Suppressed political bestseller thrives despite media blackout

His last book is being made into a 10 hour mini-series for HBO starring Tom Hanks. He's written three number one best sellers. In an earlier phase of his life, he was the prosecutor who never lost a murder case: 21 trials, 21 convictions, the most famous, that of mass murder mastermind, Charles Manson.

But mass homicide of a far different kind was on Vincent Bugliosi's mind when he wrote The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.

The New York Times' Media & Publishing column points out that the book has risen to the upper reaches of the best-selling book charts (it's currently number 14 on the NY Times best-seller list) with virtually no television, cable, or mainstream press coverage.

The Times:

Mr. Bugliosi, in a recent telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles, said he had expected some resistance from the mainstream media because of the subject matter — the book lays a legal case for holding President Bush “criminally responsible” for the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq — but not a virtual blackout.

“They are not responding at all,” he said. “I think it all goes back to fear. If the liberal media would put me on national television, I think they’d fear that they would be savaged by the right wing. The left wing fears the right, but the right does not fear the left.”

The Times says that virtually no major daily newspapers (including the Times itself) have published reviews or promo for the book and Bugliosi, a frequent figure on the cable book promo circuit, has had nary an interview; he can't even get his calls returned. Nor would representatives of outfits like the Daily Show, ABC Radio, or Newsweek even comment for the record, according to Media & Advertising reporter Tim Arango, except to say, in essence, that they were very, very busy.