Savage Mules: The Democrats and Endless War

Americans see the Democratic Party as the anti-war party: vacillating flipfloppers in the eyes of conservatives; or, in the liberal view, restrained, measured wagers of war as "last resort." In November 2006, voters put the Democrats into Congress to bring an end to the Iraq war. Yet the Democrats supported the "surge," giving Bush more money than he himself requested, and voted through the next $459.6 billion defense budget.

In this hard-hitting examination of their role in the War on Terror, political analyst and satirist Dennis Perrin shatters the myth of the reluctant-warrior Democrats. He explores Democrat collusion in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and support for Israeli assaults on Gaza and Lebanon, while revealing their overlooked appetite for planning wars and selling them to the electorate. Compelling and bleakly humorous, Savage Mules shows a party at odds with its public image on this key issue in the race for the White House.

"Proclaiming that 'American political life has always been a feeding frenzy of delusion, uplift, and fantasy,' blogger and satirist Perrin (Mr. Mike) focuses his attack more narrowly on the Democrats, arguing that from Andrew Jackson on, they have 'robbed, cheated and lied to their constituents' in order to consolidate power and maximize 'mega-profits.' The book moves from a historic overview to a contemporary critique of the Democratic support for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, skewering such Democratic heavyweights as JFK, FDR, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, 'America's most underrated imperialist.' The final chapter offers a blow-by-blow account of the liberal blogger convention YearlyKos, an event that the author uses to illustrate his conviction that 'the Dem [sic] elites will continue to gorge on corporate money and favors.' Perrin undermines himself with his reliance on ad hominem attacks and joyless one-liners (JFK was 'smoked,' genocide in Bosnia is an 'Ian Fleming scenario,' 'the Iraq era had been satirically deficient'). The result is a combination of self-righteousness and puerility. (Sept. 18)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Renowned satirist with a mordant dissection of the Democrat's record on war.

Dennis Perrin is the author of Mr Mike: The Life and Work of Michael O'Donoghue, The Man Who Made Comedy Dangerous and American Fan: Sports Mania and the Culture That Feeds It. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Realist, Huffington Post, Mother Jones, at MSNBC, and in numerous independent weeklies and newspapers. He was a jokewriter for Bill Maher, and has blogged under the name Red State Son.