Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party

A real disappointment bringing doubt to New York Times "best selling" category and to Blumenthal's reputation. Too much reliance on research, if that is what you call it, from an army of biased "researchers "at Media Matters, Huffington Post, etc. and not by the author himself. I am a Republican and Roman Catholic but one who is highly critical of the Republican Party and the Christian Right sans Blumenthal's slanted views. I held my nose voting for Nixon, the Bushes, McCain and Trump but only because the alternatives were so repugnant. It would be interesting if Blumenthal would now write a similar expose of the Democrats and explain to us the historical rise of our current "leadership" in Washington D.C. The Republicans pale by comparison. He can't because he couldn't get anything resembling true history from his "research" base.

In Republican Gomorrah, Max Blumenthal traces the history of the rise of the Christian Right and its take over of the Republican Party. This is a process which began in the 1950s as an outgrowth of McCarthyism and intensified in reaction to the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam protests, and other aspects of the 1960s. It first gained real power during the 1980s and finally achieved total dominance within the GOP during the 1990s and in the George W. Bush Administration. Blumenthal has done an impressive amount of meticulously documented research and has unearthed much new information. He identifies Francis Schaeffer as the original source of much of the philosophy behind the Family (as the movement is known among its adherents), and recognizes the heavy influence of James Dobson, Rousas John Rushdoony, and Howard F. Ahmanson in its propagation. As the Family has gained power it has attracted politicians like Tom DeLay and Ralph Reed until, in the 2008 election, it was actually able to dictate the choice of a supremely unqualified candidate as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. This book intrigued me on several levels. As a white Southern male in my early 50s, I have witnessed much of the Family's rise. I remember Francis Schaeffer being avidly discussed among young conservatives at my college during the 1970s, and recall the very heavy handed Republican efforts to co-opt the votes of people like me which began in 1980 and have continued to the present. I resented then and still resent today their assumption that my heritage and my faith would incline me to vote for their bigoted and racist platform, and feel deeply ashamed that so many who have a similar background to mine could be manipulated into giving them their support. The chapters dealing with Christian Reconstructionism and Dominionism are excellent guides for understanding those movements and their connections to the GOP. I also found the chapters detailing the hypocrisy and financial and/or sexual pecadillos of these men and women who claim to be doing the Lord's work highly interesting, if sometimes sickening. It would be all too easy to sneer at such churlishness and dismiss it out of hand, but that would be a mistake. With our country so deeply divided, and with civilized debate and rational discourse rapidly disappearing, books like Republican Gomorrah make invaluable reading to those of us who are dumbfounded by the profound ignorance now so much on display in town hall meetings, "tea parties", and most unfortunately in Congress itself. Republican Gomorrah reveals the mechanisms by which so many honorable religious Americans have been woefully and deliberately misinformed and manipulated into supporting cynical politicians who care nothing for true faith and values. Americans who are truly concerned for the future of our country need to read Republican Gomorrah and be aware that the Republic has much to fear from those who wrap themselves in the flag and wave

By Frank Schaeffer For me reading Max Blumenthal's Republican Gomorrah is a look into a mirror. That might be because Blumenthal extensively interviewed me and drew rather heavily on my book "Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back" as a reference for his in-depth exposé of what has gone so very wrong with the Republican Party. He's on my turf so I happen to know he's telling the truth as its not been told before. But there's more. Republican Gomorrah is the first book that actually "gets" what's happened to the Republican Party and in turn what the Republicans have done to our country. The usual Democratic Party and/or progressive "take" on the Republican Party is that it's been taken over by a far right lunatic fringe of hate and hypocrisy, combining as it does, sexual and other scandals with moralistic finger wagging. But Blumenthal explains a far deeper pathology: it isn't so much religion as the psychosis and sadomasochism of the losers now called "Republicans" that drives the party. And the "Christianity" that shapes so much "conservative" thinking now is anything but Christian. It's a series of deranged personality cults. Th e Religious Right/Republicans have perfected the method of capturing people in personal crisis and turning them into far right evangelical/far right foot soldiers. This explains a great deal that otherwise, to outsiders, seems almost inexplicable--the why and wherefore of "Deathers" "Birthers" et al. Blumanthal brilliantly sums up this pathology as: "...a culture of personal crisis lurking behind the histrionics and expressions of social resentment. This culture is the mortar that bonds leaders and followers together." Tracing the thinking of the fathers of the Republican Party, including my dad, the late Francis Schaeffer, who I teamed up with when I was a young man to help launch the Protestant wing of the "pro-life" movement, along with other such as Rousas John Rushdoony and the philanthropist Howard Ahmanson -- who used to donate generously to my far right work -- Blumenthal explains where the current Republican Party came from. He also details who it's foundational thinkers were, and just why it's still so dangerous. (A threat proved again this summer as the gun-toting fringe derailed the health care reform debate.) He has their number. For one thing this book -- at last! -- will forever put James Dobson where he belongs: onto the top of the list of the American n ational rogue's gallery of mean-spirited, even sadistic, cranks. Blumenthal first came to my attention when he was doing his in-depth reporting on Sarah Palin. He was a guest on a TV program I was on too. There was something accomplished and in depth about the quality of his reporting on religion that I hadn't seen from other progressive sources. I've been following his work since. Blumenthal understands the philosophy, psychology and religion o

This well-researched and superbly written new book uncovers the lies and hypocrisy of conservatives who are quick to condemn wrong-doing in others while hiding behind the cloak of Christianity and "family values." It completely shatters the facade they have built up about themselves. I loved every minute of it. It is THE book to read this fall.