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Benjamin Weyl

Benjamin Weyl is a Prospect intern.

Recent Articles

A Republican Revolution

Benjamin WeylAug 03, 2006
What's the matter with Kansas Republicans? In a state where Bush captured over 60 percent of the vote in 2004, a tiny revolution is taking place, with more and more Republicans running as Democrats in state elections. Its ripples may be spreading throughout the country. This November, nine former Kansas Republicans are running as Democrats, including one for the office of lieutenant governor and another for that of attorney general. For years, moderates and conservatives have been battling within the Kansas Republican Party, mostly over social issues such as abortion and evolution. As moderates get pushed out, they sometimes wind up with a ‘D' next to their name. “It was a drip, now it's a trickle,” says Joe Aistrup, head of the department of political science at Kansas State University. Mark Parkinson is part of that trickle. Parkinson chaired the state GOP from 1999 to 2003 but is now running as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. “They were fixated on ideological...

Doctrinal Errors

Benjamin WeylJul 12, 2006
In The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 , Ron Suskind delves into the shadows of the “war on terror,” portraying a nation confronted with previously unimaginable threats both to its security and to its democratic soul. TAP recently spoke with Suskind by phone. What is the One Percent Doctrine? The One Percent Doctrine is the creation of Dick Cheney, who in large measure is running U.S. foreign policy. It comes from a meeting in November 2001. The vice president is being briefed by CIA and NSC about a harrowing intelligence disclosure that Pakistani nuclear scientists had met with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri a few weeks before 9-11 in Kandahar around a campfire. This, of course, is a meeting whose implications no one needs to sketch out. As the briefing proceeds, the vice president says that we need to think about “a low probability, high impact event” in a different way. By the end of the briefing he has that different way and...