Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants: The Looting of the News in a Time of Terror »

James Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and has written for the New Republic, the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and the London Review of Books. He lives in New York City.

Beware the attack poodles-like a mutant invasion, they have taken control of America's airwaves and newspapers. Trained to spring at any foe of their radical conservative agenda, these Republican lap dogs dominate the mass media by scoring points with their masters in the White House inner circle, while simultaneously using the sorcerer's art of punditry to advance their conservative point of view. And, as James Wolcott reminds us in this blistering indictment of their bully tactics, the great canine horde has hijacked the country's media, bringing not just the tradition of an independent press, but the entire American way of democracy, to its knees. The attack poodles are at war, and they won't rest until they banish dissent in any form.

But there is hope for the rebel forces in Bushistan. With breathtaking clarity and savage wit, Wolcott has turned the tables on the punditocracy, revealing the foibles and hypocrisies of this particularly pompous breed, as well as the ignorance and arrogance of the administration it aims to protect. Targeting the big dogs in the poodle parlor-Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Robert Novak, Dennis Miller, Peggy Noonan, and dozens more-his critique is an invaluable lesson in right-wing media manipulation. He dissects the attack poodles' penchant for simplistic combativeness and their muzzling of the media for George Bush during a time of war.

With the boldness and insight that readers of Wolcott's media column in Vanity Fair have come to love, Wolcott demystifies the poodles' strategies as he points out where they are most vulnerable to attack.

"I have never been a doctrinaire lefty or righty," Wolcott writes in his author's note. "I was looking for a cause. But I can't stand bullies, and I can't stand cowardly deceivers; and in the Bush Administration and the conservative media we have the worst of both of them combined. We can't wait around for them to fall of their own dead weight, because it could be us they fall on."

This book brings an arsenal of hope just when we need it most. In James Wolcott, the attack poodles have been given something they truly deserve: a worthy opponent.

The New York Times - Jacob Weisberg

Attack Poodles is irresistible political entertainment from and for the left. It is a true sadistic pleasure to watch Wolcott exact revenge for the hours he has wasted watching the likes of Joe Scarborough, Michael Savage and Chris Matthews. A skilled hit man, Wolcott sharpens his instruments and takes his time in setting up a kill.