Who is in Bernard Goldberg's 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America? And Why?
by Philip Dhingra, August 8th 2005


Buy the book on Amazon


Book Synopsis

100 People Who Are Screwing Up America was written by Bernard Goldberg. He wrote bestsellers Bias and Arrogance (both books about media bias). He also used to be a senior correspondent on the CBS program 48 Hours.

The book is a conservative's distaste for modern American values. The emphasis is on blaming influential individuals. If you are unsure what a "conservative" is, please take the World's Smallest Political Quiz (being on the "right" means being a conservative, "left" means liberal).

Please note, this is just my interpretation of Bernard Goldberg's perspective, not my own opinions. If you have any questions, comments, or complaints, email me.

The List

(Note: Goldberg marks some people as Pioneers. Pioneers primarily screwed up America in the past and have influenced others to follow.)

1. Michael Moore (director of the Bush-bashing Fahrenheit 9/11)
Goldberg just includes this, "'They are possibly the dumbest people on the planet. . . .', Michael Moore, speaking of his fellow Americans." Michael Moore's popular films and supporters are too hateful of America that he doesn't deserve to be talked about.

2. Arthur Sulzberger (publisher of The New York Times)
The New York Times is the ultimate symbol of liberal media bias, with articles slanted to favor Democrats, racial preferences, gay marriages, and feminism. Goldberg blames Arthur's personal agenda for the Times's bias, as he quotes Arthur: "If white men were not complaining, it would be an indication we weren't succeeding and making the inroads that we are."

3. Ted Kennedy (Democrat Senator from Mass., JFK's youngest brother)
Ted Kennedy has gained the reputation for being the "conscience" of the Democratic Party, and yet how can he have a conscience if he was against the Iraq War? Also, Ted Kennedy is known for strong, booming displays of moral indignation, which are hypocritical given his personal indiscretions (see Chappaquiddick). He and other Democrats abuse a veil of conscience.

4. Rev. Jesse Jackson (African-Amercian leader, orator, civil rights activist)
The civil rights movement once was noble and had leaders such as Martin Luther King who spoke with decency. The movement has now transitioned into a tool for blaming others for the ills of African-Americans, and Jesse Jackson is at the head of that movement. While he is a great orator, his focus is on provocation. Pioneer.

5. Anthony Romero (Executive Director ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union))
Since 9/11, ACLU has been principled about things like preventing the government from reading our library check-out records or in voicing complaints that airport security checks may unfairly target Muslims. Goldberg believes the ACLU should not be so absolutist given the current climate. Also, the ACLU, while normally a good organization, has in recent times fought for petty causes: banning the practice in public schools of holding a moment of silence because of its religious connotations; suing the Boy Scouts for holding meetings in a city park on the grounds that it is a religious organization; urging Los Angeles to remove a cross from its seal; arguing that doctors shouldn't tell wives that their husbands have AIDS; and arguing on behalf of the National Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) despite a case where someone read materials on NAMBLA's website and then kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and finally killed a ten-year-old boy.

6. Jimmy Carter (US Pres. 1976-1980)
Jimmy Carter, who had a lackluster presidency, is getting improper credit for being a champion of human rights. Carter has praised the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, North Korea's Kim Il Sung, and other leaders who have had bad records on human rights. He was also in Venezuela, supposedly monitoring its elections, but when discrepancies arose and protests were formed, Carter left the country and said everything was good. He then claimed that Florida's election practices were not sound.

7. Margaret Marshall (Chief Justice of the Mass. Supreme Court)
American opinion polls show a majority not in favor of marriage between homosexuals, and yet Marshall decided to author a 4-3 decision in favor of legalizing it in Massachusetts. This overturns an age-old tradition of marriage being an exclusive sacrament between males and females. The decision has consequences for the rest of America as marriages in Massachusetts may have to be recognized when gay couples visit other states. Marshall is an example of an activist judge, and she has displayed her bias in public by speaking to the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Bar Association giving them legal tips.

8. Paul Krugman (economist, columnist for NY Times)
Goldberg is unable to find a quote of Krugman's that is hysterical or extreme, so Krugman's flaw is that he consistently argues against Bush's policies without sounding foolish.

