On my way to work, listening to the Charles Goyette show, there was an interview with Victor Gold with the subject primarily being his new book "Invasion of the Party Snatchers" about the takeover of the traditional "Barry Goldwater" Republican party by the neo-cons and as he called them "theo-cons" led by Bush and a very odd acting Dick Cheney (compared with the one he knew for years).

First, Victor Gold is a lifelong conservative, having served in government with staunch conservatives like Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, and many others that would not be exactly party guests at Barbara Steisand's house. Gold helped write the elder Bush's autobiography and has coauthored a book with Lynn Cheney who he really likes.

He is appalled with where the party is today and the horrific abuses of power he sees by the likes of Bush and his minions, seemingly led by Dick Cheney who he says changed drastically from the guy he knew and worked with for years.

Here's a link to a review of his book. I chose this link not because I was perusing Antiwar.com but merely because it was the first real link on Google I could find that had long excerpts from the pages so chill out on the choice. If you can find a better on then post it. Review of Invasion of the Party Snatchers

An excerpt:

until recent years the Republican party was anything but the party of war hawks. National defense hawks, yes: President Eisenhower's cautionary words about 'the military-industrial complex' have largely been ignored by GOP lawmakers whenever the Pentagon comes calling. But as to committing American troops to battle overseas, until George H.W. Bush ordered the invasion for Iraq in 1991, no Republican president since William McKinley in 1898 had initiated a war; nor, until Richard Nixon in 1969, had any Republican president opted to carry on a war initiated by a Democratic president.

This one sounds like a must-read.

Now for the Flame. If a crochety old fart like this guy with intimate knowledge of the players involved can be honest about the horrific things occurring in our government right now, what the hell is wrong with the rest of you so called conservatives? Are you just so embarrassed with your choices that you can't swallow your pride and admit you went wrong while still retaining your base values or are you intoxicated with that power you felt having your guys rule with an iron fist and decimating any dissenting voice? I'm sorry but we've lived for so long now with the label of "Bush Bashers" that it's no longer an acceptable debating point when your own side is also doing the bashing.

Let me guess what the responses will be. I'm sure there's some neo-con website out there that's already started the smear campaign against Gold, accusing him of cashing in with his books out of greed. You'll find the 9/11 conspiracy site I did that was using his quotes about false flag operations that would have been used to justify an invasion of Iraq had Al Queada not struck first as a link to fringe wackos. Google showed there was a diarist on Daily Kos talking about his book so if a liberal site quotes him he has no credibility. Well, give it your best shot.

The insights this old man had during his interview about the men he'd worked with over the years had this real ring of truth to it because it fit the history and evolution of our politics perfectly. He's clearly in the sunset of his years, extremely wealthy so he doesn't need the financial fix, and just has the air of someone wanting to make peace with the world and help leave a legacy of what he and his party worked so hard to install for so many years, only to see it hijacked by extremists.

Art