Reply #27: The book's high on my to-read list, but I haven't gotten to it

[starroute]

There are mysteries within mysteries concerning the rise of the right in the 1960's and 1970's -- not least being the connection between the respectable establishment conservatives and the Birchers, racists, and other wackos on the extreme right. The relationship has always been far closer than either side likes to admit publicly, but just who was exploiting whom and to what ends remains very much up in the air.

It's no different today. Are the Neocon types really running the Bush administration and just tossing the religious right and other extremists an occasional bone to insure their support? Or is the extreme right using its opportunities to worm its way further and further into the centers of real power until it can insist on a Republican presidential candidate and an agenda of its own choosing?

It's an interesting puzzle and will no doubt be resolved only when push comes to shove between them.