corrente

Before long, they'll be jumping out of windows in the West Wing:

When McCain threatened Bush in the 2000 primaries, we got the first real glimpse behind the curtain of Bush World -- with its vicious and ferocious assault on McCain's patriotism and character. What the Bushies used against McCain was an unholy coalition of the two primary wings of the Republican Party -- the Corporate Warriors and the Prayer Warriors. These unlikely allies united against McCain despite the fact that he had a strong pro-life record and a conservative congressional record.

The alliance of Mammon and the religious right was consummated in opposition to McCain's support for campaign finance reform. The embodiment of this coalition was a key operative who implemented the anti-McCain assault in South Carolina -- former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, a Karl Rove crony who was also on the payroll of Enron. Reed had been my boss when I worked as legislative director of the Christian Coalition. Before the primaries, Reed warned me that he would implement an under-the-radar slime assault on McCain if he posed a threat to Bush -- just what happened in South Carolina after Bush's loss to McCain in the New Hampshire primary.

Anyone who was involved in the 2000 McCain campaign, as I was, knows exactly who is responsible for the "Swift boat" slime attack on Senator Kerry -- in Bush World, all low roads lead to Rove.

When I was at the Christian Coalition, I witnessed first-hand the alliance of the deregulation, no-tax crowd with the religious conservatives. Ironically, the rank and file of the religious right are hardly the country club set. They are largely middle-class Americans who don't rely on trust funds or dividend checks for their livelihoods. But the leaders of the religious right have betrayed their constituents by failing to champion such economic issues as family leave or access to health insurance, which would relieve the stresses on many working families. The only things the religious conservatives get are largely symbolic votes on proposals guaranteed to fail, such as the gay marriage constitutional amendment. The religious right has consistently provided the ground troops, while the big-money men have gotten the goodies.

The realization that the religious right had essentially become a front for the money men of the Republican Party was a primary source of my disenchantment with that movement. And without a doubt, the GOP has merely become a vehicle for unbridled corporate power. Such a party cannot provide a home for a movement that strives for national greatness.

Marshall Wittman, former McCain aide, and now in the employ of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Yeah, he’s still pretty right-wing. Yeah, I disagree with around 80% of his ideas. But when a former McCain aide says that “the GOP has merely become a vehicle for unbridled corporate power,” I can’t help but smile. And when that same person pulls the curtain from the backroom machinations of the Christian Coalition, I smile like a jackass eating briers. And when he quits the GOP and goes to work for DLC, I find one more disillusioned refugee from Bushco.

I, for one, will hand this article to every Deluded Christian for Bush I meet. Especially the poor ones. Like the guy I drove by today--he's got a big revival tent out front, but his house is a rusty trailer and his ride is a busted-ass old Ford 150. And he's got a monstrous BushCheney poster out front. Bet he thinks he's supporting a good, moral party. Wonder if he'd be shocked to learn that he's a "front for the money men," and right from the mouth of one who was inside the machine?

The whole enchilada can be found at Escape from the Elephant House at the DLC site.