GOP Insider Vic Gold Launches a Broadside at the State of the Party

[Virginia Dare]

Interesting article, this guy tears Jr. and the Cheney's a new one, should be an interesting book:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/01/AR2007040101211_3.html?nav=most_emailed_emailafriend

Vic Gold heard from Lynne Cheney a few weeks before George W. Bush was sworn in as president in January 2001. Cheney had an assignment for her old friend: She wanted Gold to write the profiles of her and her husband, the new vice president, for the official Inauguration program.

The veteran journalist and GOP campaign operative was a natural choice. After all, he had shared an office with Lynne Cheney at Washingtonian magazine before she became chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities -- and they even worked on a satirical novel together.


-snip-

"For all the Rove-built facade of his being a 'strong' chief executive, George W. Bush has been, by comparison to even hapless Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times," Gold writes. "Think Dan Quayle in cowboy boots."

Gold is even more withering in his observations of Cheney. "A vice president in control is bad enough. Worse yet is a vice president out of control."

For Gold, Cheney brings to mind the adage of Swiss writer Madame de Stael, who wrote, "Men do not change, they unmask themselves." Cheney has a deep streak of paranoia and megalomania, Gold suggests -- but he says he did not see it at first.

-snip-

But Gold says he recently wrote a letter to George H.W. Bush explaining himself and alerting him to the book -- and he says the former president offered a gracious reply to the effect of "You always called them like you saw them." On the few occasions they have talked or gotten together in recent years -- the last time was a "pleasant" lunch at Kennebunkport in the summer of 2005 -- Gold says he has purposely steered away from any talk of the current administration and his son, whom he refers to as "Young George."

"As a father, he's got to feel torn up because he sees this going on and obviously, obviously he has not been able to influence ," says Gold. "George W. had one of the greatest resources in foreign relations and political experience in the world -- his old man! What if he didn't have this hubris of 'I am going to do it on my own'? If he had listened to his old man in terms of what to do after 9/11 and everything, he wouldn't have been in the mess he is in right now, and the country would not be in the mess it is right now."

[devilgrrl]

1. "Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times"...

what a fucking asshole! It'll be a cold day in hell before I read anything by this dipshit. :nuke:

[Toots]

2. Well facts do speak pretty plain

While I love Jimmie Carter he was not an effective President. If he had been Reagan would never have trounced him so badly. It may have been that Carter was blind sided but he should have been prepared for something and he truly was not..He did not squander our resources like the Republicans do though.

[JHB]

6. In part, but a lot of sh** came together in the late 70's...

I'm inclined to think that if Reagan had beaten Ford for the 76 nomination, and won the general election, his legacy would resemble Carter's much more than the "St. Ron" conservatives worship these days.

[hippiechick]

3. read it again ...

... this time, pause at the commas.
He's calling Dimson the 'weakest, most out of touch', not Carter.

"George W. Bush has been, by comparison to even hapless Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times..."

[devilgrrl]

5. hey, it's early, I missed a few words

there's sleep in eyes.... :cry:

Even so, that group of assholes aren't fit to eat from the same bowl of fruit as Jimmy Carter.

Also, I may add that Carter got no help from anyone back then... weak? Bollocks!

[JHB]

4. They have to demonize Carter...

Otherwise there's no real reason to deify Reagan the way they do.

[Lasher]

7. Junior and Lord Vader, meet bus

Like these two aren't real Publicans or something. Pay no attention to those losers behind the curtain, vote Publican in '08 because then we'll have some real publicans running. Right.

It's kind of like some friends of mine who used to identify as conservatives. They haven't changed any of their political views but now they say they're libertarians and they say both Democrats and Publicans are bad - but Democrats are just a tad worse, of course. They think this will insulate them from the results of their failed ideology. Gold is trying to do something similar, so that GOP candidates during campaign '08 can pretend the prior 8 years didn't happen.

[Virginia Dare]

8. Yes, it will be very interesting to see how history is spun..

after this disastrous eight years is at an end. It's noteworthy that a lot of the same assholes that helped bring us Watergate and Iran Contra are back at it, just a little better at covering their asses, we'll see if they succeed or not.

[Lasher]

9. There will be endless lies, just like it has been with the idiot, Saint Gipper

Well funded rightwing stink tanks gurantee this. Already Junior's post-presidency propaganda foundation has half a billion dollars from anonymous donors. The richest 1% in the country don't like for anyone to know how they grease the skids. That foundation can keep churning out lies forever, just on the interest from that much money. With that much cash to draw on I do believe I could literally have pigs flying around your house.

We need some sort of counterbalance to these stink tanks. Rich people shouldn't be able to buy history like this.

This is a pretty good thread but I'm afraid it's going to sink without much notice. Lots of us were focused on Junior's Rose Garden liefest this morning.