9. Jonathan Kozol (nonfiction writer)
Kozol has lectured for decades on public education standards, specifically promoting the idea that children should become critics of America. He views the education system as brainwashing, and that children should be counter-brainwashed by being skeptical of authority. Ironically, Kozol draws much of his inspiration from the educational systems of Cuba and China. Pioneer.

10. Ralph Neas (President and CEO of People for the American Way)
Neas tries to demonize the Boy Scouts because of their supposed conservative agenda. He also has worked against the nomination of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. One particularly troubling case, according to Goldberg, is his attack on judge Charles Pickering. Pickering has adjudicated fairly on a couple of civil rights case, yet Neas has slammed him on civil rights. In addition, other Democrat party members repeat Neas's talking points and respect him.

11. Noam Chomsky (MIT professor of linguistics)
While he is the most-cited living author, or the "most important intellectual" according to the New York Times, Chomsky hates America. He describes the Cold War as the United States's continuation of the Nazi agenda, and he frequently points to more extreme cases of terrorism done by the US than what happened on 9/11. Chomsky is the epitome of the anti-American intellectual.

12. Dan Rather (former anchor for CBS Evening News)
Dan Rather anchored a story claiming that Bush's National Guard service during the Vietnam War wasn't fulfilled in full, yet in the previous month, Dan Rather claimed that it doesn't matter what John Kerry did during Vietnam. It was also later revealed that Rather's evidence against Bush was forged. Dan Rather wanted to believe the evidence so he could slam Bush. He has bias, and either he doesn't know it or he won't admit it.

13. Andrew Heyward (Pres. of CBS News)
Heyward, with whom Goldberg had worked for at CBS, is not owning up to the phony Bush story (see next), and instead of resigning, his nearby subordinates have all had to leave.

14. Mary Mapes (former producer for CBS's 60 minutes)
Mapes aired a story based on phony documentation that George W. Bush dodged National Guard service. When doubts were revealed about the evidence, Mapes was insistent about its authenticity. Those close to Mapes say she went into journalism with an activist's mindset. Supposedly she has worked on the Bush story for five years, revealing her fanatical obsession against Bush.

15. Ted Rall (cartoonist)
Rall's cartoons appear in 140 newspapers, but are extremely cruel in their commentary. When Pat Tillman, the NFL pro who joined the Army, was killed and then treated like a hero, Rall printed in a cartoon depicting Tillman as saying, "Never mind the fine print, Will I get to kill Arabs?" Rall's public comments also describe the United States as a modern-day Third Reich or Stalinist Russia.

16. John Edwards (former Senator from North Carolina, John Kerry's running mate, trial lawyer)
John Edwards first made big bucks winning a case that used more emotion than science against a doctor who waited too long to perform a cesarean, leaving a baby with cerebral palsy. Edwards told the jury that the child "speaks to you through me. And I have to tell you right now—I didn't plan to talk about this—right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you." John Edwards and trial lawyers pursue malpractice lawsuits like a treasure hunt, and it creates an environment of fear for doctors. He also said that people like Christopher Reeve would be able to walk if America had elected John Kerry.

17. Al Sharpton (African-Amercian leader, orator, civil rights activist)
Sharpton is inconsistent in his support for civil rights, for example by praising and standing on the same stage as Khalid Muhammad, best known for "gay-bashing, Jew-hating, anti-Catholic tirades." Sharpton didn't apologize for supporting a black woman's fake gang rape charge (Tawana Brawley). He also excited racial tensions over an eviction dispute between a black-owned record store and its Jewish landlord. What first followed were protests, but then afterwards eight people were killed in a shooting and burning of the store (Freddy's).

18. Al Gore (Vice-president 1992-2000)
Al Gore is as unprincipled and pandering a Democrat politician as any. He spoke passionately about how his sister died from smoking, but a few years before that he was throwing praise on tobacco. Also, when asked if it would be okay to execute a pregnant woman, he didn't give a straight answer, showing how he tries too hard to appease his pro-abortion constituency. He is now a loud and scary Bush-hater.

19. George Soros (billionaire speculator on currencies)
Because he is rich and an important financier for Democrats, people listen to Soro's comparisons of Bush to Nazis. Soros claims that being from Hungary during Nazi and Soviet rule has sensitized him to Nazi-like and Soviet-like practices.

20. Howard Dean (Chairman of Democratic National Committee)
Throughout his campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination, and now during his chairmanship, Dean has maintained a rambunctious and angry attitude toward Republicans. In spite of his anger, Democrats rally around him, furthering divisiveness in politics.

