The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics

by Matt Bai

Overview

Widely cited by journalists and bloggers as the man to read to understand the political races, New York Times Magazine writer Matt Bai has written a book about the Democratic Party that's as riveting as it is timely and vital. The Argument takes readers to the front lines of the grassroots progressive movement that is seizing power from the party's weakened D.C. establishment, capturing a colorful cast of donors and power brokers struggling to articulate a direction: an argument. The result is a fascinating, uniquely candid look at present-day politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143114178
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/29/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Matt Bai is the national political columnist for Yahoo! News. For more than a decade he was a political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, where he covered three presidential campaigns. He is the author of The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics, named a Notable Book of 2007 by the New York Times and All the Truth is Out. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland. For more information about Matt Bai, visit mattbai.com.

Table of Contents

Preface     ix
Election Day     1
The Killer Slide Show     23
The Thing     49
The Power of the List     67
The Road to Dysfunction     93
Moments of Destiny     123
The Argument     153
Beyond the Message Object     181
Backward Compatible     191
"They're Not Right About That"     217
Into the Abyss     227
The Kiss     257
Score!     283
Afterword     303
Acknowledgments     309
Index     313

What People are Saying About This

Joe Klein

What a terrific book! Matt Bai has written the semi-secret history of the Democratic Party as it has writhed toward success in the first decade of 21st century. Filled with hilariously strange characters and situations, this is also a thoroughly reported--and dead serious--look at the direction politics is headed at an important moment in our history. If you want to understand what promises to be a crucial political year in 2008, The Argument is certainly the place to start (Joe Klein, Time Magazine political columnist and author of Politics Lost)

Evan Thomas

Matt Bai has written a wonderful book--honest, insightful, and funny. Democrats should read it and weep--or learn from it. (Evan Thomas, Newsweek)

Michael Tomasky

One of the most fascinating, underreported, and misunderstood political stories of the Bush era has been the liberal effort to push the Democratic Party to be more aggressive and to stop getting rolled by conservatives...Matt Bai conveys this important behind-the-scenes story with unmatched insight, wisdom, and sympathy. (Michael Tomasky, editor, Guardian America)

Roger Rosenblatt

This is both an original and a significant book - something very hard to come by. Matt Bai has not only disclosed the dead zones in the Democratic Party; he also has hit upon the questions that could bring the Party - and the country - back to life. As if that were not sufficient, he writes succinctly yet beautifully. The Argument is probably the most important political study of recent years.

Editorial Reviews

Illuminating . . . A colorful topographical map of the Democratic landscape.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“I had more fun reading The Argument than I’ve had reading any political book in ages. It was fun the way The Boys on the Bus was fun. The way Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72 was fun. . . . Or maybe even the way Primary Colors was fun.”—Kevin Drum, Washington Monthly

“Engaging and painstakingly reported.”—The Economist

“Sharply written, exhaustively reported.”—Nick Gillespie, The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

In his illuminating new book, the journalist Matt Bai examines the health of the Democratic Party, focusing on the insurgent progressive movement that is taking on the Washington establishment—a largely Internet-driven movement that's brought together wealthy venture capitalists, determined to help build a re-energized party; angry bloggers, furious with the Bush administration and fed up with Democratic moderates; and isolated suburban liberals in red states, eager to use the Web to connect with like-minded citizens around the country.The Argument…combines lots of energetic reporting on the ground with some astute political analysis. The result is a colorful topographical map of the Democratic landscape: an anatomy of the party's new progressive wing and its contentious relationship with centrist groups like the Democratic Leadership Council, and some sharply observed portraits of progressive power brokers like Howard Dean, the bloggers Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga and the union leader Andy Stern.
—The New York Times

Michiko Kakutani

With the possible exception of the Republican, is there a major political party more stupefyingly brain-dead than the Democrats? That's the ultimate takeaway from The Argument, Matt Bai's sharply written, exhaustively reported and thoroughly depressing account of "billionaires, bloggers, and the battle to remake Democratic politics" along unabashedly "progressive" (read: New Deal and Great Society) lines.
—The New York Times Book Review

Nick Gillespie

…unsparing, incisive and altogether engaging…a must read for anyone unaware of the seismic shift that's afoot among the Democrats…a layered, colorful portrait of a party in transition.
—The Washington Post

Jose Antonio Vargas

I had more fun reading The Argument than I've had reading any political book in ages. It was fun the way The Boys on the Bus was fun. The way Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 was fun. . . . Or maybe even the way Primary Colors was fun.
— Washington Monthly

Kevin Drum

Engaging and painstakingly reported.

The Economist