The Lesser Evil: The Democratic Party

Brenner begins by assuring the reader that he intends writing ``like us Amurican sic guys and gals talk.'' His premise is that a victory by the Democrats is generally the best of a very bad bargain. To illustrate that the Democratic party is ``steeped in evil'' he cites the roundup of Japanese-Americans in World War II, Truman and the atomic bombs, Kennedy and Cuba, Johnson and Vietnam, Carter's support of Marcos and the Shah. There are no greys in Brenner's outlook. The only national leaders who seem not to stir his wrath are Jefferson and Madison. FDR? He's ``the man who put the lightbulb in the outhouse.'' Truman is an ``antediluvian machine hack,'' and JFK a ``whited sepulchre.'' (Nor are municipal politicans spared: New York's Edward Koch was ``once a charming baby, but so was Hitler.'') It's hard to imagine who would appreciate this intemperate and insulting diatribe. Perhaps ``Joe Sixpack'' or ``the average American'' who Brenner says is ``a political lightweight.'' (September)