21. Judge Roy Moore (former Alabama Chief Justice)
Moore was removed as a justice for disobeying an order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building. His defiance tarnishes the reputation of conservatives who have maintained that judges should not partake in activism or loose interpretations of the law.

22. Michael Newdow (atheism activist)
Newdow got a court to make it illegal to say the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Newdow—and other aggrieved minorities—get over-offended by minor insults and then push the rest of the country to change. The whole spectacle only weakened the movement for tolerance as it put their pettiness on display.

23. The Unknown American Terrorist
Members of the Earth Liberation Front have torched luxury homes, SUVs, and a ski resort, costing Americans millions of dollars in damages. Their goal is to protect the environment through destroying property. Their activities are similar to that of terrorists, as they operate like a loose-network of cells.

24. Lee Bollinger (Pres. Columbia University in NYC)
When he was president of the University of Michigan, Bollinger went to court defending their practice of admitting less-qualified applicants because they were minorities. According to Goldberg, Bollinger is fighting the wrong battle; instead he should be giving children from poorer backgrounds a boost.

25. James Kopp (convict)
Kopp justifies murdering an abortion practitioner in the context that he saved the lives of countless unaborted children. He should not play God.

26. Dr. Martin Haskell (physician who pioneered "partial-birth" abortions)
Haskell's "dilation and extraction" procedure involves the use of scissors and the crushing of fetal skulls in order to perform abortions. He has personally performed this reviling procedure thousands of times, and he is a stand-in for all of his supporters. Pioneer.

27. Paul Begala (political commentator for CNN, adviser to Bill Clinton)
Begala has frequently smeared Republicans, in one poignant case by listing out extreme examples of bigotry and violence done by residents of Republican-voting states. Examples include the Oklahoma City bombings, the lynching of African-American James Byrd, and the killing of homosexual Matthew Shepard.

28. Julian Bond (Chairman of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People))
Julian Bond, the leader of what was once a respectable civil rights group, is now an extremist, using his organization to damage Republicans. In one case, Julian Bond referred to Republicans and their love for the "Confederate swastika."

29. John Green (angry basketball fan)
Green started a fight at a basketball game by throwing a beer can at an NBA player. Not only that, Green went around like a victim complaining when his season tickets were revoked. Green represents people who feel entitled to get mad and cuss at sport events, including at Little League games.

30. Latrell Sprewell (basketball player for Minnesota Timberwolves)
Sprewell's arrogant comments in public show just how spoiled some professional athletes have become. When referring to his basketball team, the Timberwolves, he said, "Why would I want to help them win a title? They're not doing anything for me."

31. Maury Povich (TV Talk show host)
Maury, with his self-titled show, creates segments that glorify and sensationalize trashy American behavior. Examples include "mothers who have sex with their daughter's boyfriends" or a show about mothers who let their infants become really fat.

32. Jerry Springer (TV Talk show host)
Springer helped pioneer the nasty television talk show genre. He and Povich are rottening American culture. Pioneer.

33. Bob Shrum (political consultant, speechwriter)
Shrum has been behind six losing Democrat presidential campaigns. His trademark is in getting candidates to pit the "middle class" against the "rich" while trying to get the benefits of being a "populist." He also accuses his opponents of racism.

34. Bill Moyers (journalist and commentator for PBS)
His public comments claim that conservatives want to rape the United States and that they hate poor people because they're black.

35. Jeff Danziger (political cartoonist)
Danzinger made a cartoon depicting Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice as a ignorant black maid for helping the Administration make its case for the Iraq War. Danzinger and other liberals are unfairly allowed to use racist imagery as long as its aimed against conservatives.

36. Nancy Hopkins (MIT biologist)
Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, proposed at a conference that there might be innate differences between the sexes and their abilities to do math. Upon hearing this, Nancy Hopkins stalked out. Subsequently many papers ran columns criticizing Summers and eventually Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a resolution stating their lack of confidence in Summers's leadership. Nancy Hopkins and other feminists are too sensitive to minor suggestions about differences between the sexes.

37. Al Franken (comedian and political commentator)
Al Franken goes under the guise of "satire" in order to make random and childish accusations. In an interview Goldberg had with Franken, Franken sounds like an idiot by randomly yelling the word "Liar."

