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"The most powerful political tool of the modern presidency is control of the message and the image. The Greeks called it 'rhetoric,' Gilded Age politicians called it 'publicity,' and some today might call it 'lying,' but spin is a built-in feature of American democracy. Presidents deploy it to engage, persuade, and mobilize the people--in whom power ultimately resides. Presidential historian David Greenberg recounts the development of the White House spin machine from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His sweeping narrative introduces us to the visionary advisers who taught politicians to manage the press, gauge public opinion, and master the successive new media of radio, television, and the Internet. We see Wilson pioneering the press conference, FDR scheming with his private pollsters, Reagan's aides hatching sound bites, and George W. Bush staging his extravagant photo-ops. We also see the past century's most provocative political critics, from H. L. Mencken to Stephen Colbert, grappling with the ambiguous role of spin in a democracy--its capacity for misleading but also for leading"--Provided by publisher

"This book is superb in every way.... [It] is the only book that attempts to put into perspective just what the possible relationship between praxis and Marxist criminology might (should) be." â€"Eleanor Miller, University of Wisconsin, MilwaukeeIn this expanded and updated second edition of a revered reader in Marxist criminology, editor David F. Greenberg brings together writings about crime that range from classic articles by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to a variety of contemporary essays. Taking an explicitly Marxist point of view, the articles deal with various aspects of crimin

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Partisan Groups as Objects of Identification -- 3 A Closer Look at Partisan Stability -- 4 Partisan Stability: Evidence from Aggregate Data -- 5 Partisan Stability and Voter Learning -- 6 Party Realignment in the American South -- 7 Partisan Stability outside the United States -- 8 How Partisan Attachments Structure Politics -- Appendix -- Notes -- References -- Index.

As Americans prepare to turn the page on Barack Obama's presidency, the rousing 2008 campaign that started it all is taking on a nostalgic glow. None of the contenders vying to succeed Obama has conjured anything like the fervor that he sparked seven years ago; his bolt-from-the-blue crusade seems even more extraordinary now than it did then. At the same time, the elusiveness of the post-partisanship he hoped to cultivate and the persistence of the racial conflict he vowed to transcend have left many supporters wistful or embittered.

Last September, when the presidential race was close, Barack Obama tried to quell a flap in the news media over
what he had intended as a routine jibe. "You can put lipstick on a pig," Obama had said of the claim that picking Sarah
Palin as his running-mate showed John McCain to be a reformer. "It's still a pig."
Barraged with accusations of sexism, Obama eventually took time out at a campaign stop to address the swelling
controversy. "They seize on an innocent remark," he fulminated, in apparent bewilderment, "try to take it out of context, throw out
an outrageous ad because they know it's catnip for the news media."

Examines the 2008 US presidential election campaign to shed light on the interest in negative campaigning. How negative campaigning worked against Hillary Clinton & to Barack Obama's favor during the Democratic primary season is described, along with how Republican candidate John McCain was also demonized for negativity against Obama during the general election. However, it is argued that the campaign was notable for the efforts that the candidates made to "uphold the norms of civility, or at least to pay them lip service." In this light, it is asserted that the current political climate -- & certain kinds of voters -- fetishizes negativity, which Obama used to his advantage; how this strategy worked against McCain, who exposed himself to it with his poor handling of the economic crisis & selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, is explained. Attention is then given to race as a factor framing the negative campaigning & Obama's response to what some saw as cloaked racism in his opponents' ads. Distaste for negativity is viewed as a rationalization, as much as a reason, for Obama's victory, because, it is contended, like it or not, voters use negativity to obtain information & refine their thinking on candidates & while the benefits of negative campaigning are often overlooked, its deleterious impact is likewise often exaggerated. In closing, whether Obama can live up to his promise is considered. D. Edelman. Adapted from the source document.

Supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for all their differences, have in the course of this emotional primary season come to view the Democratic Party's nominating process as seriously flawed. To be sure, Obama's enthusiasts would seem to have little reason to complain, while Clinton's own errors, tactical and strategic, wounded her at least as much as any kinks in the system. Yet, it became apparent this past spring that in such a tight race, with the candidates effectively tied, various procedural injustices that might otherwise be waved off—the length of the season, the (theoretical) king-making power of the superdelegates, the decisive influence of caucuses and open primaries, the effective disfranchisement of two elector-rich swing states—influenced and perhaps altered the race's outcome. Even if the candidates muster the obligatory shows of unity this summer, at this writing (May) it seems that the party will have to address the procedural pitfalls exposed this year.