Books: I shoulda stuck with the older ones...

Picture: Neighborhood roller coaster road. Recognize it?

I read something from a favorite blog, probably Firedoglake, about a book that struck a chord somewhere in my psyche and to which I responded by putting the book on a list of 'lets-read-these-over-the-winter'. I thought at the time that that was probably a mistake since this was recent history, something which I avoid as such history, to my way of thinking, has not had sufficient time to age, to become objective with the cooling of passions that more often than not befuddle us. Not only did it go on the list, it went to the top along with The English Patient. Good Mary at the Loogootee library requested and received the two books and I started reading Follow the Money the next day, that would be yesterday, putting aside Boom! for the time being (though I did return to it before going to bed last night, wanting something to settle my thoughts after 'struggling' through another gray December day). The book, with the subtitle How George W. Bush and the Texas Republicans Hog-Tied America, examines the grab for money and power of the last several years at the national level, one which was preceded by a similar grab for money and power in Texas during the '90's. Leading the list of characters (scoundrels) are Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Dick Cheney, and of course, the innocent pawn (!) of the rascals, George Bush. From a review at amazon.com:

"Follow the Money" is, as John Anderson writes, a "first pass at history," an effort to chronicle a "vast web of intrigue." He might well have said a vast web of corruption, as intricate as a Mark Lombardi diagram, for that is the book's subject -- the barely concealed but highly complex efforts of Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff, and a host of others, most with close ties to Texas, in their bald pursuit of money and power. Abramoff's story is particularly appalling -- for example, Anderson explains how Abramoff manipulated the anti-gambling Christian right in the service of his pro-gambling Native American clients who wished to crush competing tribes in nearby states, and then turned around to represent those same competing tribes in their efforts to legalize gambling -- but it is only one strand in Anderson's fascinating story.

Anderson's account is thoroughly documented and fair minded, acknowledging honesty and integrity on either side of the aisle whenever it presents itself. Witness the examples of Paul O'Neill, James Comey, and even John Ashcroft, all of whom come out quite well in Anderson's account.

Although George W. Bush is certainly an actor in this tale, his relative absence, compared to others, is telling in and of itself. Bush is not a prime mover in his own universe. That role falls to others, such as Dick Cheney and Karl Rove (yet another Texan).

Anderson's story, exposing the naked power grab of the Republicans in Washington, D.C. (and particularly in Congress), as well as in Texas, is a shocker. We can only hope the Democrats in Congress, and perhaps soon the White House, do a better job.

What I find most disturbing in my reading is how roiled and ruffled I get at once again seeing the events of the recent past replayed. Of course, we know what damage has been done over the last several years and that makes it hurt all the more. (I just finished a section which went over the Florida fiasco in 2000 where, as Bill Clinton said when he heard that the recount case was going to the Supreme Court, something totally unexpected since this was a states right case through and through (?): "The fix is in, this thing stinks". The author quotes a couple of comments made by Sandra Day O'Connor at the time that belie her independence and objectivity as a Supreme Court justice and place her squarely on the political right.)

In the telling of this story, the author, John Anderson, makes mention of the historical parallel of Bush and Rove with McKinley and Hanna, something which I have heard before (go here for more on that comparison and how Rove has failed to meet Hanna's success in holding power and winning the White House over several decades for Republicans). And that brings me to my point: even though I'm going to continue the reading of the Anderson book, and more than likely continue on that roller coaster ride with more roiling and ruffling, and then hopefully the bringing of the bad guys to justice, I do so with the full awareness that I should have ordered a book on McKinley and Hanna and buried myself in something that is well over a century old. Keeping the peace, stilling the waters, lowering the temperatures, maintaining cool. Desirable activities even on a slow day in December.

Heading out for a walk and thankful that all the bad weather of our near neighbors has slipped on by. At least for the moment.