38. Jim McDermott (Democrat Representative from Washington)
While he was in Iraq right before the start of the Iraq War, McDermott claimed that the United States cannot be trusted, but that Saddam Hussein's claims to the United Nations should be taken at face value.

39. Peter Singer (Princeton philosopher of bioethics)
Singer holds the view that "killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often it is not wrong at all." In addition, his views permit euthanasia in some cases. What makes Singer dangerous is that he is one of the most influential and respected philosophers of our time.

40. Scott Harshbarger (Mass. Attorney General)
Harshbarger built a child-abuse case against a day-care center's owners using solely testimony from forty children. Upon investigation by the show 20/20, the testimonies appear forced by Harshbarger. Harshbarger was relentless in keeping the accused behind bars, and he remains as a force in the general climate of child-abuse hysteria.

41. Susan Beresford (Pres. of Ford Foundation)
The Ford Foundation (once-related to the Ford Motor Company) doles out roughly one billion dollars a year to groups including anti-war, anti-Israel, and pro-Mexican immigration groups. Universities that apply to the Foundation for grants are required to include a "diversity table" with lists of nonwhites and women members.

42. Gloria Steinem (feminist, journalist, founder of Ms. magazine)
As a founder for the National Women's Political Caucus and Ms. magazine, Steinmem has done much to help women from being overrun by powerful men. However, she is a hypocrite for excusing Bill Clinton's sexual harassment of Paula Jones and Kathleen Wiley. Pioneer.

43. Paul Eibeler (CEO of Take-Two Interactive Software)
Eibeler's company produces the bestselling Grand Theft Auto, a video game that simulates the killing of gays, cops, blacks, and hookers. His company is being sued for inspiring an eighteen-year old to killing three people (two of which were police officers). Goldberg doesn't believe in censorship, but he is sick of capitalists who will willingly ruin our culture to make money.

44. Dennis Kozlowski (former CEO of Tyco)
Dennis represents two major vices of corporate execs: greed and lack of shame. His company is a conglomerate that acquires little companies and streamlines them by shutting down plants and firing employees. In the meantime, Dennis has been abusing company funds for personal expenses and free loans to friends. In one poignant case, Dennis threw an erotic, multimillion dollar birthday party in the Mediterranean Sea that he billed partially as a "business expense." He is currently on trial for stealing money from Tyco.

45. Ken Lay (former CEO of Enron)
Enron's executives played with their accounting books in order to fraudulently generate millions of dollars from 1996 to 2001. Company executives got bonuses throughout the boom, but when they got caught, Ken Lay pretended to be unaware of all the actions of his subordinates. Twenty-thousand employees have lost their jobs and have had their pension plans in limbo ever since.

46. Barbara Walters (media personality, former news anchor)
While Walters has interviewed some of the biggest movers and shakers in the world for decades, she is doing more harm to journalism by also interviewing celebrities and asking dumb questions. i.e. She once asked Katherine Hepburn, "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" Pioneer.

47. Maxine Waters (Democrat representative from Los Angeles)
Waters, an influential Democrat, is obsessed with race. She once referred to the Los Angeles Rodney King riots as a "rebellion . . . a spontaneous reaction to a lot of injustice and a lot of alienation and frustration." She has also accused the CIA of promoting drugs in inner-cities.

48. Robert Byrd (West Virginia Democrat Senator, oratorical master)
Robert Byrd, a former recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan, has been given powerful positions in the Democrat party such as Majority leader. The Democrats are supposed to be the party for civil rights, and yet Byrd has fought against civil rights legislations, against the appointments of Clarence Thomas and Thurgood Marshall (two black supreme court justices), and against George W. Bush's appointment of some black judicial and cabinet nominees.

49. Ingrid Newkirk (co-founder and president of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals))
Newkirk is a radical leader for animals rights, at one point comparing the killing of animals to the Holocaust. PETA also pushed a company to stop donations for the March of Dimes (a charity for children's health research) because it does some animal experimentation.

50. John Vasconcellos (Calif. State Senator)
Vasconcellos worked with California schools to pioneer the doctrine of "self-esteem," wherein underperforming children should still receive praise. Children are also encouraged to make self-affirming statements such as "I am beautiful" or "I am ______" (fill in any positive adjective). This doctrine makes Goldberg uneasy because of its New Age rhetoric. Plus, while self-esteem indoctrination has spread to the rest of the country, education in America hasn't improved. Pioneer.

