Rating: 
Summary: liberalism's prodigal son
Review: I really enjoyed this book, as evidenced by my numerous underlinings and marginalia. With one major flaw, it is a vindication of observers' assertion that a right wing conspiracy was hounding Bill Clinton, among others, and waylaying the democratic process. In this readable political history wrapped around a personal odyssey, we first learn about Brock's relationship with his father, his awareness of himself as a gay man, and his political involvement at university. Is Brock telling the truth? An article in the New York Review of Books stated that a number of people quoted or described in the book have said that the bits about them, at least, were accurate. Is Brock an opportunist who may take the often-repudiated, often-reclaimed low road ala Geraldo Rivera? Maybe. Whether or not he does will not detract from the wealth of information he imparts. Brock was right in the thick of the Clinton-hating, Anita Hill-bashing movement -- working at the American Spectator, operating for Richard Mellon Scaife, rubbing elbows with the blonde bimbos.I thoroughly enjoyed getting the dirt on the right-wingers who stepped all over the Constitution in two coup attempts -- the unsuccessful impeachment of a duly elected president and the successful Florida 2000 debacle that ended with the Supreme Court's silver-platter delivery of the presidency to a well-funded princeling who'd actually lost the election. These same people are running things now. They are in the White House. They are getting big paybacks that will cost this country dearly. And yes, I want to know about them. Choice bits: Ann Coulter questioning whether "to impeach or assassinate" President Clinton; Laura Ingraham saying she doesn't really believe the things she says on television; Matt Drudge, right-wing arbiter of morality, taking the author out on a date (not that there's anything wrong with that); William "I'm-more-virtuous-than-you" Bennett saying that hate-filled Rush Limbaugh is "possibly our greatest living American"?! It's as if every bully who ever took your lunch money or beat up your kid brother or stopped a recount by sending thugs down to Miami is now in politics. Brock tries, somewhat successfully, to explain why he stuck with ideologically void strategists and publicists fronting for religious fundamentalists and worked for billionaire conspiracy-monger Richard Mellon Scaife; he is less successful at explaining why they hate Clinton so much (though he is burdened by trying to explain the irrational), but he does a fine job of documenting the phenomenon. He describes the desperate mentality that justifies all actions in the name of conservatism, whether or not it tramples the Constitution and whether or not it any longer bears a resemblance to true conservatism. Scaife, who still believes that Vince Foster was murdered, funds many conservative organizations including the Federalist Society, dedicated to bringing radical jurists to the bench. Brock addresses the consequences of a radically conservative judiciary, and it is frightening. Where the author excels is in describing the evolution of the far right political movement in the past two decades -- the Reagan coalition, the birth of the neoconservative movement, and the Gingrich Revolution with its shift from political battles to moral. He also captures the hypocrisy of the men and women who decry adultery and homosexuality in the morning then seduce their own interns or meet at D.C.'s gay bars in the evening; the conservative think tanks and organizations that get tax-exempt status; partisan organizations that decided to impeach Clinton long before anyone had heard of Monica Lewinsky .... "trampling", as the author states, " the Constitution for partisan ends, to gain power they couldn't win in an election". Amen. The book is also a condemnation of the mainstream media, who not only gave Brock's very biased book about Anita Hill great reviews, but who regularly confer legitimacy to even the most blatantly partisan shills. (I'm sure Matt Drudge's appearance on Meet the Press and Rush Limbaugh on This Week with David Brinkley had Edward R. Murrow spinning in his grave.) Brock states that, after years of working at the American Spectator and writing books under conservative editors, he later learned that journalists usually had fact checkers! Brock admits that his writing was filled with fabrications and sourceless rumors, and that he made no attempt to verify or balance the misinformation. Early in his career he believed what he was writing, but later he did not. You may or may not want to put your coins in the pocket of the author, but this is a very interesting and readable expose. Democracy's only hope, if we can't depend on the loyal opposition to grow spines, is that the right is so mean, nasty and vicious that they will turn on each other. After reading this book, I fully expect that to happen. This book is filled with a wealth of information about the links between individuals and organizations, particularly Scaife, who seems to be democracy's Moriarty -- a sinister mastermind at the hub of all that is wicked in rightist politics. The only problem with the book is that there is no index. With so many names and organizations listed, it's a real fault not to have one, but I had so much fun that I'm giving it 5 stars anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: be prepared to be depressed
Review: Anyone who likes to follow U.S. politics in more depth than they are likely to find on their local news channel ought to read this book. As a non-ideologue and a registered independent, I grant no free passes to the left OR the right... however, I certainly did feel that the vilification of Clinton during his presidency, the charges of mass murder, theft, and rape, the claims that he was a security risk to the country, were deeply disingenuous and, to use a heavily loaded term, unpatriotic. Remember that many of those screaming the loudest, such as Newt Gingrich, were not the moral paragons they claimed to be when their own personal lives were eventually examined. This book goes a long way toward illuminating what real power is in today's America and how far from any egalitarian notions of representative democracy we have come. If you don't know the names Richard Mellon Scaife and Grover Norquist then you simply have not done your homework and don't understand the true nature of the radical right wing that leads us today. Brock's book is indeed a road map to where all the bodies were buried in the nineties. This book made me rethink my belief that the left, in order to regain whatever effectiveness and voice it had in past decades, needs to fight fire with fire, innuendo with innuendo, and ethics accusations with ethics accusations. This book left me feeling that there is no excuse for the kind of ugliness the Scaifes and Norquists and their minions have injected into political discourse. Of course, that leaves me somewhat depressed and adrift from my moorings when I consider strategies for retaking America from the ideologues who, at our present juncture, are in control of Washington D.C. I am torn between despising Brock for the damage he did to the country and embracing him for his introspection and his desire to come clean.
