Hot on Facebook

Guy Buys $123 Safe on eBay, Finds $26,000 Inside Seller tries to get half the cash back, fails »

Bush's True Base Isn't the Right, It's the Rich

Business and wealthy have hijacked the GOP, argues new book

By Jonas Oransky, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 9, 2007 9:11 AM CDT

(Newser) – Don’t be fooled by the lip service to Christian conservatives: the interests the Bush administration serves are economic, not religious, Jonathan Chait writes in the “The Big Con,” a book that the Washington Monthly’s Kevin Drum calls the best on the long list of recent Bush-bashers. In fact, the modern GOP has been captured by right-wing fiscal zealots, Chiat argues.

The national agenda has been subordinated to the the interests of business and the rich, Chait writes, and the conservative "base" has been duped along with everybody else. Despite the noise of the "culture wars," very little political capital has been expended in two Bush terms on conservative issues like abortion and gay marriage; it's tax cuts that have been and continue to be the true Bush passions.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

Bush Marks National Day Of Prayer (Getty Images)

"The Big Con" argues that as Bush serves Big Business, the rest of America pays the price. (Getty Images)

"The Big Con" suggests that the Republican party no longer holds to any values of true conservatism and instead exists as a machine to help the rich get richer. (Getty Images)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

George W. Bush plays to an upper class crowd. (websuspect (YouTube))

View larger videos >>

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

GOP to Obama: Step Up Immigration Raids

And they oppose any path to legal status for illegals

(NEWSER) - Republicans are pressing President Obama to resume the large-scale workplace immigration raids that were a hallmark of the George W. Bush administration. Though deportations have soared under Obama, his administration has focused its crackdown efforts on employers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants; arrests from worksite raids for immigration-related offenses have dropped by 70%, the LA Times reports. More»

The GOP Has a God Problem

Parker: It's time for a break-up with the Christian Right

(NEWSER) - After getting death threats for dissing Sarah Palin, Kathleen Parker is stirring up trouble in the right-wing ranks again. The Republican Party is going to go the way of the Shakers if it doesn’t lose some of that old time religion, she writes in the Washington Post. The party’s religious base has scared off moderate voters, and is a shrinking share of the electorate. “Like it or not, we are a diverse nation, no longer predominantly white and Christian,” writes Parker. More»

House Overrides Bush's Veto of Water Bill

Rejection is first of presidency; Senate likely to follow suit

(NEWSER) - The House overrode a presidential veto tonight for the first time in the Bush administration, with 138 Republicans crossing party lines to support a $23 billion water-resources bill. The 361-54 vote was far more than the two-thirds needed to override, reflecting the popularity on both sides of the aisle of legislation loaded with pet projects, the Washington Post reports. The Senate is likely to pass its own override, possibly as soon as today. More»

Gingrich to GOP: Abandon Bush

Speaker says GOP must bring 'dramatic, bold change' to win in '08

(NEWSER) - Republican presidential candidates should make a “clean break” from the Bush Administration, Newt Gingrich declared today. “If you don't represent real change, you just gave away the 2008 election,” the former Speaker said, citing Iraq, the Hurricane Katrina response, and border control as reasons for public unhappiness. Gingrich also said he is highly unlikely to join the race himself. More»

Carville: Rove Cost GOP a Generation

Sticking to base was demographic disaster, Clinton adviser says

(NEWSER) - Impressive electoral record aside, Karl Rove's strategy of aggressively courting the GOP base has soured an entire generation on the Republican Party, James Carville argues in the Financial Times. Bill Clinton's storied strategist says "theocratic underpinnings" of Rovian strategy are behind polls showing a nameless Democratic presidential candidate favored by 32% among younger voters. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Bush's True Base Isn't the Right, It's the Rich