Game Change

I consume a lot of media. I am a degenerate Netflixer - My stats say I have rated 2,922 films. That is a whole lot of wasted life. On my coffee table is a stack of books I've been meaning to read - I've just never had the time.

It took me 11 months to figure it out, but I finally realized last month that I can read while riding the ol' stationary bike. As a result of this long-delayed (some might say painfully obvious) epiphany, I have read more books in 30 days than I did all of last year. Ninety minutes of dedicated reading: Nice.

Since I watch and read so much, I might as well post my thoughts on what I view and read. At the very least, it will serve as a record of how I allow terrible things to rip my life away.

But it's a great escape.

This afternoon I finished Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. My favorite books pull back the curtain on how things work - as you will see from the next two books I read. "Game Change" is a quick read detailing the inner workings of the two DEM and GOP campaigns in the 2008 election. There are some pretty salacious tidbits, mostly having to do with the behavior of the Clintons and the vapidity of Sarah Palin.

(If you already thought she was brain dead and hopelessly out of her league...you have NO IDEA.)

The best part is that the book humanizes politicians, allowing you to see them in a way their media handlers prefer never be made public. Excitingly, the final paragraph takes place at the Prince William Fairgrounds here in Manassas - where 90,000 people turned out to see Obama's final campaign speech before the election.

I give "Game Change" 3.5 Stump Speeches (out of 5).