Conning the Christian Right

Prior to the Cheney-Bush administration being installed by the Supreme Court's Scalia Five, I would never have guessed that one of my favorite sources on current political issues would be John Dean, Nixon's former White House lawyer.

But his books Worse Than Watergate (German title: Das Ende der Demokratie, and, yes, it means "the end of democracy") and Conservatives Without Conscience have been two of the best commentaries on the Cheney-Bush administration that have appeared.

He also does a bi-weekly online column for Findlaw.com. Today's column deals with the much-reported book by David Kuo, in which we learn that top Republican official routinely sneer at their Christian Right loyal followers (David Kuo's Book "Tempting Faith": The Author's Agenda, the Authoritarian Behavior He Reports, And the White House's Response 10/20/06). Most of the column today is actually an interview with Robert Altemeyer, whose has specialized in studying authoritarian personalities. He's coming out with a new book in "popular" style, The Authoritarians. He's also the author of The Authoritarian Specter and Right-Wing Authoritarianism.

Altemeyer's answer to the following question I found particularly striking:

[Dean]: You're saying then that, ironically, if the Religious Right has its way, the White House and Congress will be filled with amoral people.

[Altemeyer]: Yes, I am, although of course there would be exceptions. And I'd say the proof is already right in front of us. When did we ever have a president who insisted on having the "right" to torture people, or a Congress that voted for it? How often have we had an administration deciding it could suspend habeas corpus and other constitutional guarantees, and Congress going along? And you can see this amorality on the individual level. Look at the members of the House of Representatives who have been convicted of crimes lately. Or look at the list of the 20 most corrupt members of the House compiled by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. Every one of these lawmakers got high marks for his voting record from the James Dobson/Tony Perkins Family Research Council. That's not a coincidence. There's this remarkable, actually weird but understandable, connection between being corrupt and being elected by the Religious Right. The crooks head for the Religious Right. The gullible rank and file don't realize this. But they send far more than their fair share of bribe-taking, influence peddling, money laundering, lying scoundrels to executive mansions and legislatures election after election." (my emphasis in bold)

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