Rating: 
Summary: Press Corps needs an eye exam
Review: For the past two weeks I have been reading David Brock's Blinded By the Right. I can usually breeze through any book
in a couple of days. Not the case with this one. I can only read about 10 pages then feel the need of a shower or a glass of
wine. If even half the shenanigans in this book are true Hillary was more right than even she knew. There is not only a "vast right wing conspiracy" afoot but also no less than the destruction of democracy and the Constitution. Crazy people are the characters in this book and most of them are now cabinet members,supreme court justices, heads of agencies, news anchors, owners of newspapers, TV stations, cable news channels, and millionaires with more money than sense.
The plots to decimate civil rights, lies to further the right's agenda, destroying reputations and careers, are just sickening and very, very frightening. Their attacks on liberals and progressives as some type of sub-human species raises the specter of the holocaust. This was taking place before 9/11. In the wake of that disaster the agenda has been accelerated. While most of us still morn and try to understand why, the right wing calls those who question or disagree "traitors".
The New York Times and the Washington Post are beginning to finally ask the questions we have been begging them to for 6 months and longer. Some journalists are beginning to see that the truth is not a fax from the White House, corporate news owners, or Delay, Armey and various other right wing rouges. The truth behind these folks is exciting, scary, scandalous and lucrative! Maybe now the Kurtzs', Dowds', Kings', Safires', Wills' etc. will take off their $500. rose colored glasses and look at these wingers with some perspective. If a simple "blue dress" could buy most of the Washington press new kitchens, cars, homes and vacations imagine what "oil, Enron, Afghan pipelines, 9/11 investigations, Bush Family/Bin Laden Family connections, etc. could buy! Of course the stories are a bit more complicated than sex. It requires some actual archival research and an attention span longer than a story on CNN headline news. Good luck with getting the stories past the puppetmasters.
I strongly suggest reading this book and passing it on to your favorite "ditto head".
Rating:
Summary: required reading for all Americans
Review: This well-written book exposes and documents the moral decadence of right-wing conservatives. After reading this book, you will never again look at those right-wing "pundits" in quite the same light when you see them spouting off on television. Clinton may have had his foibles, but they pale in comparison to the shenanigans perpetrated by the Right. Some have dismissed this book as the writings of an admitted liar. But there is just too much that rings true for this to be simply dismissed out of hand. Americans concerned about the health of our democracy will find portions of this book truly alarming, such as how Clarence Thomas and Ted Olson perjured themselves. Hillary Clinton was widely derided for claiming that she and Bill Clinton were the targets of a "vast right-wing conspiracy". Brock's book essentially vindicates Hillary's claim. Perhaps the only word one could take issue with is the word "vast", but there can be no doubt that there was a conspiracy to destroy Clinton's presidency. The book also sheds light on those "think tanks" and other organizations funded by wealthy but secretive patrons with a political agenda (such as Richard Mellon Scaife). For Brock to write this book was a courageous act. I believe it was an honest attempt to clear his conscience, and I recommend this book highly.
Rating: 
Summary: A Sad Day
Review: David Brock confirms what others had written about there being a dedicated group of people bent on destroying the office of the presidency and moderate and liberal candidates. Unfortunately, the waters have been so poisoned that neither party or political advocates can ever go back to an agree to disagree belief system. We will have to leave that to the next generation of politicians to fix if they are able to. Aside from the gossip, Brock's story is about how fanaticism and ambition of one man led to ruin and harm of our society. It is his need to repent that illuminates the danger of embracing the win by any means necessary mentality. It is a cautionary bio of how a fanatic rationalizes every wrong thing and continues to descend further into a hell surrounded by contemporaries who become reflections of his own self; a self that he despises and loathes. The beginning of the end comes when he tells the truth that strays from what his contemporaries believe. As long as Brock lied to further the aims of the fanatics, they embraced him. Once he tells a different truth, he is attacked and cast out. This is not unlike David Horowitz's story, "Native Son". He also became a fanatic which robbed him of all objectivity and believed his cause was above the law. Unlike Mr. Brock so far, Horowitz has embraced the neo-conservative fanaticism and uses the same disgusting tactics he used to advance the left to advance the right: lies, innuendoes, and smears. Which leads me to the reason why I cannot give Mr. Brock five stars. Mr. Brock is using the same tactics to discredit people on the left only now it is his former friends (they really weren't according to him as if that is a justification for revealing there many shortcomings). He judges himself harshly so that does minimizes the attack on others somewhat. However, it is still not enough to be distrustful of such an ambitious man. If Mr. Brock is sincere in his shameful past actions, then he should donate the proceeds of this book to charity and disappear from the political scene much like Anita Hill has done. I believe that Mr. Brock has done a great service by exposing the operation of this subversive and unethical group who have ruined all civility in politics. They are still out there cranking out the hate and seeking to destroy anyone who disagrees with them by any means necessary. The manipulation of the mainstream press and actions by neo-conservatives can no longer be defended by pundits who denied the vast right wing consipiracy ever existed. So far, the press has their head buried in the sand but we now know that they have been lazy and too quick to elevate these people to positions of high exposure. If anyone doubts this, direct them to "Blinded by the Right". Perhaps this will lead to a real changing of the tone in Washington. At the very least, "Blinded by the Right" shatters the wall that the conservative pundits and press hid behind. They have much explaining to do. Too bad no one is asking them questions about what they have done.
Rating:
Summary: The biters bit.
