You go girl: Crier shows ‘Contempt’ for right wing

October 8, 2005

Guest Post by Morbo

A friend just passed me a copy of Court TV host Catherine Crier’s new book “Contempt: How The Right Is Wronging American Justice,” and I have to say I’m impressed.

I had no idea Crier was on our side. I’d always just assumed she was kind of conservative, since she was elected as a state judge in Texas as a Republican some years ago.

Actually, she is (or was) kind of conservative, as Crier says in the book. The problem is today’s conservatives are far-right reactionary nutcases who have left her behind.

So Crier is mad as hell and speaking out. I haven’t finished the book, but it’s pretty obvious it was the kook right’s war on the judiciary that got her blood boiling. She pulls no punches. This is a hard-hitting tome. Her final chapter is titled “The Holiest of Holies: The Twenty Biggest Powerbrokers of the Far Right.” She lets creeps like Tom DeLay, James Dobson, Grover Norquist and Bill Frist have it right in the old kisser.

But what’s really cool is that Crier is savvy enough to single out right-wingers who work mainly behind the scenes to destroy all this country stands for — or used to stand for. A large section of the book deals with separation of church and state, and Crier cuts loose on a “Christian nation” advocate and GOP activist named David Barton. Barton is hardly a household name, but he has been more influential than you might think. Barton created a cottage industry peddling phony American history to eager fundamentalists. They use his claptrap in letters to the editor, newspaper columns and on websites. Crier slaps him around like a hockey puck. She couldn’t have chosen a better target.

The book is not perfect. It lacks an index and does not contain footnotes. But the good news is it’s written in a breezy, accessible style that might appeal to readers who normally avoid books on legal topics, fearing they might be too dry.

Crier’s previous books have sold well, and she’s enough of a household name to spark a round of sales. Here’s hoping “Contempt” takes off and dethrones Bernard Goldberg’s latest piece of dung from the best-seller list.

“But what’s really cool is that Crier is savvy enough to single out right-wingers who work mainly behind the scenes to destroy all this country stands for….”

This aspect is particularly important. All these guy’s get real, real skinny and bunch up and hide behind the, (who knows why?), much beloved persona and facade, (I know his numbers are down but he still gets more respect than he deserves), of Dear Leader Bush. So many decisions and activities and plots get laid at Bush’s doorstep when he’s just a clumsy, swaggering smokescreen. What’s happening behind Shruby and just around the corner from Shruby is where the real chili is cooking.

It works great too. If the general public can barely follow the shotgun blast of activities and misdeeds by the most visible players, then the termites behind the scene just keep chomping away. The “Culture of Corruption” is, of course, as real as the air we breathe but it’s almost as invisible as well until the most egregious crap plops down in the most obvious way.

It’s one huge area that could be addressed and explained by Democrats wanting to expose the right for the cesspool it is. Trouble is though, as has been mentioned here before, the Dem’s are not without their own sticky clumps of smelly deals and capitulations clinging to them.

Ms. Crier can write a fine and accurate book about The Rot on the Right, (an earthier version of The Culture of Corruption), but she could write an equally useful book about the incompetence of the opposition.

  • burro –

    So it’s all the Dem’s fault that the Republicans where hijacked by the wingnuts?

    Unless you’re a troll – let’s try and stick to the subject at hand, which was NOT Dem bashing.

  • PhilW:

    I don’t think I’m a troll. I’m here a fair bit and have no love for the Right. But the Democrats are not a sacred organization. I want a less corrupt government. I don’t want just a less corrupt Republican party, (though that would be nice). And I don’t think it’s possible to really get in the Right’s face and poke ’em in the chest and tell them to get the hell out and expect it to happen until we get our own house in order and pumped up and agreeing on a coherent message.

    I’m not sure where I said it was the Dem’s fault that the “Republicans’s were hijacked by the wingnuts” but the left has done a very bad job both of confronting Republican corruption and explaining to the American people why Republican policies are bad for both the country and the average citizen. Our whole gov’t is being hijacked by corporate interests, (subsidies for refineries anyone?), and both party’s have been complicit in the advancing of those interests. The Right just more overtly and sleazily so. This cycle anyway.

    The wingnuts have gotten where they are by stealth, guile, planning and often, cheating, (and by fielding the perfect blank slate of a president). But why does it take a Republican former state judge from Texas to finally lay out at this late stage of the game a clear, easy to read expose’ of the Rats pulling the levers in the Republican Party? Everybody she writes about has been in place doing their dirty work for quite some time. Maybe they were double secret undercover and “The Democrats” didn’t know they were there. Well, thanks to Ms. Crier, they certainly know it now. Let’s see what they do with the info.

    I want them to use it in an organized and intelligent fashion to kick some ass. Name names, take numbers. But if they don’t, can’t, won’t… then I want some honest folks with vision to take office that will.

    I haven’t taken no steenking loyalty oath. If discussing the shortcomings of the Democratic Party is being a troll….then I’m guilty. “Troll right through the night”, as Lowell George might have said.

    Time to watch “Lords of Dogtown”. Catherine Hardwick was in my high school graduating class. Cool huh.

  • PhilW, do me a favor and don’t tell burro what to write about. Ever. I don’t care a wit what you think the topic is or should be, and I enjoy burro’s take on many subjects. If you want to police thoughts, go somewhere else. Plus, he has a good point, which was not blaming the Dems for Rethugs, but, quite clearly:

    Ms. Crier can write a fine and accurate book about The Rot on the Right, (an earthier version of The Culture of Corruption), but she could write an equally useful book about the incompetence of the opposition.

    If you don’t see the truth in the above statement, you should think more and write less.

    And while we’re at it, I for one want to say that yes, it IS all the Dems fault. Do you remember, or even know about, Gingrich’s contract with America? It was based on the Democrat leaders’ obviously questionable ethics. He wasn’t particularly wrong in his accusations, although his alternative left much to be desired. And how about the current crop of neo-cons? It took nothing less than an ineffectual and disorganized party full of special interest hacks to screw up that election, and twice! Hello?!? Big pharma contributes to BOTH parties, Dems voted for the Iraq war, Dems cater to pro-choice anti-gun zealots like all that wins elections. It don’t, Phil, and that certainly makes for ‘incompetent opposition.”

    P.S., I welcome Repulicans to contribute to this and any other progressive site. Isolation is not helpful.

  • Eadie:

    It’s always reassuring to know that someones keeping an eye on those rooftops and second floor windows.

    Have a good week.

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