Rating: 
Summary: From an historical perspective its good, but...
Review: This is a good book for what it puts into context as opposed to how it was written or what the author confesses about his own life. David Brock identifies and describes how the right wing echo chamber grew from infancy during the Reagan years and hit critical mass with unsubstantiated reports and ruthless allegations during the Clinton years. He even underscores how Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing, and the sour grapes that followed, lead to his villifying Anita Hill, the Clintons, and anyone else who dared to go against conservatism in the slightest (he makes it a point to argue Bush Sr. was never really trusted by the conservatives). However, he places too much irrelevant personal reference into the story and his storytelling isn't always coherent or concise. The story itself has more in line with Stephen Glass or Jayson Blair concerning the importance of proper journalism techniques than it does with political discourse--he doesn't argue who was right or wrong, only that he himself willingly chose a side and slandered those that went against it. To that end, it serves as a mea culpa in the same vein as Blair's or Glass's novels rather than an affirmation as to which side has the better argument. For Dems it verifies what many already knew and for GOPers it is the confession of a person who lost the faith.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Scandal
Review: In "Blinded By The Right", David Brock, the one-time journalistic hit man and right wing insider, substantiates in great detail the coordinated effort to use contrived charges and distortions to debilitate the Clinton Presidency. His account reveals the treasonous scheme of a group of zealous political enemies of Clinton prepared to use any tactic to reverse an election and gain power. Brock's notoriety from his early writings (The Real Anita Hill, Troopergate) earned him an esteemed and well-rewarded insider's position in the rabid anti-Clinton machine. It is through his extraordinary account of metamorphosis and painful confession that we learn who plotted and abetted the escalating effort bent on destroying Clinton, an effort that started long before the extraordinary (and probably illegal) machinations that finally revealed the Lewinsky affair. Brock names the players and describes the manipulations of the assorted financiers, political operatives, Bush supporters, religious extremists, polemicists and propagandists, Federalist Society lawyers, Federal Judges, "elves", gum shoe investigators, dirty tricksters, the far right politicians, prosecutors, and credulous "mainstream" journalists that conjured, sold, bought and promoted the charges that formed the basis for misguided Whitewater investigation and assorted Clinton "scandals'. If any scandal was ever worthy of a thorough investigation, it is the one Brock describes. Brock's chronicle does not call for it, but there is no escaping the conclusion that deposing a dozen or two of these central players would expose the real scandal. Brock's example of personal confrontation, courageous confession and transformation provides hope that one day the perpetrators of the real scandal will be held accountable.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING - a fantastic account of the clinton wars
Review: Brock comes clean and writes a fantastic account of the late 80s and 90s war between the Right and the Left. He strode to prominence in the Conservative movement with horrific attacks on Annita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings and fired the first shots of the Clinton Wars with his article on the "TrooperGate" scandal. He outed Paula Jones in this article formenting the eventual charge of impeachment. He fires back at the unjust hypocrisy of his old friends whose "high morals and values" almost brought down the 42nd president. He outs gossip queens like Matt Drudge and Anne Coulter and fires back at the establishment that once called him comrade. If your looking for a great book on the inside fight to TRAP CLINTON IN A PERJURY CHARGE this book is for you. it was highly entertaining and full of gossip about everyone associated with the hatred spewing RIGHT WING attack machine.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing insight into the dirty politics of the right
Review: I just finished reading this book . . . I stayed up to 5 a.m. last night finishing the book because it was so riveting. The book provides a great looking into the world of dirty politics via character assassination. During the entire Clinton presidency, right-wing billionaires funded investigations and right-wing publications with attempts to bring down the Clinton presidency. Most of the alleged Clinton scandals we heard about (Whitewater, travelgate, filegate, troopergate, etc.) were figments in the wild imagination of right-wing operatives. Only the Monica Lewinsky affair was real. Only the word 'vast' in Hillary's famous reference to a "vast right-wing conspiracy" was an exagerration. This book is a must-read for anyone that wishes to understand the American system of scandal-driven politics.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting read, to say the least