Review: The reactionary right wing has created a monster, and its name is David Brock. As one of the pioneers of the art of right-wing character assassination, Brock is uniquely well qualified to expose the tawdry inner workings of the various lavishly funded entities -- magazines, think-tanks, radio shows -- that have become the preeminent source of "information" for a huge number of Americans. Yet this "information" consists largely of gossip, innuendo, and outright lies. During Brock's entire tenure at "The American Spectator," his work was never fact-checked. The cases against Anita Hill and both the Clintons were based largely on sheer fabrication, perpetrated by a movement whose sole ideological underpinning was -- and is -- anti-Clintonism. From Richard Mellon Scaife to Bob Tyrrell to Ted Olson to Matt Drudge, Brock profiles a rogues' gallery of ruthless, hypocritical, and ultimately soulless masters of media manipulation. Now these people have become the Establishment they once professed to despise, and their methods have become S.O.P. for most of the so-called free press. Which is why this book and its author are now on the receiving end of precisely the same sort of poison-pen attacks in which he used to specialize. Nothing makes a biter madder than being bit.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: Today is 3/16/02. It has come to my attention that the Washington Post is going to write a "review" of this book in the 3/17/02 edition of the paper. This "review" will be written by an employee of the American Spectator and will be a slam of the book. Don't believe the hype. This book is great and it is a must have for anyone interested in what goes on behind the curtain.
Rating: 
Summary: SAD, PATHETIC AND SLEAZY
Review: A truly sad mea culpa from a sleazy, pathetic man who admits what some of us have long suspected - that David Brock is a pathological liar whose work needs to be sealed off by the EPA. Personally, I find his work as an attack dog for the left as tedious and tendentious as anything he did as a hitman for the rabid right. Don't make the same mistake I did - save your money.
Rating:
Summary: The Journey of David Brock-A Tale to Be Well Heeded
Review: When opening Brock's Book, I fully expected,an apologetic"left-leaning" version of the Anita Hill character assassination. Oh, contrare! "Blinded" was,indeed, well written,impeccably researched and documented,and downright understanding in his treatment of his former friends and patrons of "The Movement".
Brock could've easily revealed the names of the closeted gay House Impeachment Manager and the well known Conservative Talking Head/Pundit,but chose to demur instead. He could've delved in to the nitty gritty nasty details of heart-to-heart conversations with Ingraham and Coulter,but chose restraint instead. If only they would use such judgement.
Having read this book and then reading Mrs. Justice[Gini] Thomas'
fire breathing Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, makes one want to laugh,laugh,and laugh some more. I guess "everbody's outted",now.
Rating:
Summary: I don't like David Brock.
Review: Nevertheless, I don't think I could possibly be more critical of him than he is of himself in "Blinded by the Right." Mr. Brock's confessional has gotten far less attention from the media than some recent Conservative best-sellers, such as Bernie Goldberg's "Bias." In fact, I've heard very little about this book, aside from people saying, "well, he lied before. Why should anyone believe him now?" Well, he may be a confessed liar, but much of what he says can be confirmed in the public record (though you may have to dig for it--the so-called 'liberal media' haven't been particularly forthcoming with apologies for their abysmal coverage of the Clinton 'scandals.' Much of Mr. Brock's tale, however, is anecdotal, and cannot be independently verified. Is it true? Well, if someone, even a confessed liar, lies about me in a public forum, I'll call him on it. If he tells an unpleasant truth about me, I might be more inclined to ignore it and hope it went away. The silence from those named in Brock's tome is deafening.
Rating:
Summary: We already knew most of this; good to have validation
Review: Was he lying THEN or is he lying NOW? You will have to decide for yourself, but before you do you should do a little homework by reading THE HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT by Conason and Lyons, FOOLS FOR SCANDAL by Lyons, ONE SCANDALOUS STORY by Kalb, A VAST CONSPIRACY by Toobin, and there are many others. All of them pretty much corroborate Brock's story. I have recently seen conservative pundits try to dismiss Brock out of hand at this point as eagerly as they embraced him when he was cranking out Anita Hill-hating or Clinton-hating material, but their protestations fall pretty flat. The good news is that they aren't going to be able to ignore him. The political significance of this book is what rates it five stars. In other aspects it is between three and four. In a biographical format Brock is pretty unflinching when he comes to examining his own motivations and mindset. He isn't the first young idealist to be seduced into a values-shredding cult, nor will he be the last, but his trip in and out of the "movement" seems a little too clinical for me. Not that I don't believe it; but I am left to believe that if it weren't for the fact that he was a closeted gay man he would still be there cheerfully rubbing elbows with Ann Coulter and Bernie Goldberg cranking out right-wing hit pieces for the GOP. As it was, he borrows a metaphor to call it "being a Jew in Hitler's army." You don't need to be politically well read to know how the right wing feels about gays. I have to disagree with another reviewer who called Brock's narrative "precise." For this book's next edition, I think it should have more clippings (quotes from Brocks and other hit pieces), dates, and at least an index. In spite of all that the story is quite understandable, and compelling. I could not spot any inconsistencies. By his own account, Brock has much to atone for. This book is a good start, but there is much more to be done. This story is about how we was in the ground floor of a poisionous new trend in presidential politics. If that is ever going to be undone, the events in this book will have to become common knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: I'm only 80 pages in...
Review: But I'm already blown away. This book does not just "feed red meat" to people whose minds have already been made up (i.e. "Bias"). This is a well written, captivating story of losing one's soul for a cause that was at best less than noble, at worst sinister. Mr. Brock drops so many high profile names so quickly that my only criticism could be that people who aren't as familiar with politicians and DC reporters could get lost at moments, but that information does not detract from the story Mr. Brock tells. Basically, if you've voted or read a newspaper at least once in the last 15 years, than buy and read this book. You'll find it fascinating.
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