Top Republican Strategist Discusses The Bush Family's Rise To Power Since WWI

Very interesting...and should be a warning about ambition and power.


Monday, January 12th, 2004
American Dynasty: Fmr. Top Republican Strategist Discusses The Bush Family's Rise To Power Since WWI

Listen to segment (Real Audio): http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow/dn20040112.ra&start=10:58.5 (48:09)

We speak with Kevin Phillips is a former top Republican strategist. He first became well known in 1969 with the publication of his book his book The Emerging Republican Majority which Newsweek described as "the political bible of the Nixon Administration."

After Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, Phillips was generally acknowledged as the Republican party's principal electoral theoretician. In 1982, the Wall Street Journal described him as "the leading conservative electoral analyst -- the man who invented the Sun Belt, named the New Right, and prophesied 'The Emerging Republican Majority' in 1969."

He has since become a prolific writer and a critic of the current state of the Republican Party. Among his books are Wealth and Democracy andThe Politics of Rich and Poor.

His latest book is American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics in the House of Bush. It examines how the Bush family has been consolidating its power for four generations and how the Bushes have been staging their ascent to national power since World War I.

Kevin Phillips, author of the new book American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics in the House of Bush.

 

Power, money and influence...

The Buying of the President 2004: Who's Really Bankrolling Bush & His Democratic Challengers And What They Expect In Return

Listen to segment (Real Audio): http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=webactive/demnow/dn20040109.ra&start=07:53.6 (51:07)

President Bush has raised a record $130 million for his 2004 campaign. Charles Lewis of the Center of the Public Integrity talks about how the process of choosing a president has moved from the voting booth to the auction block. [includes transcript] This from today's New York Times: A new study released Thursday shows that employees and political action committees of brokerages, banks and credit companies make up 6 of President Bush's top 10 career contributors, a clear indicator of his increasing support from the financial sector.

In a similar study during the 2000 election, no major financial services firms were among the top 10.

The study was conducted by the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity and published as a book, "The Buying of the President 2004."

Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity. He is the author of the new book "The Buying of the President 2004: Who's Really Bankrolling Bush and His Democratic Challengers -- and What They Expect in Return."