Dirty Sexy Politics! The Politics Of $$$! Brilliant Book “This Town!” Washington DC Expose!

Why Is This Man Smiling?

It’s a smile that suggests you are about to be taken for a ride – well, that is true and in this case it’s all because of this:

As usual, the culprit is cash – LOTS AND LOTS OF CASH – and there is a great new book that looks at the people you find lining up to line their pockets with it…and you can find it all right here:

Welcome To The Amazingly Profitable World Of Washington DC!

There’s a book that looks at how money has changed our nation’s capital forever…a searing indictment about politicians who show up in DC – and never leave…

“Provides a lancing, often hysterically funny portrait of the capital’s vanities and ambitions.” —The New Yorker

Time to talk politics!

“This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral — Plus, Plenty of Valet Parking! — in America’s Gilded Capital!”

Welcome to “This Town” – shorthand for Washington DC – where the party never stops – and the politicians NEVER LEAVE!

“‘This Town’ is funny, it’s interesting, and it is demoralizing … I loved it as much as you can love something which hurts your heart.”—John Oliver, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Political Writer Mark Leibovich takes a devastating look at the current culture of $$$ and excess in Washington D.C. Just forty years ago, almost all politicians left DC after their political terms ended.

Now, most stay – to take lucrative jobs in the lobbying industry, or the cottage industry of political coverage on TV and the internet. It’s a billion-dollar business, and Leibovich digs deep to show you some of the excess…

Time To Enter “Suck-Up City!”

It was a term coined by a member of the Obama team when they arrived in DC in 2008…where the people with the most power wield the most influence – and are hit on the most by a never-ending lobbying effort.

It’s a world of lobbying firms, media consultants and book and speaking deals – all lavished on those who have made it to DC and never want to go home…

Here’s a piece of the review from “Bookforum”:

“This Town” is a puckish satire of the Washington political class’s steady retreat into its own gilded navel. Leibovich is a talented writer, and he resists the trap that more insecure, bloviating political writers might fall into: affirmatively spoon-feeding their own political judgments to readers at all turns. Leibovich just documents what he sees, and whom he talks to, wittily mimicking the so-what tone that these glib, dismal samples of humanity use to describe their controversial waking lives. In other words, he lets those who would be hanged hang themselves, by being themselves. (review written by Jim Newell)

Of particular interest is the reviewer’s phrase:

“he lets those who would be hanged hang themselves, by being themselves…”

Because Leibovich profiles a number of political operatives who just loved to talk, talk, talk…

Meet Tammy Haddad And Her “Tam Cam!”

Meet Tammy Haddad – a former TV Producer who is now one of DC’s most connected people. As the book states:

“Haddad’s signature accoutrement is a little video camera she carries around, called the “Tam Cam.” She walks up to people she knows—and who, by extension, matter—and initiates little interviews, which she will often put online. The interviews are generally quick and painless, if somewhat intrusive, “like a light enema,” in the words of one friend/victim. “My job is to be around the most successful people, the most up-and-coming people, and the people who have impact,” Tammy told me. This group has always existed in Washington, but now it is big enough to contain an entire sub economy.”

I’m not picking on Haddad, who has built quite a reputation for her political savvy…but she is also one of the many people profiled in the book who have turned politics into a big business, and the book looks at all of them….

It’s a great inside look at the politics of money, from a terrific writer – check it out! But we are not done yet…

Let’s Talk Politics!

There are so many ways to talk politics these days, but my favorite way is with movies!