Misstating the State of the Union reveals a simple truth that the media too often obscures: By every objective measure, the Clinton presidency was far better for America than the Bush presidency. Yet an army of conservative pundits have conspired to lie to the public about both the Clinton and Bush records, denying the proven success of progressive policies and leadership while shamelessly covering up abject conservative failures. This book dissects the conservative misinformation campaign to distort and discredit the progressive agenda point by point, while unmasking the dark ideological agenda and rank dishonesty behind all the cable TV and radio hot air.

From Rush Limbaugh’s claim that the federal government spends three times as much on education as defense (the truth: the government spends five times as much on defense as on education) to Sean Hannity’s dismissal of air quality concerns to Ann Coulter’s attacks on the elderly, this book clearly and concisely refutes many of the most dangerous right-wing lies in circulation in this political year, using sound logic, incontrovertible fact and illustrative charts and graphs.

Misstating the State of the Union is the first book produced by Media Matters Action Network, the advocacy organization associated with Media Matters for America ( www.mediamatters.org ), a new nonprofit web-based media research center in Washington, DC, that monitors, analyzes and corrects conservative misinformation in the US media.

David Brock, a writer in Washington, DC, is the author of The New York Times bestsellers Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative and The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. He has written for Esquire,
New York and the op-ed pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post. He appears regularly on television talk shows, and his work has been featured on Air America and National Public Radio. He is the founder of Media Matters for America.