From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Make no mistake: author Gold, a former speechwriter for George H.W. Bush and aide to Barry Goldwater, is one disgusted Republican. The GOP of the 2006 midterm election, he writes, is "a party of pork-barrel ear-markers like Dennis Hastert, of political hatchet men like Karl Rove, and of Bible-thumping hypocrites like Tom Delay." Gold looks to Goldwater, "a straight-talking, freethinking maverick," as the yardstick by which to measure just how far the party of Lincoln has fallen. He traces the beginning of the end to the 1980 Republican National Convention and the presence of "a militant new element...personified by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell." The other half of the equation, the neoconservatives, are embodied by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, "two cuts from the same Machiavellian cloth." In efficient prose, Gold scrutinizes a significant swath of recent GOP history, in particular Newt Gingrich's 104th Congress and the Bush II White House, without losing momentum. He also has choice words for "the Coulterization of Republican rhetoric," the revolving door between Capitol Hill and K Street, and "sideshow" legislation like the Flag Protection Amendment. Gold sees a promising future for the Republican Party, but not until they lose some major elections and are able to keep down a slice of humble pie; for those disillusioned with the state of the GOP, this quick, uncompromising polemic provides substantial support, along with a large dose of cold comfort.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
After four decades as a Republican insider, Victor Gold reveals how the holy-rollers and the Neo-Cons have destroyed the GOP. Now he's fighting to get his party back.
As a man who served as press aide to Barry Goldwater and speechwriter and senior advisor to George H. W. Bush (in addition to coauthoring his autobiography), Victor Gold is absolutely furious that the Neo-Cons and their strange bedfellows, the Evangelical Right, have stolen his party from him. Now he is bringing the fight to them.
Invasion of the Party Snatchers is a blistering critique not only of the Bush-Cheney administration but also of the Republican Congress. Gold is ready to tell all about the war being waged for the soul of the GOP, including the elder Bush's opinion of his son's work domestically and abroad, the significance of the newly elected Congress, and how Goldwater would have reacted to it all. Gold reveals, among other explosive disclosures, how George W. has been manipulated by his vice president and secretary of defense to become, in Lenin's famous phrase, a "useful idiot" for Neo-Conservative warmongers and Theo-Conservative religious fanatics.
Although there have been other books by dissident Republicans attacking the Bush-Cheney administration's betrayal of conservative principles, none have been by an insider whose political credentials include inner-circle status with Barry Goldwater and George H. W. Bush.
As a man who served as press aide to Barry Goldwater and speechwriter and senior advisor to George H. W. Bush (in addition to coauthoring his autobiography), Victor Gold is absolutely furious that the Neo-Cons and their strange bedfellows, the Evangelical Right, have stolen his party from him. Now he is bringing the fight to them.
Invasion of the Party Snatchers is a blistering critique not only of the Bush-Cheney administration but also of the Republican Congress. Gold is ready to tell all about the war being waged for the soul of the GOP, including the elder Bush's opinion of his son's work domestically and abroad, the significance of the newly elected Congress, and how Goldwater would have reacted to it all. Gold reveals, among other explosive disclosures, how George W. has been manipulated by his vice president and secretary of defense to become, in Lenin's famous phrase, a "useful idiot" for Neo-Conservative warmongers and Theo-Conservative religious fanatics.
Although there have been other books by dissident Republicans attacking the Bush-Cheney administration's betrayal of conservative principles, none have been by an insider whose political credentials include inner-circle status with Barry Goldwater and George H. W. Bush.
From the Inside Flap
Victor Gold wants his party back.
Gold is the former press aide to Barry Goldwater, the founder of the conservative movement, as well as the former speechwriter and senior advisor for George H. W. Bush. And he is incensed that the Neo-Cons and their strange bedfellows, the Evangelical Right, have stolen his party and betrayed the ideals of the conservative cause. Now heís fighting back.
After four decades as a Republican insider, Gold is ready to tell all about the war being waged for the soul of the GOP, including the elder Bushís opinion of his sonís work domestically and abroad, the significance of the newly elected Congress, and how Goldwater would have reacted to it all.
In this critique of the Bush administration, Gold reveals, among other explosive disclosures, how George W. has been used and manipulated by the vice president. His detailing of the presidentís puppet-like role amongst Neo- and Theo-Conservatives is utterly chilling.
?Victor Gold served as deputy press secretary to Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign, press secretary to Vice President Spiro Agnew from 1970 to 1974, and speechwriter and senior advisor to George H. W. Bush in the 1980s. He is a personal friend of the Bush family and many other prominent politicians. He collaborated with George H. W. on his autobiography Looking Forward, coauthored a work of satirical fiction, The Body Politic, with Lynne Cheney, and is a national correspondent for Washingtonian magazine. He lives with his wife Dale and two contrarian conservative cats in Fairfax, Virginia.
Gold is the former press aide to Barry Goldwater, the founder of the conservative movement, as well as the former speechwriter and senior advisor for George H. W. Bush. And he is incensed that the Neo-Cons and their strange bedfellows, the Evangelical Right, have stolen his party and betrayed the ideals of the conservative cause. Now heís fighting back.
After four decades as a Republican insider, Gold is ready to tell all about the war being waged for the soul of the GOP, including the elder Bushís opinion of his sonís work domestically and abroad, the significance of the newly elected Congress, and how Goldwater would have reacted to it all.
