Barnes & Noble Says 'Unfit' Sellout Not Its Fault

[Nambe]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters)

Controversial book "Unfit for Command," which fires an election-year salvo at Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's war record, has claimed one unintended victim -- bookstore chain Barnes & Noble Inc .

Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller, on Monday issued a statement saying it had sold out of the book and, in effect, held up its hands in surrender to what it called "thousands of complaints" from both supporters and detractors of the book.

Supporters, Barnes & Noble said, are claiming the bookseller has intentionally not stocked the title or is hiding it, while detractors are asking stores to remove it altogether.

"(Complaints) started in the stores, and the home office has been inundated as well," said a company spokeswoman. ..

Fun * Accurate * * A G.I.’s Handbook

[LauraK]

1. Barnes and Who? Not on my shopping list. Not noble at all.

They sank with Wal-Mart.

[LTR]

4. Nonsense

Granted, the Swiftnuts book is trash, but would you want B&N to scrutinize OUR books before they sell them?

I don't believe in GOP bullshit smear campaigns masquerading as literature, but I abhor censorship in any form. There are other ways to put the brakes on this book. And the ill-equipped publisher is doing that on its own by not keeping up with so-called demand. By the time they print more, demand will likely have dried up.

Let's hope there's plenty of Kitty Kelly's Bush bashing book on hand. Likely, there will be.

[bobbyboucher]

5. "OUR" books?

Who are we?

Who is condoning censorship around here?

[LTR]

6. Yes, "OUR books"

By that I mean left-leaning books that get the wingnuts' underwear in a bunch. The stuff WE like. And I assume many of us have the same taste in non-fiction, right?

As much as I hate the Swiftnuts, banning it only leads to more censorship.

Let 'em have their fun. We all know freepers don't read books anyway. And I'll bet Sciafe will have lots of copies really cheap in the coming months.

[LiberalFighter]

11. Don't read newspapers either

Someone told me that FAUX tells their viewers not to read the newspapers. Is that true?

[LTR]

14. ?

:wtf:

[trogdor]

30. Not in so many words.

They will volunteer, however, that certain newspapers (most of the mainstream ones) are too slanted to the left to provide the sort of objective journalism Fox News offers.

[kikiek]

15. I agree. Unless we want Farenheit 451 to join 1984 in becoming too

close to reality for comfort.

[Democat]

2. Kerry should have stomped these liars before the book came out

Now it's selling, at least in bulk to talk radio listeners.

[lancdem]

3. Kerry couldn't prevent Drudge from flogging it

that's where much of the interest came from.

[rocktivity]

24. I agree--the Smear Boaters should have been sunk within a week

All it would have taken was Kerry saying something as simple as "This is obviously nothing but a politically-orchestrated attempt to divert attention from Mr. Bush's military record." Then his rapid response team would be having a field day with all this other stuff that's come out!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Citizen Daryl]

7. People have the right to read whatever fetid sewage they wish.

This book plays to one audience and one audience only - pro-fascist extremists. They don't care about truth, all they want are excuses to be vile and hateful.

Last time I checked, that's still legal in America.

[LTR]

8. I think that's what I was getting at in a previous post

Look, the only ones plunking $20 or however much that doorstop of a book costs are members of the choir. Undecided voters aren't wasting money that shit.

It's merely a freeper stroke book.

[bpilgrim]

9. the neoCONs are DIVIDERS

NOT uniters.



peace

[kikiek]

10. The great uniter strikes again. I laugh when I see bumper stickers

that say UNITED WE STAND. What they should say is DIVIDED WE FALL.

[TowelBoy]

12. I don't blame Barnes and Nobles

The one near me has books from both the left and the right, and dammit that's how a store should be run.

[kikiek]

13. Absolutely! People are funny. A friend worked in a bookstore and

people would come in and tell them what they should remove from displays. Harry Potter was often attacked. Can you imagine taking that so seriously?

[kskiska]

20. Over on the FReep board

they've all been buzzing about how the book isn't in their local stores yet, and paranoid as they tend to be, they're bragging about how they verbally abused or harassed bookstore employees who inform them the book isn't available yet, or is on order.

[Voltaire99]

23. The tribal mind!

LOL, that's rich.

I, too, like to glance at those primitives every once in a blue moon just to help myself visualize what the early stages of evolution were like. You know, the single cell days.

[peacefreak]

26. Notes from the field.

I work for an independent bookstore & for a week I have been harassed & accused of with-holding books. One man I talked to over the phone & in person demanded to know the sales history. I explained to him that it was being re-printed, I was told there were plenty of books & I was lying. When I offered to take his name & addy he refused by saying "why would I want to give you my business?" Obviously he was just there to cause trouble.
The plain & simple fact is that Regnery is basically a small right wing press that specializes in hate mongering books. Did I say that to him? No. I was civil & professional. My feeling is I will stand behind the 1st Amendment & sell you what you want. I may grit my teeth & think what an asshole you are, but I strongly believe in freedom of speech. If you want to buy dog porn I am not there to judge, but to take your money & send you out the door.
It's not even September & I am tired of all the hate that is being put forth.
Sorry for the rant, but I am only half way through my coffee & have to get ready to go & do it again.

[ixion]

27. united we stand... ironic isn't it? as a country we've never been more

divided.

Just another slice of life under the rule of the corporate theocracy. :eyes:

[Radius]

16. Agree

Censorship, banning, or slowing the free flow of thought is dangerous. It is a double edged sword and goes against the basic freedoms we all have.

Choice of what to read and what to leave on the shelf is not something I care to loose.

[nolabels]

17. News flash : New fiction book sold out at Barnes & Noble

(They probably stocked them in the wrong spot, check the comic book section)

[SoCalDem]

18. Wow ....Isn't the US a "Yoonited" place???

We got our "Yoo-niter..not a Dee-vider"..and the rest is history..:(

[TXDemGal]

19. On Amazon it's says the O'Neill/Corsi screed

is shipping in 5-7 weeks. Guess Regnery needs to fire up the propaganda press to deliver more swill to the masses (or the hired Scaife/Murdoch bulk buyers, whichever).

[leesa]

29. It will have worn itself out with its lies before it even gets there.

[AlFrankenFan]

21. I didn't see the asswipe in B&N or Borders

this weekend. If I do in the future, I'm complaining to the manager.

[Kinkistyle]

22. I don't think they should be removed.

I don't support any book being forcibly removed from bookshelves, including lie-filled tripe like "Unfit for Command" or racist, diatribes like "Mein Kampf". Its censorship.

[Bucky]

28. Thank you for keeping your head on straight

When we lead by censorship, we don't really lead and we inevitably lose in the end. The right response is to show up the Swifties as liars and kick their asses in November.

[Fitzovich]

25. What was the print run?

If I recall from C Span's tour of the Chicago book show. At least one anti Kerry book was doing a print run of 25K while the Clinton book was running 4 million+. It may have been a different book but, if the supply isn't there, B&N can't sell it.

[Frodo]

31. Fifth print run @ 200,000

They apearently didn't intend to release the book until 9/1 but rushed it out (first printing ~85,000) when the "swiftvets" started getting all the free media coverage.

I suspect:

1) They were unprepared and are still playing catch-up - and
2) The book was probably intended as a "phase two" assault after the deadline where 527s can no longer run TV adds.