Strategery: How George W. Bush Is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Book review

STRATEGERY: How George W. Bush Is Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media

BY BILL SAMMON REGNERY PUBLISHING, INC. 2006, 336 PAGES, $27.95

Third in a series of New York Times best sellers chronicling George W. Bush's presidency, Strategery follows Fighting Back, examining changes in the presidency after 9/11, and Misunderestimated, analyzing the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Strategery begins with John Kerry's candidacy in March 2004 and continues through the hard-fought election and the following 14 months. As senior White House correspondent for the Washington Times, as well as a political analyst for Fox News Channel, Sammon had "unprecedented access" to Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and other senior White House officials; he interviewed the President "more times than any other journalist."

The title of the book comes from a "Saturday Night Live" George Bush-AI Gore debate skit during which Chris Parnell (moderator) asks Will Ferrell (Bush) to sum up the best argument for the Bush candidacy. With exaggerated cockiness, Ferrell replies, "Strategery" (pronounced struh-TEE-jer-ee). The Administration enjoyed the humor, and Rove began to term his weekly assembly of top strategists "strategery" meetings. However, the title might very well have been, How the Liberal Mainstream Media Is Out to Get Bush.

Defeating Terrorists, Outwitting Democrats, and Confounding the Mainstream Media correctly previews the subject content. Sammon has exposed the inconsistencies and inaccuracies of liberal bias intended to change the momentum of the 2004 election and denigrate the Bush Administration. He points out that the Democrats and the mainstream media never stopped complaining about Iraq while downplaying that same country's political, economic, and military accomplishments. During his third prime-time press conference on April 13, 2004, Bush explained how the U.S. was defeating terrorists--for the first time the world was seeing a concerted response to the ideology of terror, a series of powerful, effective blows. "We will stay on the offense until we bring people to justice" The media "pilloried" the President's Iraqi policy, yet never offered a clear alternative.

Sammon explains strategies Republicans use to confound Democrats and deftly defuses liberal-slanted mainstream media stories. The author relates Bush's philosophy about campaigning, the war, and life in general, and he includes from Rove and Bush...