Harry Shearer's It's the Stupidity, Stupid

In keeping with my roll of Simpsons' related posts, I'll review Shearer's somewhat outdated book, published in 1999.

Shearer spends 94 pages on "Why (some) people hate Clinton and why the rest of us have to watch." That might seem like a lot but it's full of lists, tangents, and other bits that Shearer admits is just filler. Sometimes the filler is better than the main point but it is like reading a Freshman English essay by a student desperate to reach a required word count.

Shearer concludes that Clinton's stance on racism and feminism is what outrages his foes. Somehow I doubt if that's what set off Noam Chomsky. There's no mention at all of the Sudan bombing which, in an even somewhat sensible world, would be the gist of Clinton-hatred.

I've heard Clinton apologists say that he only bombed Sudan to divert attention from the impeachment hearings. I'm not sure if that's much of an excuse. "I only killed those people because some prudes were bugging me about a blow job."

Shearer's a funny guy and the book is enjoyable but it comes off as hollow. It's like trying to answer why people hate Hitler and focusing on his dopey mustache and leaving out the Holocaust.