Republican Book On Deceitful Bush Family Becoming Bestseller

American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush

by former GOP strategist Kevin P Phillips

Right now it is 17 with a bullet on Amazon without a major newspaper review. Mother Jones is very impressed because it is not a shrill attack but a thoughtful balanced history by a former Republican strategist who is both erudite and far ranging.

"Unlike the recent spate of anti-Bush books, Phillips' American Dynasty -- an erudite manifesto on the dangers of cronyism, hereditary privilege, "paper entrepreneurialism," and tax shelters -- is devastating due to its analytical fair-mindedness. Essentially, he traces how four generations of Bushes corrupted U.S. foreign policy through international business ventures that benefited the family. The most recent two George Bushes aren't evil people, Phillips argues, just greedy and ambitious Ivy League Texans. The Bush family has brought the American political system to a "perilous state," he believes, due to their cunning brand of petro-politics. "

Who is Phillips? Only one of the most influential political analysts in America. In 1969, his The Emerging Republican Majority correctly predicted that the Republicans would become the majority party by taking control of the then Democratic South.

el - I thought this was big news and was going to tell everyone, BuzzFlash and Atrios included, and found they already had the news hours earlier.

BuzzFlash has a headline interview.

"Few have looked at the facts of the family's rise, but just as important, commentators have neglected the thread -- not the mere occasion -- of special interests, biases, scandals (especially those related to arms dealing), and blatant business cronyism" Phillips writes in his preface. "The evidence that accumulates over four generations [of the Bush family dynasty] is really quite damning."

"Three generations of immersion in the culture of secrecy...deceit and disinformation have become Bush political hallmarks," Phillips notes.

Entitlement, elitism, privilege, secrecy, mediocrity, corruption, financial cronyism, bailouts of family failures by the taxpayers -- these are some of the true characteristics of the Bush Dynasty, according to Phillips.

el - I have noted that character should be an issue in this campaign because Bush doesn't have it.