(His media strategist) Mark McKinnon told the New York Times in 2005 right in the midst of this horrible war that he couldn't recall ever seeing Bush more calm, relaxed and happy, words to that effect. Bush, right in the midst of all this horror and death, told reporters at the ranch, after a hearty breakfast, what his plans were for the rest of the day, and he said, "I'm going to have lunch with Secretary of State Rice, talk a little business, take a little nap. I'm reading an Elmore Leonard book right now. Knock off a little Elmore Leonard this afternoon, go fishing with my man, Barney," Bush's dog, "have a light dinner and then head for the ballgame -- " or, "head to the ballgame, so it's a perfect day."
MC: A perfect day?
VB: "So it's a perfect day," he said. And when I read those last words by Bush, I said to myself, I said, "No, you son of a b----, if I may call you that, Mr. President, you're not going to have a perfect day, or I should say you're not going to have another perfect day for as long as you live, if I have anything to say about it, because I'm going to put a thought in your mind (of prosecution) that you're going to take with you to your grave. It's the least I can do for the thousands of young American soldiers that came back from your war in a box or a jar of ashes and for the thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, children and babies who died horrible deaths because of your war. That's the least I can do." I almost said those exact words to myself when I heard him say that he's going to have a perfect day. About putting a thought in Bush's mind, I'm referring, of course, to my proposed prosecution of Bush for murder and the fact that there's no statue of limitations for the crime of murder.
MC: (Regarding the mainstream media blackout of his book)
VB: They don't want me on.
MC: How many best sellers have you had? Three or four, right?
VB: Oh, well, I've had three that got up to number one on The New York Times. No American true crime author has had more than one. I've had three, and then I've had other best sellers. "Till Death Do Us Part" was a best seller. "Reclaiming History' for one week was a best seller. That was a book that, you know, weighed seven and a half pounds and cost $57.
MC: What do they say? Do they have an explanation, or is it just --
VB: Well, I can tell you what my publicist said that -- before the book came out they start booking you, and they would call these people and say, you know, "We're representing Vince Bugliosi," and right away, "Oh, yeah, I know Vince. We've had him on the show. He's a good guest. What's the new book?" The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. And you can -- they kind of indicated to me that they could just sense the shriveling on the other end of the line. And they said, "Well, let me get back to you on this. This may be a little difficult," or, "I'll have to get back to you on this." And then, of course, they just stopped responding to emails and everything, and that was absolutely across the board. They would not have me on. It got so bad -- it got so bad that ABC Radio refused to take money from my publisher to take out a radio spot.
MC: Oh, you're not allowed to advertise either?
VB: Yeah, on ABC Radio they would not take the money.
MC: That's a first.
VB: Which is, I think, kind of mind boggling. I don't know. It just seems to me that it's mind boggling. And then, of course, as you know, I had a very difficult time getting the book published. I never had trouble before. I had to fly back to New York City, knock on doors, and it was obvious that the publishers I met with thought the book was very marketable, and they seemed to be sympathetic with what I was saying, but it was equally obvious that they were frightened. They would say things like this to me: "Mr. Bugliosi, are you sure you want to publish this book?" And one of them put it in black and white, typed it, or maybe an email, "Too hot too handle."
MC: Has anybody bothered you since it was published?
VB: No. No, there hasn't been anyone that's bothered me. But, in any event, I finally found a courageous publisher over at Vanguard Press. And then we get down to the audio level. That's something I never gave a thought to, ever. It was automatic. Reclaiming History was Simon & Schuster. This time, Peter Miller, my agent, called me and said, "Vince, I can't find any audio company in America that will do the audio on the book." We finally got the BBC to do it, thank God. That's the one -- that tape is the one that that congressman from the South heard driving back to the South from Washington, D.C. (see Part 1). There's a documentary on my book being produced at the present time for the big screen. The producers couldn't raise one penny in America for the book.
MC: Not a cent?
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