Jacob Weisberg: Psychic Plagiarist

So I have a mostly favorable review of Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy in the pipeline. I did have one mean thing to say but Jacob Weisberg at Slate clearly crept into my subconscious and stole it right out of brain brain. To wit:

The hostility to Wall Street implicit in the last notion is part and parcel of a condescending, aristo-populism that recalls Gore Vidal without the twinkle...Have I mentioned that Phillips is an appalling writer? His prose is cliché-ridden, self-referential, maddeningly repetitive, and dull enough to kill weeds.

Yeah, the style is really bad. But the arguments are better than Weisberg would have you believe.

Update: Stirling Newberry at BoP dispenses with one of Weisberg's objections. And Ian Welsh (also at BoP) dispenses with a few more.