On Reviews

Will the Times Book Review take on Christopher Andersen's new book? After all, they took on the Kitty Kelly book about the Bush family published during the election year 2004. The Times called it "a perfect artifact of a cultural climate in which gossip and innuendo thrive on the Internet". Their problem was mainly centered around too much fluff and not enough complaints issues..

"The Family" is seeded with some spicy allegations about drugs and sex, but has little to say about national security, the Florida election standoff or the Bush family's ties with the Saudis.

So far the mainstream press has been much more fascinated with the fluff in the Andersen book than the complaints, choosing to ignore the issues-based snippet about William Ayers having creative input into a book Obama took full credit for, at a time Ayers claimed he had not yet met the future president. Fluff is now good.

Meanwhile, Ayers spoke at Purdue University Friday night, and was met by a cheering section of sorts (good for them). Ayers wasn't phased by it, but then the controlled crowd didn't ask him about the book, either. Will anybody?