Opinion: Following up with author Max Blumenthal on the conservative movement in the Obama era

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Last year we interviewed Max Blumenthal about his first book, ‘Republican Gomorrah.’

The book explored, in depth, the extreme conservatives within the Republican Party, their motives, and the GOP’s future.

Blumenthal has recently added an epilogue, in which he writes of gun shows in rural Nevada, online conspiracy theories surrounding President Obama’s birth certifcate, and right wing hecklers he faced on his book tour.

He also makes observations about the moment the healthcare bill was passed. He writes:

After the passage of the health care bill, the Tea Party floated into a gray zone between authoritarianism and anarchy. Crusading to restore a holy social order, they promoted disorder. Claiming to protect democracy, they smashed windows of elected representatives. Warning of death panels, they called in death threats. With the atmosphere of violence thickening, Palin took to her Twitter account to issue a battle cry: ‘Don’t Retreat, Instead -- RELOAD!’ Thus concluded the first phase of the Obama era that was to usher in a peaceable kingdom of bipartisanship.

‘Republican Gomorrah’ is now available in paperback.

-- Lori Kozlowski
twitter.com/lorikozlowski

Photo (left): Author Max Blumenthal. Credit: Nation Books. Photo (right): Book cover of Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party. Credit: Nation Books.