100 People Who Are Screwing Up America

100 People Who Are Screwing Up America is a non-fiction

Non-fiction

Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...

book by Bernard Goldberg

Bernard Goldberg

Bernard Richard Goldberg , also known as Bernie Goldberg, is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning American writer, journalist, and political commentator...

that was published in 2005. The book's central idea is to name and blame a long list of specific individuals for making the United States a "far more selfish, vulgar, and cynical place."

Goldberg's book denounces many people, mostly left-of-center celebrities, politicians and newscasters and takes umbrage at high-profile incidents like Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson

Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...

exposing herself "in front of one-fifth of all the kids in America under age eleven" during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show

Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy

Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson's breast, adorned with a nipple shield, was exposed by Justin Timberlake for about half a...

(p. vi). It decries as "Hollywood blowhards" actors who call American politicians "Nazis

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

" while praising "dictators like Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

" (pp. vii-ix). Goldberg's chapter for Courtney Love

Courtney Love

Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...

is simply the word, "ho."

The book takes aim at "liberals [who are] snooty, snobby know-it-alls, who have gotten angrier and angrier in recent years and who think they're not only smarter, but also better, than everyone else, especially everyone else who lives in a 'red state' - a population they see as hopelessly dumb and pathetically religious" (p. x).

In 2006, Goldberg updated his book, releasing 110 People Who Are Screwing Up America.

Favorable

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Jacob Goldberg is an American conservative syndicated columnist and author. Goldberg is known for his contributions on politics and culture to , of which he is editor-at-large...

(no relation), editor of National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...

, said the following of the book: "Goldberg is no down-the-line conservative, and you are certain to disagree with some of his choices and rankings -- and probably also with his often salty language. Nevertheless, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America is a rollicking and revealing look at 100 of the most egregious obstacles on the path of our nation's return to glory."

A review by Brent Bozell, President of the conservative Media Research Center

Media Research Center

The Media Research Center is a content analysis organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1987 by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III...

, also offered praise for the book: "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America is out, and it's a wonderful read for anyone not on that list."

"It's easy to presume that this is the conservatives' answer to recent published tirades against the Right by leftists like Franken

Al Franken

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

and Michael Moore

Michael Moore

Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

, but there are important distinctions," wrote Bozell. "First, Goldberg doesn't limit the list to those on the Left. Jimmy Swaggart

Jimmy Swaggart

Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...

makes the list, as does Michael Savage

Michael Savage (commentator)

Michael Savage is a conservative American radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...

. Many in the religious Right will quarrel with his selection of Judge Roy Moore

Roy Moore

Roy Stewart Moore is an American jurist and Republican politician noted for his refusal, as the elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse despite orders to do so from a federal judge...

. All should applaud his choice of David Duke

David Duke

David Ernest Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan an American activist and writer, and former Republican Louisiana State Representative. He was also a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992, and in the Democratic presidential primaries in...

Unfavorable

In a review in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, Richard Brookhiser

Richard Brookhiser

Richard Brookhiser is an American journalist, biographer and historian. He is a senior editor at National Review. He is most widely known for a series of biographies of America's founders, including Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, and George Washington.-Life and career:Brookhiser was born...

wrote, "Such books are part of the puppet theater of modern political discourse" and that "any clever and combative person could write 80 percent of this book, or its mirror image, in a weekend." Brookhiser also questioned the legitimacy of the book's arguments, given that the successes of many in the list are made possible by the public. He rhetorically asked: "Shouldn't Goldberg's book be 270 Million People Who Are Screwing Up America?"

Conservative vs. liberal selections

Cathy Young

Cathy Young is a Russian American journalist and writer whose books and articles, as well as columns which appear in the libertarian monthly Reason, and also weekly in The Boston Globe, primarily espouse equality feminism and libertarianism.-Life and Career:Born in Moscow, the capital of what was...

, whom Goldberg praised in the book for her criticism of radical feminism

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

, has argued that the conservatives on Goldberg's list are either "safe" targets who are not powerful or influential in conservative circles, or "tokens" inserted to create the appearance that Goldberg is not being partisan. She suggests that discredited televangelist Jimmy Swaggart

Jimmy Swaggart

Jimmy Lee Swaggart is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast...

, for instance, is a "safe" alternative to Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson

Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who is politically aligned with the Christian Right in the United States....

, who is still a fixture on the Christian right. Responding to Goldberg's assertions that he is not taking political sides, Young questions why his criticisms of "haters" who "demonize" their opponents extends to multiple individuals on the left, but only a single conservative, talk radio host Michael Savage

Michael Savage (commentator)

. Young suggests that Ann Coulter

Ann Coulter

Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...

would belong on the list, but Goldberg only mentions her by way of making a favorable comparison to Savage. Young also suggests that Goldberg employs a double standard in defending Coulter because she offers invective "with a twinkle in her eye" while simultaneously dismissing the notion that some of Al Franken's statements should be taken less seriously because he is engaging in satire.

Factual inaccuracies regarding rap music

Goldberg received criticism of his inclusion of rappers in the book. The book attributes the creation of gangsta rap

Gangsta rap

Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...

to the record label Interscope Records

Interscope Records

Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...

