Book I: The Triumph of Evil
The book opens with a retelling of the aftermath of November 2, 2004, as all the major news stations claim that incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush—reelected with an historically narrow margin over his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, of less than 2.5 percentage points—won an "ideological mandate" in this election. Franken points to the previous low point for incumbent presidents' reelections, Woodrow Wilson's 3.2-point 1916 victory, juxtaposes them with the landslide reelection victories of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Richard Nixon in 1972, and Ronald Reagan in 1984, and counter-argues that Bush's margin of victory was nowhere close to these lopsided contests; further, Franken points out that Bush's margin was 6 points narrower than that of Bill Clinton in 1996 over Republican challenger Bob Dole, and that nobody considered that victory a "mandate".
Franken then enumerates the reasons he believes Bush won, as summarized in three rhyming words:
- Fear: He used the threat of terrorism to scare voters into believing John Kerry wouldn't be able to protect them;
- Smear: He misrepresented Kerry's record; and
- Queers: He turned gay marriage into a wedge issue.
Read more about this topic: The Truth (With Jokes)
Famous quotes containing the words triumph and/or evil:
“Coalitions though successful have always found this, that their triumph has been brief.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“If ever I did a man any good ... of course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am constantly doing by being what I am.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)