51. Ann Pelo (teacher, writer)
Pelo once told children that the Blue Angels stunt jet fighters are normally evil bombers, and that they are now just doing fancy tricks because they have nothing to do. She then encouraged children to express their hate of the Blue Angels in drawings. Pelo's book, That's Not Fair!: A Teacher's Guide to Activism with Young Children, has become popular among educators.

52. Markos Moulitsas (blogger)
Markos's dailyKos is possibly the busiest political site on the Internet, but it's also a center for pessimism and defeatism toward the United States. The site purports all bad news as proof that Bush's presidency is not working, and it spins any good news into bad news. Markos is also crude, as he expressed his lack of sympathies for four American contractors who were shot, dragged, and hanged in the Iraq War: "They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them."

53. Anna Nicole Smith (model, TV personality)
She is now famous for her self-titled, tacky "reality TV" show, which takes the personal trash of her daily life and turns it into programming. She is part of a movement that Goldberg calls the "Vulgarization of the Personal."

54. Neal Shapiro (president of NBC News)
Neal Shapiro is selling out journalism by using the news show Dateline to promote background material for NBC's entertainment shows such as The Apprentice, Fraiser, and Friends.

55. David Westin (ABC News President)
He is partly responsible for blurring the lines between entertainment and news by putting fake journalists on air (see next entry).

56. Diane Sawyer (co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America, journalist)
How can Diane Sawyer claim the title of journalist, when she does a shallow interview with Britney Spears? Sawyer doesn't even pressure Spears hard enough about one of her songs that involves masturbation.

57. Ted Field (billionaire media mogul)
By funding Interscope—a record company with such acts as Eminem, Tupac Shakur, and Snoop Dogg—Ted Field has helped spread rap music. Goldberg believes that rap music is cultural pollution for its advocacy of anti-social behavior and violence. Pioneer.

58. Eminem (rapper, actor)
It is sad that Eminem is an icon for millions, especially young people, since his lyrics advocate violence against women.

59. Shirley Franklin (Democrat mayor of Atlanta)
She made an official proclamation honoring rapper Ludacris for donating to charities. Goldberg thinks that Shirley and the black establishment should not be lenient on rappers.

60. Ludacris (rapper)
Like all rappers, Ludacris popularizes ignorance and anti-social behavior.

61. Michael Savage (radio talk show host)
Michael has given conservatives a bad name by making cruel personal attacks. In an incident that got him fired from MSNBC, he told a caller, "Oh, you're one of those sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that?"

62. Howard Stern (radio talk show host)
Howard Stern's popular radio show makes fun of retarded people. His show also involves pornographic scenes that are usually performed on the Stern set and are then recounted live on public radio. He has also become a representative for First Amendment rights, but not because of any provocative political commentary. Rather, Stern is fighting for the right to make auditory pollution.

63. Amy Richards (feminist)
Amy Richards wrote a column in the New York Times magazine belaboring the details of her special abortion. When she discovered she was going to have triplets, she requested the twins be killed so as not to interrupt her busy schedule.

64. James Wolcott (columnist for Vanity Fair, blogger)
Wolcott hates America because it re-elected Bush in 2004.

65. Oliver Stone (film director)
Stone twisted facts in JFK (1991) to imply that the CIA, FBI, and Armed Forces conspired to assassinate Kennedy. Another one of Stone's films Nixon (1995) puts words into historical figures' mouths in order to demonize the United States government. His anti-American films unfortunately get misconstrued as truths by the public.

66. David Duke (former leader of the Ku Klux Klan)
David Duke claims the Holocaust is blown out of proportion and that 9/11 was retribution against American Jews who've supported the advancement of Israel. He was also a former Louisiana State representative and has run for US President twice.

67. Randall Robinson (African-American political leader)
Randall is a major proponent of slavery reparations, saying the United States owes compensation to the descendants of African-American slaves. Randall's argument is that Holocaust victims and interned Japanese-Americans received compensation. Goldberg wants Randall and black America to abandon victimization, especially since slavery was a long time ago.

