Deserving Subject Matter
Russ Baker's new book, which I have not yet read, validates -- and I assume, greatly augments -- the points made in my 2004 volume American Dynasty about the Bush family's clandestine backstage role in the national intelligence community going back to World War One and its embrace of the Religious Right in 1986-87. The subtitle of American Dynasty - it rose to number 2 on the New York Times bestseller list -- was "Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush." To me, it was mind-boggling that the national media never picked up on easily confirmed data in Dynasty, for example the material in Appendix A which detailed some Walker-Bush family interlocking directorships in the 1914-1940 global netherworld of banking and armaments.
The efforts by presidents 41 and, especially, 43 to tie the Religious Right into the GOP national coalition were further detailed in my 2006 book American Theocracy: The Perils and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money. The major media again had no interest in pursuing the many analyses and details, including the various reports that 43, while seeking and then occupying the White House, intimated or stated that God wanted him to be president and was telling him what to do. This volume also reached number 2 on the New York Times list. Had the major national media cited and pursued either book's details, I assume that both volumes would have reached the number one spot. But the major media did not.
I forget when Russ Baker first telephoned me, but it was after he had read Dynasty. He said he was doing a book of his own on the Bushes, and added how he was finding that the various ties and connections were even deeper. We didn't really discuss them; my comments were confined to reactions that various threads seemed to me worthy of further pursuit. I didn't know whether or not his efforts would come to fruition - I do research in printed materials, but not investigative reporting or interviewing -- and besides which, I had already been through that subject-matter morass. I did not want to read, criticize or endorse his reporting, but I wished him luck. From comments I have read, he appears to have done quite a job.
Broadly speaking, the Bushes do seem to have had much of the role Baker describes, but I will be surprised if the major media give real attention to his revelations or details. More than a half century of silence and contrary pretense constitute too great an inhibition. Like Greg Mitchell, I believe that media sheepishness has been national problem. Like Craig Unger, I believe that George W. took himself seriously in his role as God's Warrior. And like Baker, I agree that Americans cannot understand the present because they don't understand the past.
Over this country's last four election cycles, I have published books aimed at identifying and documenting major national problems - Wealth and Democracy in 2002, American Dynasty in 2004, American Theocracy in 2006, and Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism in 2008. Each of the four were New York Times bestsellers, so I can't say that the volumes or theses were ignored. But in no case were the supporting details or data seriously discussed or pursued by the major media. TPMCafe had discussions on both the hardcover edition of Bad Money in 2008 and the follow-up release this April of the much expanded post-election edition, Interested readers will find a number of au courant April and May 2009 posts. However, it is an understatement to say that heavy criticism and dismissal hurt the initial 2008 publication; thus I took considerable satisfaction in the wide 2009 agreement that my thesis had been correct after all. Most recently, Bob Pisani of CNBC interviewed me on his May 22 show and noted this change in attitudes.
Even so, I wrote in the revised preface to the 2009 edition that I would not be doing a book for the 2010 election; the series was now complete.
Part of my decision involved fatigue and age (coming up 69). But another part reflects my growing sense that much of the die is cast - not least by the governance of 2001-2008 - and that the opportunity for timely change may be gone.
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May 28, 2009 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kevin Phillips' diary, which I have not read yet, is probably just a bunch of animal noises like "wuff" and "chormp."
Wuff and chormp right back at you, Kevin!
May 29, 2009 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kevin,
Two things:
1. Never say never.
2. What do you think of the JFK assassination theories and the Bush/DeMohrenschildt connection?
May 28, 2009 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've read all of Phillips' books, so I was really curious as to how Baker's "Family of Secrets" would stack up against Phillips' "American Dynasty" and what Phillips thought about Baker's book.
I am only half way through Baker's "Family Of Secrets" and am reminded of the scene in "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom" where the heroes crawl through the secret corridors of the palace - there is nowhere that isn't covered with slimy, night crawling creatures who thrive in the darkness. The difference of course, is that "Temple of Doom" is fiction and "Family of Secrets" is well documented reportage.
I wish the contributors to the discussion had read the book, it might have focused the readers on the most important revelation - the network of the CIA, the oil and banking industry and a small cabal of families and associates who have enriched themselves in the name of public service.