In this critique of the Bush administration, Gold reveals, among other explosive disclosures, how George W. has been used and manipulated by the vice president. His detailing of the presidentís puppet-like role amongst Neo- and Theo-Conservatives is utterly chilling.
?Victor Gold served as deputy press secretary to Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign, press secretary to Vice President Spiro Agnew from 1970 to 1974, and speechwriter and senior advisor to George H. W. Bush in the 1980s. He is a personal friend of the Bush family and many other prominent politicians. He collaborated with George H. W. on his autobiography Looking Forward, coauthored a work of satirical fiction, The Body Politic, with Lynne Cheney, and is a national correspondent for Washingtonian magazine. He lives with his wife Dale and two contrarian conservative cats in Fairfax, Virginia.
From the Back Cover
Victor Gold is furious. Here's why.
"I read Vic Gold's Invasion of the Party Snatchers with a certain degree of shock-and-awe. Like his political mentor Barry Goldwater, Gold pulls no verbal punches in telling the story of how the Bush-Cheney White House has made a mockery of the conservative values it claims to uphold-and which Vic continues to uphold."
-Frank Mankiewicz, former press secretary to Robert Kennedy
and George McGovern's campaign manager
"Victor Gold, a sardonic wordsmith for Republican leaders from Barry Goldwater to the senior George Bush, unleashes a bitter yet comic blend of ferocity and ridicule at the neo-conservatives and theocrats who have taken over his party. In a lively review of the downward course it has traveled over the last six years, Gold takes dead aim at George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of their cast, and their GOP enablers in Congress, for the party's plight and asks: 'What would Barry do?' Then he answers his own question with Goldwater candor and abandon."
-Jules Witcover, author of Very Strange Bedfellows:
The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Nixon & Agnew
"I read Vic Gold's Invasion of the Party Snatchers with a certain degree of shock-and-awe. Like his political mentor Barry Goldwater, Gold pulls no verbal punches in telling the story of how the Bush-Cheney White House has made a mockery of the conservative values it claims to uphold-and which Vic continues to uphold."
-Frank Mankiewicz, former press secretary to Robert Kennedy
and George McGovern's campaign manager
"Victor Gold, a sardonic wordsmith for Republican leaders from Barry Goldwater to the senior George Bush, unleashes a bitter yet comic blend of ferocity and ridicule at the neo-conservatives and theocrats who have taken over his party. In a lively review of the downward course it has traveled over the last six years, Gold takes dead aim at George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the rest of their cast, and their GOP enablers in Congress, for the party's plight and asks: 'What would Barry do?' Then he answers his own question with Goldwater candor and abandon."
-Jules Witcover, author of Very Strange Bedfellows:
The Short and Unhappy Marriage of Nixon & Agnew
About the Author
Victor Gold was a speechwriter for Bush Sr. and was a prominent Goldwater disciple. He is a personal friend of the Bush family and many other prominent politicians. His previous books include Looking Forward, the autobiography of George H. W. Bush, and a satirical fiction, The Body Politic, coauthored with Lynne Cheney. He is national correspondent for Washingtonian magazine.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Where Do Elephants Go to Die?
"Sometimes party loyalty asks too much."
-John F. Kennedy, on refusing to nominate
a Democrat he disliked to a judgeship (1961)
November 7, 2006 (- 5minutes to midnight): You know something has gone wrong in your political universe when the party you've worked and voted with for over forty years is getting blown out in a national election and you feel good about it.
Election Night Flashbacks:
November 2, 1994: Twelve years before, I'd been at an election night party at Dick and Lynne Cheney's home in McLean, Virginia, cheering the Republican landslide that swept a corrupt, self-aggrandizing Democratic majority out of power on Capitol Hill. Some called it "the Gingrich revolution," though the new Speaker of the House had nothing to do with a GOP sweep that included George W. Bush's unexpected victory over Ann Richards in Texas and George Pataki's upset win over Mario Cuomo in New York.
November 7, 2000: Six years later, I'd celebrated the news that a cascade of ballots coming out of south Florida had carried the state and the election for the Bush-Cheney ticket. Premature cheering as it developed, but Al Gore's concession speech a month later cleared the way for the first Republican takeover of both the White House and the Congress in nearly half a century.
"Sometimes party loyalty asks too much."
-John F. Kennedy, on refusing to nominate
a Democrat he disliked to a judgeship (1961)
November 7, 2006 (- 5minutes to midnight): You know something has gone wrong in your political universe when the party you've worked and voted with for over forty years is getting blown out in a national election and you feel good about it.
Election Night Flashbacks:
November 2, 1994: Twelve years before, I'd been at an election night party at Dick and Lynne Cheney's home in McLean, Virginia, cheering the Republican landslide that swept a corrupt, self-aggrandizing Democratic majority out of power on Capitol Hill. Some called it "the Gingrich revolution," though the new Speaker of the House had nothing to do with a GOP sweep that included George W. Bush's unexpected victory over Ann Richards in Texas and George Pataki's upset win over Mario Cuomo in New York.
November 7, 2000: Six years later, I'd celebrated the news that a cascade of ballots coming out of south Florida had carried the state and the election for the Bush-Cheney ticket. Premature cheering as it developed, but Al Gore's concession speech a month later cleared the way for the first Republican takeover of both the White House and the Congress in nearly half a century.
