WP great review of anti-Bush AMERICAN DYNASTY by Kevin Phillips

[papau]

Read this at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1649-2004Jan8.html

Funny isn't it - in order to review a right wing author of 30 years, the Washington Post had to publish truth that is negative about Bush - something I did not think would happen in 2004 (reviewers, as we know, can be made to "focus" on words that support the WP corporate line - so congrats to Mr. Yardley). Well this probably the last Bush truth we will see in the Washington Post this year - so enjoy!

:-)

The Ruling Class A family saga of secrecy, oil money and privilege
Review by Jonathan Yardley The Washington Post Sunday, January 11, 2004; Page T01

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AMERICAN DYNASTY: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips Viking. 397 pp. $25.95
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In this angry, devastating examination of "the House of Bush," Kevin Phillips asks the question that seems to have occurred to no one else: How did these people get so entitled? How is it that a family in no way distinguished by genuine accomplishment, moral and/or political conviction or exceptional intelligence has managed to lay claim as a matter of right to the American presidency, and how is it -- this is the real puzzler -- that the American people seem to have acquiesced in this presumption? How did we manage to put ourselves in the hands of a family that clearly believes it has dynastic stature, with all the privileges and entitlements attendant thereto, and behaves accordingly? <snip>

Any number of things could turn the "Bush dynasty" into yesterday's news -- continued frustration in Iraq and the much-ballyhooed "War on Terrorism," continued economic stagnation, increased popular resentment over the appalling chasm between the super-rich few and the struggling many, more evidence of corruption among the Bush family's business cronies, not to mention events and/or catastrophes as yet unseen -- and it is regrettable that Phillips does not confront this more directly. We don't have an appointive presidency, and we don't have a royal succession, at least not yet. The American people are not nearly so stupid as the Bushes and their retinue obviously believe them to be, and they haven't delivered their final verdict.

So Phillips's study is valuable less for what it says about the altered American political landscape (though much of what it says about that is astute) than for what it says about the Bushes themselves. Tracing the family lineage through four generations -- beginning with the president's great-grandfathers, George Herbert Walker and Samuel Prescott Bush, moving along to his grandfather, Prescott Bush, then to his father and himself -- Phillips paints a portrait that can only be deeply disturbing to anyone concerned about how power is now gained and maintained in this country. <snip>


The Bushes have always depended upon the kindness of others. Phillips's description of the young George H.W. Bush makes the point nicely: "lithe, athletic, handsome, personable, and ambitious -- always seeking friends and striding purposefully toward the approval of authority figures able to bestow his next nomination or appointive office." Bushes are "deal-makers, rain-makers, or, in the most recent generations, influence brokers." They deal not in making things but in letting money make money. "Investment drove the economy" is what seems to be the closest they have to a familial conviction, "and what fueled investment was tax advantage." This is "primarily the product of upper-class bias rather than the expression of a coherent ideology." Having (somewhat uncharacteristically) a bit of fun, Phillips writes:"All in all, if presidential family connections were theme parks, Bush World would be a sight to behold. Mideast banks tied to the CIA would crowd alongside Florida S&Ls that once laundered money for the Nicaraguan contras. Dozens of oil wells would run eternally without finding oil, thanks to periodic cash deposits by old men wearing Reagan-Bush buttons and smoking twenty-dollar cigars. Visitors to 'Prescott Bush's Tokyo' could try to make an investment deal without falling into the clutches of the yakuza or Japanese mob."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[wryter2000]

1. Hmmm

I may have to buy it, after all.

BTW, did you put in a bit too much for the review for copyright purposes? Not sure, just asking.

[papau]

2. Thanks for the heads up re -copyright - I was going to edit and was called

to drive grandkid about - just got back.

[Cassandra]

3. I was asking that question here at DU a few months ago

"Kevin Phillips asks the question that seems to have occurred to no one else: How did these people get so entitled? How is it that a family in no way distinguished by genuine accomplishment, moral and/or political conviction or exceptional intelligence has managed to lay claim as a matter of right to the American presidency, and how is it -- this is the real puzzler -- that the American people seem to have acquiesced in this presumption?"

Basically, why them? The power and connections are obvious; it's why average Americans are willing to give them their votes that is perplexing. They have so many skeletons; how is it that they manage to keep so much hidden? Is everyone they have come into contact with so intimidated?