In the latest Rolling Stone magazine, there's an excellent article on Kevin Phillips, who just wrote a book entitled "American Dynasty." Phillips served as the chief political strategist for Richard Nixon in 1968, and, in his book "The Emerging Republican Majority," he formulated the "southern strategy" that helped hand the White House to the GOP for a generation. As it turns out, Mr. Phillips' view of the Republican party has changed considerably since 1968.
Here's an excerpt:
In his new book American Dynasty, Phillips lays out his almost visceral distaste for what he calls "the politics of deceit in the House of Bush," accusing the administration of dishonesty and secrecy that would make Tricky Dick blush. He traces the course of Bush's family over the past 100 years, detailing how they sought influence "in the back corridors" of the oil and defense industries, investment banking and the intelligence establishment. Elites, not elections, put Bush in power. "I'm not talking about ordinary lack of business ethics or financial corruption," says Phillips, who recently registered as an Independent for the first time. "Four generations of building toward dynasty have infused the Bush family's hunger for power and practices of crony capitalism with a moral arrogance and backstage disregard of the democratic and republican traditions of the U.S. government." As a result, he says, "deceit and disinformation have become Bush political hallmarks."
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT:
http://www.rollingstone.com/features/nationalaffairs/featuregen.asp?pid=2751