false 776093 2 In 1789, the Founding Fathers came up with a system of checks and balances to keep kingly powers out of the hands of American presidents. But in the 1970s and '80s, a faction of Republican loyalists, outraged by the fall of the imperial presidency after Watergate and the Vietnam War, abandoned conservatives' traditional suspicion of concentrated government power. These men hatched a plot that would allow the White House to return to, or even surpass, the virtually unchecked powers that Richard Nixon had briefly tried to wield. Congress would be defanged, and the commander-in-chief would be able to assert a unilateral dominance both at home and abroad.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Today, this plot is coming to fruition. As <I>Takeover</I> reveals, the Bush-Cheney administration has succeeded in seizing vast powers for the presidency by throwing off many of the restraints placed upon it by Congress, the courts, and the Constitution. This timely book unveils the secret machinations behind the headlines, explaining the links between warrantless wiretapping and the President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, between the torture debate and the secrecy surrounding Vice President Cheney's energy task force, and between the "faith-based initiative" and the holding of US citizens without trial as "enemy combatants." It tells, for the first time, the full story of a hidden agenda three decades in the making, laying out how a group of true believers set out to establish monarchical executive powers that, in the words of one conservative critic, "will lie around like a loaded weapon" ready to be picked up by any future president.<BR><BR>Brilliantly reported and deftly told, <I>Takeover</I> is a searing investigation into how the constitutional balance of our democracy is in danger of being permanently altered. For anyone who cares about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s past, present, and future, it is essential reading. <BR><BR><BR> 762131 5 9 2007 Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy total:87|5:37|4:34|3:14|2:1|1:1| 87 366 188 25 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 12:42:19 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 15 06:44:28 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 08:26:20 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 08:33:05 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Nov 24 16:33:21 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 24 16:39:03 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 20 01:52:56 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 04 02:15:40 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Mar 11 17:41:37 -0700 2009 Fri Dec 05 16:08:16 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 11 17:41:37 -0700 2009
This is a very angry-making book. It takes all of those news stories that were of concern during the last eight years and sets them into a context. Reall...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 04 19:07:03 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 15 05:13:46 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 20:06:21 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 24 15:54:43 -0700 2008
Charlie Savage meaningfully and engagingly presents a lot of detail about how Cheney and Bush are accumulating frightening amounts of power for the presidency through a very deliberate approach based on a vision of the President having inherent au...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 06 04:35:18 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 04:36:14 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 13 13:12:14 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 13:21:54 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 01 16:05:09 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 16:05:45 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Aug 02 05:55:08 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 05:47:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 25 15:58:39 -0700 2008 Tue May 27 15:55:48 -0700 2008
Though I found its non-chronological construction...more...]]> 3 0 true false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 16:24:11 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 22 16:29:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jun 02 21:32:26 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 21:41:44 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 18:37:51 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 18:43:51 -0700 2008 Once 4 0 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 14 13:30:16 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 14 13:32:31 -0800 2007 4 0 false false Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 13 23:15:41 -0800 2008 Mon May 26 22:31:48 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Thu Oct 18 19:51:20 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 18 19:52:03 -0700 2007 ]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jul 01 08:12:14 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 28 11:15:43 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Apr 01 09:45:45 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 09:46:43 -0700 2008