; gangsta rap had been around commercially for at least six years prior to any involvement from the record label. Artists such as Ice-T

ICE-T

* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...

and N.W.A.

N.W.A.

N.W.A was an American hip hop group from Compton, California, widely considered one of the seminal acts of the gangsta rap sub-genre....

both had platinum selling success as gangsta rap artists before the founding of Interscope. The book claims that Interscope Records was entirely funded by Ted Field

Ted Field

Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field is an American media mogul and entrepreneur and film producer.-Biography:Field was born in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, the son of Katherine Woodruff Fanning, an editor of the Christian Science Monitor, and Marshall Field IV, who owned the Chicago Sun-Times. He is...

, when it was actually to a large extent — as much as 50% — funded by Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

Jon Stewart criticism

On July 13, 2005, Goldberg appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote the book. Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...

criticized the list for suggesting that liberals who do not hold positions of power, such as Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

, were responsible for problems in America, while conservatives who held powerful positions in the Bush Administration

George W. Bush administration

The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...

or Republican Congress were not held responsible for anything. Goldberg agreed that the list included more liberals than conservatives but responded that his book dealt with cultural issues. Stewart also argued that the book focused on a "culture war

Culture war

The culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal...

" he sees as largely "fabricated," and that declining rates of homicide and teen drug use suggest that, in fact, American culture is not as troubled as Goldberg suggests. Stewart argued that people who "say a bad word on television" don't affect people's lives, while government officials do. "I wish smart guys like you spent less time worrying about Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand

and more time worrying about Richard Perle

Richard Perle

Richard Norman Perle is an American political advisor, consultant, and lobbyist who began his career in government, a senior staff member to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970’s...

or Karl Rove

Karl Rove

Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...

, or whoever the Democrats had in those positions during the Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

years," Stewart said. Goldberg argued in response that the culture is important and that he intended the book to raise the public discourse because many of the people on his list had turned public debate into bickering and name-calling.

Responses

Some of those included on the list have responded to the book humorously. Cartoonists Jeff Danziger

Jeff Danziger

Jeff Danziger is a syndicated political cartoonist and author.Danziger served in the United States Army from 1967 until 1971. An intelligence officer and linguist during the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Air Medal in 1970...

and Ted Rall

Ted Rall

Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...

both said it was "an honor" to be included on the list, with the latter adding "Not only am I grouped with many people whom I admire for their achievements and patriotism, I'm being demonized by McCarthyite thugs I despise." Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

Todd Goldman

Todd Harris Goldman is an American entrepreneur and the founder of David and Goliath, a merchandise company that produces clothing, posters and other merchandise featuring a variety of slogans based on older designs. According to the Wall Street Journal, the sales volume of David and Goliath was 90...

quipped that he "hope[s] to be ranked higher next year."

Goldberg's book prompted a response from Jack Huberman, who wrote 101 People Who Are Really Screwing America (and Bernard Goldberg is Only #73)
101 People Who Are Really Screwing America
101 People Who Are Really Screwing America is a non-fiction book by Jack Huberman. It was published in 2006 by Nation Books. The book is a liberal response to Bernard Goldberg's book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, and includes criticism of Republican politicians including George W. Bush,...

.

Matt Kunitz

Matt Kunitz

Matt Kunitz is a television executive producer known for his work on reality television programming. In July 2008, the Los Angeles Times dubbed Kunitz "The King of Reality TV." Kunitz is currently the executive producer on Wipeout, a stunt based competition reality game show he created for...

(Executive Producer of Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...

and #69 in Goldberg's book) told the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

, "I look at my company; I think Michael Moore was No 1. I don't mind being in that group of people."

Ten new entries were added in Goldberg's 2006 update, 110 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Among these were the white nationalist band Prussian Blue

Prussian Blue (duo)

Prussian Blue was a white nationalist pop pre-teen duo formed in early 2003 by the mother of Lynx Vaughan Gaede and Lamb Lennon Gaede, sororal twin girls born on June 30, 1992, in Bakersfield, California...

, anti-homosexual preacher Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps

Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. is an American pastor heading the Westboro Baptist Church , an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas...

, spam

Spam (electronic)

Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...

mailer Jeremy Jaynes

Jeremy Jaynes

Jeremy Jaynes was a prolific e-mail spammer, broadcasting junk e-mail from his home in North Carolina, United States. He became the first person in the world to be convicted of "felony spam," i.e., convicted of a felony for sending spam without allegation of any accompanying illegal conduct such...

, former United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

and lawyer/activist Ramsey Clark

Ramsey Clark

William Ramsey Clark is an American lawyer, activist and former public official. He worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, which included service as United States Attorney General from 1967 to 1969, under President Lyndon B. Johnson...

, and several Supreme Court Justices.

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the former Republic of Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before...

responded to her inclusion on the list in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She joked about the inclusion and said that she was proud to be on the list with people such as Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

.

The book was referenced in the manifesto of Jim David Adkisson, the gunman who killed two people and wounded seven others in the Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting

Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting

On July 27, 2008, a politically motivated fatal shooting took place at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

External links

Sample and audio excerpt (Official publisher web page)
Interview with the author

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