Advertise On EU-Digest

Annual Advertising Rates

8/18/06

calendarlive.com: BOOK REVIEW - The quest for a Republican nation - "Europe better take note"


For the complete report in the Los Angeles Times calendarlive.com click on this link

The quest for a Republican nation - "Europe better take note - by Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten Wiley

N 2004, Republicans won a clean sweep of the national elections — 232 House seats, 55 Senate seats, 28 governorships and, of course, the presidency, expanding on gains from 2000 and 2002. It's the kind of electoral dominance that could lead a pair of White House reporters to wonder: "Is the United States becoming a one-party country?" Such is the provocative contention of Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten's behind-the-curtains exegesis of the Republican plan for perpetual political power — and why it just might be crazy enough to work. "Republicans," they write, "are the New York Yankees of American politics — the team that, at the start of every season, has the tools in place to win it all.

"The obvious and immediate test of the premise of "One Party Country" will be the November midterm elections. Will Republican efforts to toughen immigration laws destroy the support Bush has gained among Latinos? Will the administration's fumbled response to Hurricane Katrina wash away the inroads the GOP has made among African Americans? And can Republicans keep playing the terrorism card, despite the daily reports of death and disaster in Iraq? (Hamburger and Wallsten have surprisingly little to say about the politics of national security as a potential explanation for recent Republican successes).

No comments: