Party of Defeat or Portrait of a Killer

Party of Defeat: How Democrats and Radicals Undermined America's War on Terror Before and After 9-11

Author: David Horowitz

A nation divided in wartime invites its own defeat. Yet that is precisely how America is facing the global war on terror. In a brutally honest assessment, David Horowitz and Ben Johnson show that the American left, led by the Democratic Party, is waging a ferocious political war against its own government that has left our country more seriously divided than at any time since the Civil War. And the consequences could be disastrous.
In the fight against Islamic terrorists, America faces perennial questions that have become suddenly urgent: What is legitimate criticism of military policy in wartime? When does criticism cross the line and undermine the national interest? Democrats now routinely cross that line, Horowitz and Johnson show. Their candid and explosive reporting forces us to confront the consequences of these unprecedented attacks on the US war effort.
Examining the anti-war arguments of Democratic leaders like Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi, Party of Defeat reveals their fundamental misunderstanding of our enemy and an antipathy to the American cause going back to Vietnam. As radical Islam emerged in the 1970s, it found an ally in a left-wing establishment now thoroughly conditioned to blame America first. Our failure to confront the religious thugs who humiliated us in Iran encouraged the increasingly aggressive-and deadly-Islamist movement that eventually drew us into full-scale war.
Yet the cowardice and neglect of the Carter and Clinton years pale in comparison with the Democrats' defection from the war in Iraq-a war they first authorized then abandoned. This betrayal of our forces in the field has opened, incredibly, a domestic front in our country's fight forsurvival against an enemy fanatically devoted to our extermination.

Publishers Weekly

Horowitz collaborates with his FrontPage Magazine coeditor Johnson in a vitriolic attack on the left's "cowardly" betrayal of "the American cause," singling out the antiwar stances of John Edwards, Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi for special reproach. According to the authors, "a nation divided during wartime is a nation that invites its own defeat," and they argue that through ignorance and design, Democrats have obstructed presidential policy, undermined American security and continually failed to grasp the nature of the "Islamofascist" threat. Cataloguing Democratic miscalculations from the Carter administration on, the book asserts that Carter encouraged the Iranian revolution, Clinton fatally ignored bin Laden and Bush's wiretapping program was perniciously leaked to the New York Times. Their earnest moralizing overshadows these compelling fact patterns as Horowitz and Johnson omit intellectual or historical contextualization that might ratchet down the fever pitch of their argument; sadly, this sensationalism comes at the expense of some truly effective excoriations of liberal figures-particularly a brutal and delicious takedown of Frank Rich. (Aug.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See also:

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper - Case Closed

Author: Patricia Cornwell

Now updated with new material that brings the killer's picture into clearer focus

Publishers Weekly

"I knew the identity of a murderer and couldn't possibly avert my gaze," declares bestselling author and Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine chairman of the board Cornwell (The Last Precinct). Claiming to have cracked the unsolved case of Jack the Ripper, the author, combining superb investigative skills and meticulous research with modern technology, presents strong, albeit largely circumstantial, evidence as to the true culprit in this uncharacteristic work of nonfiction. Cornwell's man is the handsome, educated actor-cum-artist Walter Richard Sickert, and she delves into his life, probing the psychological pain and sexual deformity which led to his "impotent fury." Screen, stage and TV actress Burton's splendid, professional narration deserves much of the credit for the book's smooth translation to abridged audio format. Transporting listeners to 19th century England, Burton easily transitions between American and English accents, bringing an authentic, resonating flavor to the era and to the desperate lives of London's "unfortunates" who became the killer's prey. Despite some tedious and over-detailed readings of medical records, laws and police reports, as well as descriptive accounts of Cornwell's experiences re-opening the case, this audiobook turns potentially dry material into an enthralling exploration. Simultaneous release with the Putnam hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 11). (Nov.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Cornwell's mission is to prove that artist and iconoclast Walter Sickert was the real Jack the Ripper. Her method is an intriguing though somewhat repetitious circling through Victorian London, where she pulls together circumstantial evidence and coincidences as well as an analysis of his artwork to name him a viable suspect if not the indisputable perpetrator. The portrait of the times and obstacles faced by the authorities is often more intriguing, as the author works through the historical flaws, glitches, mistakes, and limitations of the original investigations. Kate Reading's familiarity with Cornwell's fiction may be jarring for those used to her as the voice of Kay Scarpetta or Pete Marino. Ultimately, Cornwell's expertise as the creator of a modern crime world helps her as a writer more than a "case closer." A popular choice for true crime audiences, historians, and Cornwell fans; Books on Tape's library edition may be a better investment, especially since both publishers use the same reader.-Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1	Mr. Nobody	1
Chapter 2	The Tour	8
Chapter 3	The Unfortunates	16
Chapter 4	By Some Person Unknown	31
Chapter 5	A Glorious Boy	41
Chapter 6	Walter and the Boys	59
Chapter 7	The Gentleman Slummer	74
Chapter 8	A Bit of Broken Looking Glass	86
Chapter 9	The Dark Lantern	98
Chapter 10	Medicine of the Courts	107
Chapter 11	Summer Night	120
Chapter 12	The Young and Beautiful	130
Chapter 13	Hue and Cry	141
Chapter 14	Crochet Work and Flowers	154
Chapter 15	A Painted Letter	175
Chapter 16	Stygian Blackness	193
Chapter 17	The Streets Until Dawn	205
Chapter 18	A Shiny Black Bag	219
Chapter 19	These Characters About	229
Chapter 20	Beyond Identity	241
Chapter 21	A Great Joke	253
Chapter 22	Barren Fields and Slag-Heaps	262
Chapter 23	The Guest Book	277
Chapter 24	In a Horse-Bin	289
Chapter 25	Three Keys	300
Chapter 26	The Daughters of Cobden	316
Chapter 27	The Darkest Night in the Day	331
Chapter 28	Further from the Grave	352
	Bibliography	367
	Index	381