Anti-Kerry book held, clients say: Would-be readers accuse sold-out bookstores of conspiracy

Florida Times-Union ^ | August 28, 2004

[K1avg]

The books are not there, but the conspiracy theories are.

Unfit for Command, the controversial book by two swift boat veterans criticizing John Kerry's military service and post-war protests, has been selling out as fast as it has come in. The Barnes & Noble in Mandarin, for example, hasn't received enough copies yet to even put one on display and sell to the public.

Dwayne Scarbrough, a manager there, said only about 25 copies came to the store and there are still close to 200 people on the waiting list.

That's been happening all over the country, leading to accusations bookstores are deliberately withholding the book from its customers.

[K1avg]

This appeared in this morning's paper. The Times-Union is a good, very conservative newspaper and I would never think they would print anything but the facts.

Truth be told, I'm not frankly surprised. With the amount of emphasis Kerry and the MSM have put on the Swift vets' accusations, they were bound to create higher demand than expected.

Personally, I think the folks crying foul at bookstores' selling out (and thus not apparently carrying) of Unfit are out of line and, really, we have bigger fish to fry.

So am I a troll now or what? ;)

[norraad]

It's understandable from the standpoint of pent up anger at smelly, tattooed & pierced up bookstore clerks have been altering the look of bookstore displays for a long while now.

This just brought it to a boiling point.

Boil brother boil.

[Leisler]

"So am I a troll now or what?"

Jim has a basement. Damp, dark, bare lighbulb, metal chair and wet Chicago phone books. If you are a troll, we have ways....
:)

[concerned about politics]

So am I a troll now or what? ;)

Some places are just sold out, and the smaller places are the best place to get a copy right now. The book is huge.
B&N may not have a load in today in certain areas, but they're waiting for another shipment when they can get one.
It's a patients issue. People are so eager to get a copy, they lose their cool. The sales are good for us as a nation , bad for them personally.

[dawn53]

So, I'm to understand that all they could get was 25 copies, or was all they ordered 25 copies?

The answer to that question would let us know the true nature of the problem.

If it's all they could get (i.e. a rationing of books so they would be enough to be sent to all bookstores), then that's understandable.

But if they only ordered 25 copies, that's another ballgame. Bet they didn't just order 25 copies of one of the Clinton's books.

[Stentor]

So am I a troll now or what? ;)

Do you ever have cravings for goat meat?

[G.Mason]

I've had the book delivered over a week ago. I guess you have to let your fingers walk the internet if you really want the book.

Of course some need Diogenes to see in the daylight. ;)

[BonnieJ]

My copy arrived in about 10 days from Amazon.

[rockrr]

"So am I a troll now or what? ;)"

Do you feel troll-ish?

Seriously, the stories about random EMPLOYEES of B&N, Borders, and other chain retailers systematically discouraging the sale of this (& other) conservative-based book are well documented. So they shift focus to the question that no one asked: Are the stores themselves doing the nasty deed (knowing all the while that the answer would be an accurate "no").

[billva]

I just returned from Costco's in Orlando. I didn't go there looking for the book because I didn't think they would have it. However there they were and I brought one home.

I can't wait to wade in and read it.

[thoughtomator]

The fact is, they didn't want to sell it, so they didn't make the effort to stock it like they did with all the left-wing propaganda books that came out recently. Now that it's hurting their businesses and their reputation, they feign innocence. I don't buy it. I walk into any bookstore in NYC and they've got Mein Kampf (oops "My Life") displayed prominently to anyone who walks into the store.

[Tacis]

I am confident that the Swift Boat Vet campaign has been secretly funded by the Clintons to ensure that Kerry loses!

[Fenris6]

"the folks crying foul at bookstores' selling out (and thus not apparently carrying) of Unfit are out of line"

I would normally agree, but Barnes & Noble, amoung several others, are notorious for consigning Conservative authors to boxes in the stockroom while Liberal authors are given front window displays.

The bookstores are crying innocent now, but they've been guilty in the past. They'll get no sympathy from me.

[SittinYonder]

Yeah, we were on the list forever at our local bookstore and finally gave up. now I'm on a fellow FReeper's list and expect to get the book soon.

I think this is legitimate - they can't get it on the shelves because everybody and their brother wants a copy.

[Terpfen]

"I would normally agree, but Barnes & Noble, amoung several others, are notorious for consigning Conservative authors to boxes in the stockroom while Liberal authors are given front window displays."

Maybe it's just my B&N, but I've never experienced any of the horror stories that are floating around. I walk to the political book section, I see conservative books a plenty. In the event that a title I want is missing, I ask at the customer service counter in the center of the store, and it turns out the book is merely sold out with a waiting list. The last time this happened was a couple of months ago with Ben Shapiro's book.

[Route66]

I don't think there is any conspiracy right now to keep it off the shelves, but I do think the liberal bent of many of these companies and their employees was showing in the beginning when the book first came out.

I believe that if it had been in their power to keep the popularity of this book down by simply not ordering it in many copies or displaying it, many of them would have. It simply took off without them and they had to jump in. They got a ton of negative press within the first few days.

I know I and many of my friends received some negative comments and reactions at local bookstores very early on. This mostly changed after the flap about the some of the bookstores practicing a brand of censorship started flying around in the press. The largest chains were innundated by complaints and it did make a difference, in this case.

Everything is not a conspiracy. Liberals don't have to get together over coffee to hatch plans to be the free speech hypocrites that they are. They just are.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I am confident that the Swift Boat Vet campaign has been secretly funded by the Clintons to ensure that Kerry loses!

Join the club! I posited this same theory a couple of weeks ago. Our tin-foil hats may be wrapped a little too tight, but this would be right out of the Clinton playbook. Ketchup Boy looks like he has a chance at winning? Can't allow that. Let's do the same thing to him we did to Bob Kerrey!

And I'm willing to bet that the Swifties wouldn't even know who was pulling the strings.

[norraad]

They just are.

That says it all.

Immaturity has alot to do with it.

I only wish the old adage "Children should be seen and not heard" still ruled.

Spare the rod & spoil the child.

Now we have a world filling up with spoiled children who are stupid to boot.

[t2buckeye]

When I wrote B & N about the lack of "Unfit", I mentioned that all of Bill's books are still piled up collecting dust. Obviously they overbought Bill's book due to the big hype they got from 60 Minutes, etc. (Remember, VIacom owns CBS AND the publisher of his book)and got caught short on "Unfit"...they still want to make money, so perhaps they'll learn...but their inclination is to buy the liberal crap

[Constitutional Patriot]

Walden Books at the Wayne Hills mall in Northern NJ (Wayne) has copies. I bought one there last night ($27).

I read the First 70 pages last night and I plan to finish the book by tomorrow. So far all I can say is that everyone needs to read this book. I always knew Kerry was a complete POS, but this book takes his character (or lack thereof) to a whole new level.