At TPM Cafe, we’re wrapping up this week’s Book Club on E.J. Dionne’s new book.
In his final post, Dionne argues that the era of the Religious Right began in 1980 and may well have ended in 2004 and predicts that broad economic and foreign policy questions will supplant the cultural arguments of the last quarter century.
Arguing this week against the premise of Dionne’s book has been Richard Parker, who, in his final post, suggests that the retrenchment Dionne describes is less fundamental and the result of recent political setbacks for the Republican Party. He compares the Religious Right to a trophy wife:
They felt neglected and abused by their Democratic first husband, and started fooling around with the rich Republican. But now they’re married to the GOP, and they’re surprised that the romance has gone away?
Our thanks to all the participants this week.
