Good political satire is always difficult to pull off.
First, it has to be somewhat believable. Is there an element of truth involved with this or is it all goofy fun? Of course, it also has to be funny, and sometimes, "funny" is so subjective that it's nearly impossible to pull off.
Thanks to the Bush Administration's absurdities over the past seven years, political satire is a little easier to pull off. In fact, it seems like everyone is taking a jab at the President's follies. Unless you are of the Bill O'Reilly/Fox News political affiliation, you've probably had a good laugh at our great Commander in (mis)Chief Bush at some point in the last seven years.
The Revelations of George W. Bush by Volga X. is a sprawling, epic satire that has moments of pure comedy. Written like a "Top Secret" memo penned by Bush to clear up some of the questions surrounding his presidency, The Revelations of George W. Bush tries to cover everything that's disappointing about this administration, through the black and white worldview only Bush could pull off.
The book begins with an alternate vision of history: George W. Bush has declared martial law after a case of bird flu sweeps the nation, and his administration effectively quarantines the country. Citizens become terrorists bent on "regime change," and Bush goes point by point on how his administration will control American democracy. He calls out terrorists (pretty much anyone who is not Republican or Christian) and turns a Democratic controlled Congress into his personal hand puppets. The George W. Bush of Volga X.'s world also believes that God chose him to be president, faith-based health is the way forward (not sure what "faith-based health" actually is), and that "everything you've heard from the terrorist media is all wrong." It's a paranoid world of murky politics and bad policies. Sound familiar?
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