Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean.. New Book

[durrrty libby]

Mr Dean will appear on Keith Olbermann tonight discussing his new book


Bits of the review via
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670037745/qid=1152564881/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5426131-2080741?s=books&v=glance&n=283155



“Purporting to show that social conservatives and neoconservatives are, on the whole, demonstrably authoritarian, bigoted, irrational and amoral, Conservatives Without Conscience offers helpful hints such as "Conservatives without conscience do not have horns and tails,"

snip

“Dean draws on five decades of social science research that details the personality traits of what are called "double high authoritarians": self-righteous, mean-spirited, amoral, manipulative, bullying. He concludes that Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, Newt Gingrich, and Tom DeLay are all textbook examples. Dean calls Vice-President Cheney "the architect of Bush's authoritarian policies," and deems Bush "a mental lightweight with a strong right-wing authoritarian personality." Dean maintains that conservatives without conscience have produced such a hostile, noncollegial environment in Congress that threats of resistance through filibusters have been met with threats of a "nuclear option" and that conservatives have used fearmongering about terrorist attacks to the point where the nation faces a greater threat of relinquishing its ideals of democracy."


Take that Coultergeist. Stick it in your pipe and smoke it.

[Ringo84]

1. I don't know about this book

It may make us feel better to denigrate conservatives in this way, but I think that we're really just playing their game.

Ann Coulter and company are the ones who usually grouse about people being "immoral". We sink to their level when we do the same thing.

Also, it's wrong to think that all conservatives are like the RWers. Most conservatives are good people that mean well. It's the extremists that have taken over the country.
Ringo

[displacedtexan]

2. John Dean is a conservative.

He also knows where a lot of the bodies are buried.

Should we turn into repukes? No.

Should we bend over and ask for more from them?

Hell, no.

But that's just me. You can be the nice one in this thread.

[Ringo84]

3. displacedtexan

I understand what you're saying. The fact that he's a conservative actually makes his case stronger than if Molly Ivins or soomeone else from our side said "they're immoral!"
Ringo

[snowbear]

11. He's a conservative who is trying to get the truth about Bush out..

And as Martha Stewart would say.. "That's a good thing!"

[Berry Cool]

4. But Dean is saying that the extremists have coopted conservatism.

He's making exactly the same point as you are.

I have read the book, and found it very enlightening. He's saying there's a certain kind of conservative, which he calls the "authoritative conservative," who has become the dominant type of conservative, to the detriment of other forms of conservatism. In other words, conservatism per se is not the evil--just a particular brand of it.

Listen to him on the show tonight. You'll see.

[Ringo84]

6. BerryBush

I have read the book, and found it very enlightening. He's saying there's a certain kind of conservative, which he calls the "authoritative conservative," who has become the dominant type of conservative, to the detriment of other forms of conservatism. In other words, conservatism per se is not the evil--just a particular brand of it.

Oh. Well, in that case, I take it back. Sounds like he has some common sense.
Ringo

[Auntie Bush]

9. Just like ALL Muslims are not not terrorists!

[blm]

10. Dean makes that distinction quite well. He is a Goldwater conservative

which is something that is no longer part of the the new GOP version which is based in authoritarianism NOT the individualism and freedom that the original conservatives cherished.

It's why the GOPs are so dependent on fundamentalist churches and the authoritarian figures there who tell their parishioners how to lead their lives in more ways than spiritually.

[Hekate]

5. John Dean has used his post-Nixon life to study the SOBs thoroughly

Unlike the rest of that gang, who went to jail but never changed their minds or learned anything -- John Dean impresses me as someone who sees the neocons and theocons for what they are: the worst threat to democracy in our lifetimes.

Hekate

[durrrty libby]

7. I really like the guy and occasionally read him

on the findlaw site.

He has an elegant intelligence.

A few months ago he testified before a senate committee.

I forget which asshat pug went at him, but he yelled, why should I believe anything from a felon.

Dean was very calm and responded beautifully

[Hekate]

12. Sad to say I formed an exceedingly low opinion during Watergate Hearings

It was not until he began to go public during this regime that I revised that opinion. Now I look back at what he said and realize he was caught up in events far beyond his capacity to change, but in his way he tried...

He paid dearly for his membership in the Nixon WH. He's lived a quiet life since then, and obviously has done a tremendous amount of reflection. Who would know better than he what crimes can be committed within those halls?

However, others far older and more powerful than John Dean profited greatly -- even though several went to prison, they eventually profited in money and power by staying loyal to the ideology and companions that landed them in prison in the first place.

I truly appreciate what he is trying to do for this nation now.

Hekate

[tanyev]

8. I thought his book Worse than Watergate was one of the best ones

out there pointing out the problems of the Bush administration. Easy to read, not too long, yet made his points very well. And that came out in 2004. I'm eager to read what he has to say now.

[sutz12]

13. The difference between "us" and "them" IMO

Is that for the most part, libs and progressives are not necessarily calling for the end of the Conservatives or the Republican party. At least not most of us....:)

It's the neo-cons who have elevated the "discussion" to survival level. They preach that we on the left must be either converted or destroyed. They really do want to destroy us. Conservatism didn't used to be like that. They discussed things, they made compromises. Hell, congressmen and senators used to go out drinking together after work, regardless of political affiliation or party. The right has successfully killed that bit of comity.

I don't wish either party to have a one-party monopoly, we always will need some kind of counter balance.