligent, accessible. He likes to have fun with his subject, and succeeds marvelously. If you think today's political contests are acrimonious, you'll get a huge kick out of the presidential campaigns of the nineteenth century. Simply outrageous. A great read all around.
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