68. Katherine Hanson (English professor at North Michigan University)
Katherine led the Women's Educational Equity Act Publishing Center, using tax-payer money to urge teachers to ask boys to discuss their feelings before engaging in games such as tag. She is also a hysterical feminist, as she has published these statistics: "1) Every year nearly 4 million women are beaten to death in the United States. 2) Violence is the leading cause of death among women." (heart disease causes 100 times more deaths)

69. Matt Kunitz (executive director of FOX's Fear Factor)
His Fear Factor program is ruining culture by entertaining millions of Americans with scenes of humans eating insects and cow intestines.

70. Jimmy Swaggart (Christian preacher, television evangelist)
Swaggart goes too far in his criticism of homosexuality by mentioning in a sermon that he would kill gay men. These kind of statements weaken the support for moderate criticism on homosexuality.

71. Phil Donahue (TV talk show host)
Donahue "Launched TV's first modern television talk show in 1967" by characteristically dashing into the audience to grab commentary from ordinary people. Donahue has had too much of an influence on TV to be forgiven for his relativist comparisons of the US to Communist Russia, and for his support of radical feminism and gay activism. Pioneer.

72. Ward Churchill (professor of ethnic studies in the University of Colorado at Boulder)
He wrote that Americans got what they deserved during 9/11, going so far as to call the World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," a reference to an architect of the Nazi Holocaust. The concern is not so much his incendiary comments, but rather the academic community that gives extremists like him tenure.

73. Barbara Kingsolver (novelist)
In an op-ed she re-tells how she reluctantly let her daughter wear red-white-and-blue after 9/11 because, "the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism, homophobia . . . Who are we calling terrorists here?"

74. Katha Politt (feminist, columnist for The Nation)
Katha's crime is hating America by telling her daughter not to fly the flag after 9/11 as it stands for "jingoism and vengeance and war."

75. Eric Foner (History professor at Columbia University in NYC, former president of the American Historical Association)
Foner and other history-writers should not be so politically biased or extreme. A quote of Foner reveals his radicalism: "I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White House."

76. Barbara Foley (English professor, Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey)
After the 9/11 attacks, she posted a message on the Internet for her students proposing a theory that 9/11 was the result of American fascism. Barbara, according to Goldberg, is indicative of a larger group of teachers pushing a liberal spin on students, claiming that 9/11 was somehow our fault.

77. Linda Hirshman (feminist, philosopher)
On CBS's 60 Minutes, Linda Hirshman criticizes young, well-educated women who leave prestigious jobs to raise children as leading worse lives. She also bolsters her criticism by mentioning that she is a philosopher—proof of just how arrogant feminism is.

78. Norman Mailer (writer)
The influential writer Norman Mailer, should be ashamed for lobbying to release murderer-turned-writer Jack Henry Abbott. After Henry Abbott was paroled, he went out and killed once more, to which Norman Mailer was still lenient. According to Norman Mailer, Henry Abbott is a writer first, murderer second.

79. Harry Belafonte (entertainer, human rights activist, made "Day-O" song famous)
Belafonte criticized African-American former Secretary of State Colin Powell as kissing-up to Bush and the white establishment. Why can't blacks be conservative?

80. Kitty Kelley (investigative journalist, author)
Kelley has made millions turning political gossip into bestsellers, first alleging that First Lady Nancy Reagan cheated on her husband, then claiming that First Lady Laura Bush dealt marijuana in college. Her innuendos gained initial credence in the media and still carry some popularity despite being falsified.

81. Tim Robbins (actor)
Robbins is a vocal anti-war protester, and he has made claims that al Qaeda fundamentalism is similar to fundamentalism in the US government. He also says he's about peace, but he's also mean to people.

82. Laurie David (Hollywood environmentalist, wife of Larry David)
Laurie, like a lot of other rich Hollywood types, gets in people's faces about driving gas-guzzling SUVs, but then she indulges in environmentally-damaging lavishness. In Laurie's case, she flies private Gulfstream jets and lives in a energetically-expensive mansion.

83. The Dumb and Vicious Celebrity (ex: Linda Ronstadt, Martin Sheen, David Clennon, Janeane Garofolo)
Celebrities draw undue attention to stupid things they say, such as Garofolo saying, "a gay naked man or woman burning the flag [gives me] pride."

84. The Vicious Celebrity (ex: Alec Baldwin, Wallace Shawn, Sean Penn, Janeane Garofolo)
Celebrities get away with extreme statements such as Sean Penn saying that President Reagan's Alzheimer's is karma.

