cover image We're Still Right, They're Still Wrong: The Democrats' Case for 2016

We're Still Right, They're Still Wrong: The Democrats' Case for 2016

James Carville, with Ryan Jacobs. Blue Rider, $25 (282p) ISBN 978-0-399-57622-5

In this follow-up to We're Right, They're Wrong, a 1996 dissection of Republican policy, Carville makes a breezy, detailed, and well-supported case for the progressive positions he holds dear. Starting with the dedication to "Bill and Hillary Clinton," you know where Carville stands, and he is unapologetic in his bias. Biting and profane, he uses his folksy Cajun style to offer a point-by-point refutation of Republican shibboleths. He cites a credentialed expert to prove climate change is real and caused by humans. With statistics and graphs, he debunks supply-side economics, which he deems snake-oil or worse, and defends welfare. He praises taxing the wealthy to offset income inequality. Carville hammers away at what he considers myths, including deregulation and market solutions as cure-alls and the Affordable Care Act and environmental laws as economically destructive. Carville reserves his greatest vitriol for Donald Trump, calling him "a tangerine with the political leanings of Generalissimo Francisco Franco." Carville's trademark smart-aleck tone is pervasive, and the humor doesn't always work, particularly in the recipes and prescriptions sprinkled throughout. Even so, for liberally inclined readers looking to refute their conservative friends' arguments, these are the concise, thoughtful talking points they'll need. (Aug.)