Fire Breathing Liberal Review

The recent election campaign sparked my interest in political biography so I picked up Robert Wexler’s Fire-Breathing Liberal: How I Learned to Survive (and Thrive) in the Contact Sport of Congress from the library. Wexler has found himself in the national spotlight since he was a freshman Congressman serving on the Judiciary committee. His first year in office was the year of the Clinton impeachment, and Wexler found himself in the position of being a vociferous defender of the office of the Presidency. Wexler navigated the fine line between condemning Clinton’s behavior and fighting back against the partisan attacks. The wealth of dishonesty during the last eight years proved Wexler’s interpretation of the Republican attacks to be accurate. The impeachment was a partisan witch hunt. The protestations of Republicans that it was the lying that concerned them, was shown to be so much hot air during the Bush administration when no amount of lying could prompt an investigation, much less an impeachment.

Wexler’s district played a national role during the 2000 election. He represents Palm Beach County, the home of the infamous butterfly ballot. He again was thrust onto the national scene during the (nearly forgotten) Anthrax attacks after September 11, 2001. His district encompasses Boca Raton, Florida, which is home to the National Enquirer, a target of the anthrax attacker. Robert Stevens, a photo editor at American Media, Inc. (publisher of National Enquirer and other tabloids) died of Anthrax inhalation October 5, 2001. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson suggests Stevens probably contracted anthrax by drinking from a stream. (Heckuva job, Tommy!)

Most people, though, seem to remember Wexler from his appearance on the Colbert Report. In a segment called “Better Know a District” where Colbert interviews member of the US House of Representatives, Colbert prompted to Wexler to say something that would lose him the election if he had an opponent. He then prompted Wexler with “I enjoy cocaine because…” Wexler played along and stated “I enjoy cocaine because it’s a fun thing to do,” and later “I enjoy the company of prostitutes for the following reasons: …oh, because it’s a fun thing to do. Much like cocaine. If you combine the two together, it’s probably even more fun.” Good Morning America and The Today Show edited the clip and aired Wexler’s statements as statements of fact. (Damn that liberal media!)

Wexler’s book doesn’t stray far from the typical boilerplate of the political biography. It speaks to his ambition to serve the public, a few valuable life lessons learned along the way, sprinkled with anecdotes, and an emphasis on the moments that placed him in the national spotlight. It was co-written with David Fisher, a capable and fluid popular biographer, able to take the subject’s stories and turn them into engaging narratives. (Fisher also co-wrote William Shatner’s autobiography Up Till Now, and Terry Bradshaw’s autobiography It’s Only a Game.)

Despite the obvious bias and self-promotion of the political autobiography, it’s a nice reminder of what our representatives are actually doing in Washington.