Here’s the foremost question underlying Greg Haas’ “The Butcher’s Thumb”: Does it work to excavate or exploit a wound still receptive to salt? Ten years after the 2000 elections, the country is still stuffed with Democrats and their supporters smarting, mutely, over Gore’s loss to Bush. Or, to put it bluntly, Bush’s theft of the election and the aftermath of his assuming the Presidency. The hows and whys of it, focused on a dysfunctional electoral system and dishonest tactics, have been the stuff of investigative and analytical efforts from numerous journalists like Greg Palast, and outright denial or indifference from Republicans. This makes the Butcher’s Thumb as much a hymn book for Democrats as “The Young Conservative’s Field Guide” serves the Republican choir. In this sense, Haas is merely whipping up the faithful into another froth, especially considering how superficially the book’s characters and events recall their real-world analogues. Vice President Webb, for examples, sneers a lot, which brings to mind the perpetually scowling visage of our real-world Mr. Cheney. And President William Kensington is every bit the deceptively goofy-go-lucky word-mangler cartoon that, fairly or not, has come to define the image of former President George W. Bush. Neither is portrayed in a way that gives us a sense of who they are, both as analogues and as characters in themselves. Similarly, the book’s versions of Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq are sketched only in the broadest strokes, diminishing their impact and, by extension, just how truly odious it is for the political and media machines to exploit them.
A subplot, involving a vengeful Russian spy and the leaked name of a CIA officer irritating the Kensington administration, doesn’t alleviate the impression that Haas and co-writer Robert Loss are content with the surface. The vestigial remnant of a sub-par Robert Ludlum book peppers the insider politics in a way that for the most part feels tacked on, until Hass ties it into the story of the Bush – I mean Kensington – administration’s spin machine. Even when putting the final tie on the box, however, plausibility gets a kick between the legs. Stolen elections, I can buy. A wheezing old wounded Russian snapping necks and engaging younger men in chases and fisticuffs? Not so much. But the purpose is clear, even when the prose isn’t or the alternate history speculation seems contrived: Drive home the personal damage that comes from glibly throwing national security under the bus of political expediency. Message received.
So the book oftentimes feels more like a crime reenactment from America’s Most Wanted rather than a high-level exposé of daggers beneath the cloak. One can credit Haas, in all fairness, for drawing attention to the cynicism and manipulation that accompanied Bush, Cheney and Rove insofar that, partisan pandering aside, the 2000 elections raised questions about the integrity of U.S. elections. For anyone not aware of the controversy, The Butcher’s Thumb is an entertaining introduction thanks to a protagonist who undergoes the classic quest for a conscience, in no small part thanks to the love of a good woman. Haas draws a gritty character portrait of a political campaigner who is at once unnerving, sympathetic and delivered with crisp writing. The seasoned political observer, however, isn’t likely to find any new insight or revelation beyond the entertainment value. At the least, while it may appeal to partisans, it doesn’t quite lead the way to solving the problems of media spin and politics. In that, perhaps, lies the answer to the question I asked earlier.
The Butcher’s Thumb, by Greg Haas with Robert Loss. Now available at Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com)
Mr. Sisa is Assistant Editor of thefrontpageonline.com
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