85. The Dumb Celebrity (ex: Cameron Diaz, Fred Durst, Kate Hudson, Janeane Garofolo)
Celebrities get attention for their political statements because they are famous, not because they have anything useful to say, which in most cases, they don't.

86. Chris Ofili (painter)
Ofili adorned a painting of the Virgin Mary with real-life elephant poop and called it art. The art community agreed and placed him and other shock artists in the 1999 show Sensations at New York's Brooklyn Museum. Goldberg's gripe is with the avant-garde's rejection of traditional notions of beauty.

87. Sheldon Hackney (former University of Pennsylvania President)
A student yelled at a group of rowdy black females calling them "water buffalo," and he was then charged with "racial harassment." Despite the case's basis on weak or non-existent racial connotations, Hackney let the case drag on. Hackney and academia are overly sensitive in favor of minorities. Pioneer.

88. Aaron McGruder (cartoonist)
His Boondocks comics, which feature an indignant black kid, appear in over 250 papers daily. All of McGruder's attention is unfair given his corrosive comments in public, such as referring to Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell (both black conservatives) as murderers.

89. Jane Smiley (novelist)
She wrote a redneck hate-article in Slate subtitled "The unteachable ignorance of the red states". This is an excerpt: "Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are—they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence."

90. Michael Jackson (singer)
Goldberg doesn't elaborate on this inclusion, but Jackson probably made the list for being such a public clown, and therefore an embarrassment to all Americans.

91. Barbara Streisand (singer, actress)
How can such a beautiful and talented singer have the heart to bash Bush?

92. Kerri Dunn (Los Angeles psychology professor)
This diversity advocate discovered her car vandalized with hate slogans. In response, classes were closed and students staged demonstrations. A few days later, police discovered that Dunn vandalized the car herself. Instead of condemning Dunn, University officials framed the protests in a positive light as still having meaning given the context.

93. Richard Timmons (convict)
After stabbing and beheading his family, Timmons then tried to sue New York City for $80 million for police brutality. The case dragged on, showing just how litigious our society has become.

94. Guy Velella (former Republican New York state senator)
Velella is a hypocrite for being tough on crime but then crying like a baby when being sent to jail for accepting bribes. What's worse is that he pulled some strings to get set free early, all the while receiving some sympathetic press.

95. Courtney Love (singer, guitarist, widow of rockstar Kurt Cobain)
Author reserves only the word "Ho" for his criticism. My guess is that while Courtney Love is a role model for young women, she has been arrested multiple times, in one case for throwing a microphone stand and hitting a man on the head, in other cases for drug-related charges.

96. Eve Ensler (author of the play The Vagina Monologues)
Her play is silly for its over-use of vagina-related content, and it is offensive for excessive anti-male content. What's worse is that she is backed by prominent females such as Oprah Winfrey and Brooke Shields, making Goldberg feel un-hip for not liking the play or its message.

97. Todd Goldman (cartoonist)
Goldman is making a living with boy-bashing T-shirts such as "Lobotomy: How to Train Boys" or "Boys Are Smelly ... Kick them in the Belly." Author is frustrated that condemning boys is acceptable, while as condemning other groups and minorities, such as blacks and Jews, is a hate-crime.

98. Sheila Jackson Lee (Houston Democrat Representative)
She requested that hurricanes also be given African-American names. Goldberg finds it stupid to request affirmative action in the naming rights for a weather phenomena that is loathed.

99. Matthew Lesko (infomercial personality)
He promotes dubious methods on how to milk the government for "free money." He is a symbol for self-centered free-riders.

100. Rick and Kathy Hilton (heirs to Hilton Hotel chain, and parents of Paris Hilton)
They deserve blame for raising Paris Hilton to be a empty-headed socialite who became famous for starring in a home sex video.


Buy the book on Amazon

General Themes (as listed in Goldberg's book)

Goldberg's introductory complaint is that American culture is indecent. In particular, people can get away with saying "fuck" in public. It seems that what was once a reasonable movement toward tolerance has become a movement of indiscriminate tolerance, where everything is okay.

This is not just a social trend, but rather there are individuals (mainly those on this list) who influence our culture and should be blamed. Goldberg drives criticism particularly at liberals who are snobby and think they are smarter than those in middle America.

These are the categories of Goldberg's complaints: Creative Commons License
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