Free Republic

AMERICAN DYNASTY Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush. By Kevin Phillips. 397 pp. New York: Viking. $25.95. In "American Dynasty," his furious jeremiad against the Bush family, Kevin Phillips does not explicate the many differences between President George W. Bush and his father, or their very different brands of foreign policy. Instead he delivers a high-decibel, high-dudgeon rant against what he sees as their dynastic ambitions and their shared biases and motives. "Dynasties," he declares at the start of this book, "tend to show continuities of policy and interest-group bias — in the case...

Dynasties in American politics are dangerous. We saw it with the Kennedys, we may well see it with the Clintons and we're certainly seeing it with the Bushes. Between now and the November election, it's crucial that Americans come to understand how four generations of the current president's family have embroiled the United States in the Middle East through CIA connections, arms shipments, rogue banks, inherited war policies and personal financial links. As early as 1964, George H.W. Bush, running for the U.S. Senate from Texas, was labeled by incumbent Democrat Ralph Yarborough as a hireling of the sheik of...

Listening to Kevin Phillips talk about politics, it's easy to mistake him for a populist firebrand from the 1890s. He rails against the growing inequality of wealth in America. He bemoans the unprecedented influence that private corporations hold over public institutions. He attacks the "smug conservatism" of George W. Bush and accuses the president of attempting to establish a family dynasty better suited to royalist England than to democratic America. But Phillips is no left-wing demagogue. He's not only a lifelong Republican, he's also the guy who literally wrote the book that became the blueprint for the party's dominance of...

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp SpeechAmerican Dynasty Borders Books & Music Washington, District of Columbia (United States)ID: 179790 - 01/05/2004 - 1:03 - $29.95 Phillips, Kevin, Editor and Publisher, [American Political Report] Mr. Phillips talked about his book American Dynasty about the Bush family’s political activities over several generations. His remarks focused on the family ties to business and the intelligence community, as well as their use of Machiavellian methods in wielding power. Following his remarks he answered questions from the audience.

<p>WASHINGTON — Dynasties in American politics are dangerous. We saw it with the Kennedys, we may well see it with the Clintons and we're certainly seeing it with the Bushes. Between now and the November election, it's crucial that Americans come to understand how four generations of the current president's family have embroiled the United States in the Middle East through CIA connections, arms shipments, rogue banks, inherited war policies and personal financial links.</p>

WASHINGTON — The presidential election of 2000 was one of the low points of modern U.S. politics. But the upcoming 2004 nomination contests have the potential to be exciting. Either or both conventions could be electrifying affairs. Democrats may have the first multi-ballot convention since 1952, which could be a disaster or an unexpected opportunity. Republicans, who set their convention in New York City so President Bush could return to the scene of his apparent post-9/11 political triumph, might find Manhattan circa 2004 a much less friendly international stage. There may be more FBI agents and uniformed military people in...

<p>The dusty volume with yellowed pages sat innocuously on the gray metal shelf of a small local library. Who knew it could decipher 25 years of American political history &#8212; well almost.</p> <p>In 1969, Kevin Phillips wrote a prophetic book called the "Emerging Republican Majority," predicting a major political realignment in America, resulting in significant gains in the GOP's political strength. Mr. Phillips argued that conservative voters, particularly in the South and West, would shift allegiance from the Democrat to Republican Party, serving as the core of a new and potent electoral coalition.</p>

A few months back, I received a magazine in the mail. I hadn't ordered it, but there it was. "The American Conservative," the title blared in white-on-blue lettering. There were two problems: It was anti-American, and it definitely wasn't conservative. The articles railed against American "imperialism," the Weekly Standard and National Review, and Israel. Kevin Phillips ripped modern conservatism as "Wall Street, Big Energy, multinational corporations, the Military-Industrial Complex, the Religious Right, the Market Extremist think-tanks, and the Rush Limbaugh Axis." He urged readers to "support Democratic retention of at least the Senate." Two weeks later, another issue of The...