Conservatives without conscience : Bush, Cheney, and the radical Republicans who are destroying the nation's democratic values

How Conservatives think -- Conservatives without conscience -- Authoritarian conservatism -- Troubling politics and policies of our authoritarian government.;Charges the Bush administration with using religious morality and propaganda-like tactics to promote big business interests and silence alternate perspectives at the expense of the nation's constitutional foundations.

on The Heels Of His National Bestseller worse Than Watergate, John Dean Takes A Critical Look At The Current Conservative Movement

in conservatives Without Conscience, John Dean Places The Conservative Movement's Inner Circle Of Leaders In The Republican Party Under Scrutiny. Dean Finds Their Policies And Mind- Set To Be Fundamentally Authoritarian, And As Such, A Danger To Democracy. By Examining The Legacies Of Such Old-line Conservatives As J. Edgar Hoover, Spiro Agnew, And Phyllis Schlafly And Of Such Current Figures As Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, And Leaders Of The Religious Right, Dean Presents An Alarming Record Of Abuses Of Power. His Trenchant Analysis Of How Conservatism Has Lost Its Bearings Serves As A Chilling Warning And A Stirring Inspiration To Safeguard Constitutional Principles.

publishers Weekly

in His Seventh Book, Dean, The Former Nixon Legal Counsel Whom The Fbi Has Called The Master Manipulator Of The Watergate Coverup, Weighs In With A Rebuke To Christian Fundamentalists And Other Right-wing Hard-liners. A Self-described Goldwater Conservative (indeed, Goldwater Had Planned To Collaborate On This Book Before His Death), He Rails Against The Influence Of Social Conservatives And Neoconservatives Within His Party. Suffused With Bitterness Stemming From The Controversies In Which He Has Been Embroiled, Dean's Book Paints A Thin Social Science Veneer Over A Litany Of Mostly Ad Hominem Complaints. 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, And Evinces A Telling Fascination With Politicians' Shady Book Deals. Though There Is Clearly Much To Condemn In The Policies And Tactics Dean Deplores, Assailing Everyone From French Political Theorist Joseph De Maistre To Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist To The Chairman Of Yale University's Conservative Association As Double High Social- Dominance-oriented Authoritarians Undermines His Journalistic Credibility. Dean's Lurid Accusations May Be Entertaining, But They Add Little To The Reasoned Debate That Washington So Sorely Lacks Today. (july 11) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

John Dean takes a sobering look at how radical elements are destroying the Republican Party along with the very foundations of American democracyJohn Dean's last New York Times bestseller, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, offered the former White House insider's unique and telling perspective on George W. Bush's presidency. Once again, Dean employs his distinctive knowledge and understanding of Washington politics and process to examine the conservative movement's current inner circle of radical Republican leaders—from Capitol Hill to Pennsylvania Avenue to K Street and beyond. In Conservatives Without Conscience, Dean not only highlights specific right-wing-driven GOP policies but also probes the conservative mind-set, identifying recurring qualities such as the unbridled viciousness toward those daring to disagree with them, as well as the big business favoritism that costs taxpayers billions. Dean identifies specific examples of how court packing is seeking to form a judiciary that is activist by its very nature, how religious piety is producing politics run amok, and how concealed indifference to the founding principles of liberty and equality is pushing America further and further from its constitutional foundations.By the end, Dean paints a vivid picture of what's happening at the top levels of the Republican Party, a noble political party corrupted by its current leaders who cloak their actions in moral superiority while packaging their programs as blatant propaganda. Dean, certainly no alarmist, finds disturbing signs that current right-wing authoritarian thinking, when conflated with the dominating personalities of the conservative leadership could take the United States toward its own version of fascism. Dean's last NY Times bestseller, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush , offered the former White House insider's telling perspective on George W. Bush's presidency. Once again, he employs his knowledge & understanding of Washington politics & process to examine the conservative movement's current inner circle of radical Republican leaders--from Capitol Hill to Pennsylvania Ave to K Street & beyond. In Conservatives without Conscience , he not only highlights specific right-wing-driven GOP policies but also probes the conservative mindset, identifying recurring qualities such as the unbridled viciousness toward those daring to disagree with them, as well as the big business favoritism that costs taxpayers billions. He identifies specific examples of how court-packing seeks to form a judiciary that is biased by its very nature, how religious piety is producing politics run amok & how concealed indifference to the founding principles of liberty & equality is pushing America further & further from its constitutional foundations. By the end, he paints a vivid picture of what's happening at the top levels of the Republican Party, a party corrupted by leaders who cloak their actions in moral superiority while packaging their programs in blatant propaganda. He finds disturbing signs that current right-wing authoritarian thinking, when conflated with the domineering personalities of the conservative leadership, could take the USA toward its own version of fascism.