Reason Writers Around Town

In the New York Times, Nick Gillespie reveals John Dean's "Ahab-like monomania" for exposing the cancer on the presidency modern conservatism.

Comments

[GILMORE]

Came across this eating breakfast yesterday. Good review. especially in identifying the 'pot calling the kettle black' element in the rhetoric, without falling into the trap of either writing the thing off at the bat, or siding with it because it's conclusions are politically in line with ones opinion.

JG

[Rick Barton]

Just caught Dean on Book Notes. His hits on the Bush administration seem to be on the mark, but Nick's recount of the ant--Goldwater smear seems more interesting and credible than the rest of Dean's contentions.

[kevrob]

Doesn't the Dean/Altemeyer thesis remind one of the anti-right wing polemic from Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and follow-up works?

Nice takedown, Nick.

Kevin

[thoreau]

I'm actually perfectly willing to believe that the gang of thugs wielding unchecked power is batshit insane.

I'm also perfectly willing to predict that if the Blue Team ever installs a gang of thugs wielding unchecked power, those thugs will also be batshit insane.

[Kevin]

I have a co-worker who will eagerly believe every bad thing written aout GWB. After hearing Dean on NPR, she's been parroting him nearly word-for-word, especially his use of the word "dictator". Oy. For the record, I think Bush is a corrupt, incompetent knob, but no more so than the corrupt incomptent knobs that came before him or will come after. I also love Charles Barkley saying he'll possibly run for Governor of Alabama as a Democrat because, "I used to be e Republican before they went insane."

[Warren]

The second most embarrassing thing about being a libertarian is, having so few friends.

The most embarrassing thing about being a libertarian is, the few friends you have.