The Skimmer
By Gilbert Cruz
Fleeced
By Dick Morris & Eileen McGann HarperCollins; 337 pages
The one-word-title, 30-word-subtitle book market appears to have been locked up by former Bill Clinton adviser Dick Morris and writing partner Eileen McGann. A follow-up to their 2007 best seller, Outrage--which detailed how lots of people and groups, from the U.N. to Big Tobacco, "are ripping us off"--Fleeced details how lots of people and groups "are scamming us." The guilty parties this time around include Barack Obama, lobbyists and teachers' unions. But while this pin-the-tail-on-the-grievance approach might make for a striking dust jacket, it results in a disjointed book. It's impossible to argue with some of Morris and McGann's targets. Duplicitous credit-card companies, housing-crisis profiteers and lobbyists working for shady foreign governments are all deserving of scorn. Yet there are more than a few straw men mixed in, not to mention an obsession with the travails of Bill Clinton. Nonetheless, Fleeced does manage to effectively tap into populist anger toward those in charge. Perhaps their next book should simply be titled Grrrr!
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