What is most frightening is that this family does believe they dedicated their lives to their country and public service and they believe that they are entitled to profit from it. Baker lays out the long friendship with the Dulles family and the financial benefits that accrued to both families, the offshore businesses, the money entanglements, the operations engineered by the CIA and the Bush connections and profits made from
those operations, the Cuban policy which has plagued this nation and Cuba for so many decades and caused so much misery and suffering. (Prescott Bush said he could never forgive the Kennedys for the Bay of Pigs fiasco and Kennedy's refusal to authorize a full invasion of Cuba by U.S. forces - what he didn't add was his potential recovery of his sugar beet plantation whose loss was quickly followed by a boycott on Cuban sugar production and his mineral rights and oil rig platforms confiscated by the Cuban government.)
Sadly, Phillips may well be correct - it is simply too late to change. This hereditary plutocracy is so deeply entrenched that it has poisoned every level of government and both parties. Recently, a United States senator, Dick Durbin of IL made the statement that congress is owned by the banking industry. There were no outraged howls of protest from those members of congress, no calls for investigation and from the press a bored, collective "duh". If the public heard it at all, it was met with a "tell us something we don't know" resignation and acceptance of corruption as part and parcel of government practice. If and when Baker's book is reviewed, the reviewer like those contributors to this discussion will fixate on the Kennedy assassination - Baker will be portrayed as a flaky conspiracy theorist, or the religious conversion of George W. Bush or whether Bush is a true conservative. The central theme like the central themes of Phillips' books will be ignored as reviewers wallow in their own theories and whether Baker agreed, disagreed with them or spent enough time validating their theories.
Saving a republic can only happen when all the people apprehend the danger to the republic at the same time. Unfortunately for us, we have been trained over time not to think beyond the next quarter, that management always acts in the best interests of the employees and the next CEO will be better than the last (or has to be better than the last). Welcome to America Inc.
May 28, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aren't the themes of hereditary plutocracy and the JFK assassination possibly linked together? The murder of a President is a very big deal, as is trying to bring about a really democratic republic. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.
May 28, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
After I wrote that I thought that could be easily misconstrued. My point is that Baker will be portrayed by the media as another Kennedy conspiracy flake without the context of the book.
May 28, 2009 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds good - I agree with you.
May 28, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Once again, it appears to me that you have hit the nail on the head Mr. Phillips. I agree that it is probably too late and the die is cast for some time to come as a result of the 2001-08 Presidency of Bush and that any substantive changes are in many ways precluded. A very tragic situation for a once great and free republic.
May 28, 2009 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
43, while seeking and then occupying the White House, intimated or stated that God wanted him to be president and was telling him what to do
One can but blink in astonishment that an assertion of divine guidance that would not have caused Joan of Arc a moment's hesitation could be made several centuries after the Enlightenment.
There was a huge yawn from the chatterers at this, and at the remark which presaged it, and should have struck terror into every thinking person "Jesus Christ is my favorite political philosopher"
May 29, 2009 5:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
"He can't be serious!"
"Of course he's not serious; he's merely pandering."
"Ah. Well, then, that's okay. Do lunch?"
"Fa shizzle. How 'bout West 24."
May 29, 2009 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
West 24.
I don't know nothin' bout no "west 24", but that is one heart breaker of an album cover picture.(cept' for Mama Cass, who hasn't changed a bit...)
June 2, 2009 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
I first came across Russ Baker's work in a great interview, http://www.radioopensource.org/the-bush-mystery-solved-russ-baker/ ,on a great show, Radio Open Source. (sorry can't figure out how to do elegant tags)
It's really worth a listen, as it gets into the core issues of the book and stays on them. Good questions get asked, cogent answers given. And also, I think hearing Russ Baker speak, you immediately get the sense that this guy is in no way a wingnut. Sensationalism, spectacle or headlines do not seem to be his goal. The book, like the work of Mr. Phillips, is a call to discuss the full historical sweep of American power as it actually is, not as we perceive it through the lens of democratic institutions and culture.
Opening up the hood as opposed to kicking the tires on a car, or in the case of our collective Bush experience, signing on the dotted line without even test-driving the sputtering lemon.
The Connecticut Bushes are Yankee Pedlars on a grand modern scale, and we have been the slack-jawed yokels getting nutmegged.
May 29, 2009 8:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Making elegant links.
May 29, 2009 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink