People in Politics and Behind the Scenes

American political consultant and strategist to the Republican party. He was an advisor of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and Chairman of the Republican National Committee.
  First campaign for Strom Thurman (1970)

(May 10, 1919 – January 25, 2011)  a sociologist, writer, editor, and professor emeritus at Harvard University, best known for his seminal contributions to the study of post-industrialism. He has been described as "one of the leading American intellectuals of the postwar era."

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican presidential administrations

(October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American historian, professor, attorney , and writer. He was appointed twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress from 1975 until 1987. Src: Wiki
  I've always felt there was some deep material in some of the books of his that I've read.   The Discoverers is a sweeping history of science and technology whose most truly enlightening discussion, for me, was of the importance of the founding of the Royal Society (of London for Improving Natural Knowledge), one of whose first presidents was Sir Isaac Newton, and its journal, Philosophical Transactions, which, by the promotion of articles examining one aspect of nature rigorously, whether it be the phenomena of static electricity and everything that that led to, or previously invisible animal swimming in a drop of water revealed by the first primitive microscopes, set in motion modern science as we know it today.  I also read the American Experience trilogy, which, as I recall, gave much of the credit for the success of the United States to a sort of lack of illusion of philosohical unity (with illustrations taken from medicine), and the geographical lack of a Capital on the model of London or Paris.
  Anyway, I have a skepticism of grand systems, especially political philosophies (like Marxism, Objectivism, or Economic fundamentalism), and belief that we are drawn to them but they strongly tend to blind us to particular realities, leading to many disasters.  Much of my thinking on those lines was clarified by Boorstin.
  Daniel Boorstin has been called a conservative, and I would like to know more about whatever controversies led to that reputation.  He was a professor at the University of Chicago for 25 years, and he wore bow ties, but perhaps his strongist influence inside the academic community came at a time when the left was very attached to big (ideological) systems, and the right, like the ur-Conservative Edmund Burke viewed them with suspicion.
  His very first book, The Mysterious Science of the Law, written in 1941, explored that most unideological source of political wisdom and/or institutional memory, the English Common Law, as exemplified by Blackstone's Commentaries.

Best known for publishing a misleadingly edited video that made Shirley Sherrod appear racist, he says he became a conservative because of the unfair treatment Clarence Thomas received during his confirmation hearings, which makes it very weird that he tweeted this: “If male boss u knew 4 years, hired u job-2-job, gave u raises/promotions & worst infraction was PubicCoke, you know a saint.” His newest obsession is proving that Barack Obama is implicated in a “stealth reparations movement”. (Source: DailyBeast 11-02-27)

 is an American columnist, political analyst, and the author of two best-selling books, Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First (2003) and Do-Gooders: How Liberals Harm Those They Claim to Help — and the Rest of Us (2005). Her political stance is conservative. Charen typically writes about foreign policy, terrorism, politics, and culture. She regularly writes about her Jewish faith and is also known for her generally pro-Israel views. Her columns are nationally syndicated.

Charen, born in 1957 in New York City, was raised in Livingston, New Jersey, where she went to school with Ruth Marcus starting in fourth grade. She received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1979 and a law degree from George Washington University School of Law in 1984. She wrote a column for National Review magazine, where she was an editorial assistant. Later she joined the staff of First Lady Nancy Reagan as a speechwriter

Charen served as 's speechwriter during his unsuccessful 1988 presidential bid. Ms. Charen launched her syndicated column in 1987, and it has become one of the fastest-growing columns in the industry. ...

Charen was a regular weekly commentator on CNN's The Capital Gang,

John Terrence "Terry" Dolan (1950 – December 28, 1986) was an American New Right political operative who was co-founder and chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC).

An outspoken critic of gay rights, he was discovered to have been a closeted homosexual who frequented gay bars in Washington, D.C. He died from complications of AIDS, aged 36.

Dolan was co-founder and chairman of NCPAC. He co-authored  Reagan: A President Succeeds with Gregory Fossedal.

At age 21, he worked as a paid organizer in Richard Nixon's 1972 presidential re-election campaign.The following year, he was a candidate for chairman of the College Republicans but lost to Karl Rove.

Dolan stated that the secret of fundraising is to try to "make them angry and stir up hostilities. The shriller you are, the easier it is to raise funds. That's the nature of the beast."

Source: WIKI

Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative syndicated columnist and author. Goldberg is known for his contributions on politics and culture to National Review Online, of which he is editor-at-large. He is the author of Liberal Fascism (2008), which reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list

Irving Kristol (January 22, 1920 – September 18, 2009) was an American columnist, journalist, and writer who was dubbed the "godfather of neoconservatism". As the founder, editor, and contributor to various magazines, he played an influential role in the intellectual and political culture of the last half-century; after his death he was described by The Daily Telegraph as being "perhaps the most consequential public intellectual of the latter half of the 20th century"

   Far too much to say
   Lately, he’s taken to making derogatory comments about the first lady’s weight. In the wake of the Tucson shooting, he said of Democrats, “What Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of a major political party in this country.” He claims that in Barack Obama’s America, it’s OK for black kids to physically assault white kids on school buses and that the whites victimized in these crimes are thought to have gotten what they deserved. He regularly uses bigoted words and imagery to stir racial controversy. And here is an abridged list of the people he has labeled racist in the past several years: Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, Van Jones, Democrats generally, the mainstream media, and the NFL. (Source: DailyBeast 11-02-27)

(born March 19, 1943) is a Republican campaign consultant and advisor
Irish Catholic family, grew up mostly in California.  Was boxer from age 13-23, hoping to box in the Olympics.
Worked for Office of Economic Opportunity, the first of the LBJ Great Society projects.
Campaigned for Robert Kennedy in 1968, then chief of staff to a republican assemblyman for a year, and then three years as a college vice chancellor.  Served in congressional liason capacities under Nixon and Ford.
  In 1972 worked professionally for the Nixon campaign and got to know Ronald Reagan, and Lyn Nofziger.
From 77-79 administrative job with National Fire Academy.
  After subsidiary jobs in the Reagan campaign and then in White House, he lead the 1984 Reagan re-election campaign, with Lee Atwater as deputee.
  Brief post-campaign job under Don Regan, but left 1985, to join a California political consulting firm, Russo & Watts.
  Worked for Jack Kemp as successor to Reagan in a short lived campaign.
Source: WIKI

Too much to say, so I won't attempt it for now.  I did, however, read Rove's own book, in which he makes everything look very reasonable, and himself very misunderstood and beseiged by attackers, until the last chapter, when he starts talking about Obama and the new administration, and starts to sound like quite a different (and more dangerous) person.

noted Middle Eastern moderate, intellectual, feminist, and World Bank employee currently on external assignment at The Foundation for the Future, a "semi-independent foundation to promote democracy" in the Middle East and North Africa.^[1]She is currently the companion of Paul Wolfowitz.

(born 26 August 1933) is an American conservative commentator and writer.
   author with Richard M. Scammon of The Real Majority, the 1970 analysis believed to have provided the basis for the campaign strategies of the Nixon administration in the 1970 congressional elections and 1972 presidential election.
   Mentor to Jonah Goldberg?
  Longtime PBS producer

He is a leading neoconservative. As Deputy Secretary of Defense, he was "a major architect of President Bush's Iraq policy and ... its most hawkish advocate." Donald Rumsfeld in his interview with Fox News on February 8, 2011 said that Wolfowitz was the first to bring up Iraq after 9/11 attacks during a meeting at presidential retreat at Camp David.