Comments on: Review: Game Change http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/2010/01/26/review-game-change/ A Year of Reading All of America'a Bestsellers Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:46:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: 10MillionWords: January Round-Up – 10 Million Words http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/2010/01/26/review-game-change/#comment-215 10MillionWords: January Round-Up – 10 Million Words Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:29:15 +0000 http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/?p=347#comment-215 [...] Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin [...] [...] Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin [...]

]]> By: David - Red Letter Believers http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/2010/01/26/review-game-change/#comment-195 David - Red Letter Believers Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:27:02 +0000 http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/?p=347#comment-195 The surprise of the book -- which really shouldnt be any surprise -- is that the public lives of politicians is very different thatn the private lives. While I read the book and shook my head, i did have to ask. "What if a similiar book was written about me?" So I shut up. :) David http://www.redletterbelievers.com "Salt and Light" The surprise of the book — which really shouldnt be any surprise — is that the public lives of politicians is very different thatn the private lives.

While I read the book and shook my head, i did have to ask. “What if a similiar book was written about me?”

So I shut up. :)
David
http://www.redletterbelievers.com
“Salt and Light”

]]> By: Tim Challies http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/2010/01/26/review-game-change/#comment-187 Tim Challies Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:23:08 +0000 http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/?p=347#comment-187 MW, I agree that anonymous sources do have their place. But when a book relies upon them entirely, and especially when dealing with a subject as charged as politics, it seems that they ought to do better. Obviously some of the facts are easily-verified, but the heart of the book is the inside access and all of that is completely unsubstantiated. Most of it rings true to character, but it still remains gossip as much as history. MW,

I agree that anonymous sources do have their place. But when a book relies upon them entirely, and especially when dealing with a subject as charged as politics, it seems that they ought to do better. Obviously some of the facts are easily-verified, but the heart of the book is the inside access and all of that is completely unsubstantiated. Most of it rings true to character, but it still remains gossip as much as history.

]]> By: mw http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/2010/01/26/review-game-change/#comment-186 mw Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:08:53 +0000 http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/10millionwords/?p=347#comment-186 I will say this, I have a friend who was in a car with McCain for 30 minutes during the campaign and he said he had never heard a man cuss so much in his life. I also wouldn't go as far as to call this book a tabloid. Anonymous sources are an integral, indispensable part of journalism, including an anonymous source who exposed Watergate. The key is journalistic ethics and over time somebody such as Jayson Blair will have many reports turn out untrue. Journalists have a large burden for their reports to turn out correct while tabloids have a much lower bar. So, I would think this book by two established journalists is mostly correct, even if almost none of it is on the record. I will say this, I have a friend who was in a car with McCain for 30 minutes during the campaign and he said he had never heard a man cuss so much in his life.

I also wouldn’t go as far as to call this book a tabloid. Anonymous sources are an integral, indispensable part of journalism, including an anonymous source who exposed Watergate. The key is journalistic ethics and over time somebody such as Jayson Blair will have many reports turn out untrue. Journalists have a large burden for their reports to turn out correct while tabloids have a much lower bar. So, I would think this book by two established journalists is mostly correct, even if almost none of it is on the record.

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