Do As I Say (Not As I Do)

Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy

By: Peter Schweizer

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Prominent liberals support a whole litany of policies and principles: progressive taxes, affirmative action, greater regulation of corporations, raising the inheritance tax, strict environmental regulations, children’s rights, consumer rights, and more. But do they actually live by these beliefs? Peter Schweizer decided to investigate the private lives of politicians like the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, the Kennedys, and Ralph Nader; commentators Michael Moore, Al Franken, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West; entertainers or philanthropists Barbra Streisand and George Soros. Using publicly-available real estate records, IRS returns, court depositions, and their own published statements, he sought to examine whether they lived by the principles they so forcefully advocate.

What he found was a long list of contradictions. Many of these proponents of organized labor had developed various methods to sidestep paying union wages or avoid employing unions altogether. They were also adept at avoiding taxes; invested heavily in corporations they had denounced; took advantage of foreign tax credits to use non-American labor overseas; espoused environmental causes while opposing those that might affect their own property rights; hid their investments in trusts to avoid paying estate tax; denounced oil companies but quietly owned them.

Schweizer’s conclusion is simple: liberalism in the end forces its adherents to become hypocrites. They adopt one pose in public, but when it comes to what matters most in their own lives–their property, their privacy, and their children--they jettison their liberal principles and adopt conservative ones. If these ideas don’t work for the very individuals who promote them, Schweizer asks, how can they work for the country?©2005 Peter Schweizer; (P)2005 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

The Weekly Standard
"Peter Schweizer's Do As I Say (Not As I Do) is an entertaining exposure of the hypocrisy among some prominent liberals. In a series of 11 profiles on leftist icons from Noam Chomsky and Al Franken to Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, Schweizer reveals that the most vocal liberals do not practice what they preach."

Love the book, chapter layout sucks.

I loved the content of this book and the reader was easy to listen to. My only beef was the chapter layout. It should have reflected the individual people cited. With only 5 chapters the stories would overlap the chapters. Chapter should have been named the individual people.

WOW!

Really interesting to hear because more than half of the people profiled are not the most well known cases. Kind of horrifying, as well, as these people are held high as role models by many because of what they say (and not because of what they do...).

It is about time

This is a great read. Peter Schweizer does a excellent job in exposing the leftist elite hypocrisy with multiple facts and details. It is about time someone has exposed the truth behind the facade. It would make a great Christmas gift to your conservative and especially liberal friends and family members.

An Eye Opener

This is a very enlightening book. It's very telling in regards to how politics can be such a game and how either side can really be controlled by the people with the most money and power rather than what is right and what is wrong. It also shows you how negative things that are often applicable to one party can be twisted by people in their attempts to apply them to another, which tells me that they are aware of their own guilt because they are so busy trying to direct it elsewhere rather than taking responsibility. I never liked Barbara Streisand, and I now have more reason not to like her and many other Hollywood stars who use their power and money to influence politicians and people rather than letting them decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. And I suppose it says something about the politicians and people who are persuaded to vote one way or another based on the opinions of any famous person rather than their own study of the facts.

Fantastic Listening

I throughly enjoyed this audio book.It made my 25 mile trip to work something I looked forward to for several days.I plan to listen to it again and again.