EV Book Review: The Republican Playbook

EV Book Review: The Republican Playbook
by Josh Righter

What's a book? Most people alive today don't remember, including myself, which is why I was stunned to receive one in the mail for review by an agent of Andy Borowitz, satire writer and book writer. Below is my attempt to describe how I felt when puzzling through it.

If Andy Borowitz does not currently have a nickname, I would like to suggest one for him: Master of the Unexpected. In case you are not familiar with his work -- or in case you are too familiar with it and are thus used to things being explained very carefully to you -- allow me to elaborate: I propose this nickname to due his penchant for throwing in subtle, poignant satirical barbs that even the most prescient of readers could not possibly expect.

For example, one passage suggests that by pushing the theory of evolution, which involves a species of man known as homo erectus, Democrats are actually trying to teach kids to be homosexuals! There are statistically only four people presently alive who could have anticipated such wordplay, and three of them have just died.

Others who may die after reading Borowitz's book are Republicans, who will no doubt be red-faced with rage as the scathingly sharp satire hits them like a blunt brick. An entire page is dedicated to the suggestion that The Flintstones is actually gay propaganda set forth by the Democrats, a vicious attack on Republicans who believe that very thing. Or how about a diagram that illustrates how a Republican politician can successfully stab a liberal journalist? Republicans really do dislike many journalists, and the fact that Borowitz suggests that maybe they'd like to stab them illustrates his willingness to go over the top to deliver the joke that we all wanted to hear, but didn't realize it.

Repetition is also a tool of humor in the hands of the gifted, and almost none are as repetitive as Borowitz, who begins a golden thread of humor that winds all the way through the book on page 16, when he pretends to circle a word and scribbles a faux-handwritten note, purportedly by President Bush, that says, "Means?" This implies that the President did not actually understand the word at hand, playing on his famous misuse of words, but if you didn't catch it there, don't worry: like most of the book's core four jokes, it'll come up again and again, become more hilarious with each passing page. By the end, you'll know the punchlines by heart, yet wish to see them written even more, so you can read them and affirm to yourself that it's funny all over again.

At its core, satire is designed as a device to promote social change: an avenue through which, although there may be laughs to be had, serious discussion and thought is provoked. Readers will undoubtedly experience their brains buzzing after reading Borowitz's carefully-crafted indictment of the most popular shortcomings of the Republican Party, and a few intelligent ones will even pick up on the underlying theme: Republicans are stupid. With this concise-yet-poignant message, Borowitz sets in motion the wheels to improve our society with only his two heavy hands to guide him.

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