Review: I really don't know much about any or all of the players that David Brock has mentioned in his book aside from what I have seen on television ocassionally, but at times, he gave me the impression of a Hollywood name dropper. After reading this book, I am still not sure if he is sincere and feel truly sorry about all the bad things that he has done as a "right wing political assassin" and to all the people that he has hurt. Why? Well, what was his punishment? Did he go to jail, did he get fined? The worst thing that seem to have happened to him is switching party and parties. He laments how he wasn't invited to the usual parties anymore and that he was ideologically kicked out of the conservative movement after he drifted away from the political right. Didn't he get a clue that "these people" were not his people, knowing about his homosexuality that these right wingers are basically hard core christian nut jobs?? (Well, we still have Camille Paglia) that would soon see him burn in hell becuase of his sexual preference? That should have been a clue that he didn't belong there? I din't buy everything about this book, but I really enjoyed reading it for the simple reason that it was well written. I like his style of writing and he keeps the story moving right along. I was blown away on how little lies and inuendos can turn into a national head liners given that the right people control the media and the flow of information that we recieve as regular citizens. I also had this giddy pleasure of knowing that these talking heads, blonde bimbos, of the right are nothing but unsophisticated, hanger-ons and the only reason why they are given the time of day is that "it's cool to have young, blonde women screaming and tauting the same Hooey that a redneck militiamen are screaming about." Brock were friends with Laura Ingram and Anne Coulter so he was able to provide little tid bits about what these girls are really like. The book is full of details about Anita Hill, The Paula Jones case and Troopergate, and Brock writes like a fly on the wall, but I do have to agree with a fellow reviewer and that this book needed an index and footnotes, needless to say, I highly recommend this book for the simple reason that it is well written and keeps you interested.
Rating:
Summary: (4.5/5) Compelling Expose of Right-wing Slander
Review: This is an extremely readable book that I found difficult to put down. Mr. Brock draws the reader in by making a national movement personal and intimate rather than trying to tell the story from a third party observer viewpoint. The fact the Right is much more organized than the Left in its messages and its activism is all too obvious; yet, the pervasiveness, relentlessness, lack of logic and sheer hostility perpetrated by this attack machine is staggering as portrayed in this book. The movement has no genuine interest in logical reasoning or legitimate political discourse, only a propensity for vile endeavors to discredit and depose Democrats and liberal politicians. Indeed, it is less about winning an ideological battle by promoting the Conservative viewpoint and illustrating the flaws in the Liberal philosophy than it is about attempting to demonize Liberals personally. I would attribute this to the fact that the Liberal ideology is more attractive than the Conservative one to the average American and therefore the Right needs to resort to libel and slander to try to make the Left less attractive in comparison.
Mr. Brock writes about the extent to which the right-wing media went in a smear campaign to unseat President Clinton from the moment he won the election in 1992, and how it really was an unprovoked 'right-wing conspiracy' without basis in logic. What lends credence to Mr. Brock's assertions is the fact that he was not simply a minor contributor to the movement; rather, he was one of the foremost founders and culprits. He is able to utilize this unique position as a figurehead to give away the Right's trade secrets authoritatively. In addition, he is not averse to revealing the names of those responsible for funding and producing the contemptible slander unleashed by the Right during his tenure in the movement. (The one exception to this is a certain male Republican member of Congress who attempts to kiss Mr. Brock at a party and therefore remains nameless in the book; my curiosity left me wishing Mr. Brock had developed only a conscience and not also a sense of decency)
One method this right-wing movement employed was to print a defamatory fabrication in one of its own publications, which would then be picked up by "legitimate" media as though it were true. By the time the item was exposed as untrue, the damage had already been done. It was possible for them to circulate these lies because most people did not deem their publications valid. "Legitimate" media helped foster the conspiracy by treating the right-wing media as though it were credible.
Mr. Brock details how he was drawn more by the power, money and notoriety he received as a highly visible writer than he was by the ideology of the Right. He learned quickly that the more vitriolic writing he produced, the more "success" and status he attained within the Republican ranks. He admits that he and his colleagues considered the movement a high-stakes game they had to win at any cost, regardless of the consequences for those who got in the way. In no way does he attempt to justify his willing participation in the right-wing movement, probably because he knows there really is no rationalization for it. He does, however, express considerable remorse for his actions and for the damage they inflicted on their targets. Among these he counts President Clinton and Anita Hill, whom he once did try to contact to apologize. As of the publication of the book, he had yet to accomplish that.
I find it ironic and more than a little hypocritical (not to mention pathetic) that the people who embraced David Brock so tightly and held him in such high esteem for his dishonest and hateful tactics have been using these identical tactics to denounce him for revealing their secrets. If they do not deem him credible, why did they admire and respect him for so long (more than a decade)? If his homosexuality were not a problem for so many of them before, as they allege, then why would it be a problem only after he exposes the lies? We now see these same slanderous tactics being deployed against other individuals who have developed a conscience and decided to speak out against potentially treasonous acts being perpetrated against our country, with Richard Clarke and Paul O'Neill being the two most prominent examples in recent history.
The one, very minor gripe I have about this book is his treatment of Ann Coulter, whom he describes as his "friend." As such, I was hoping to read revealing private stories about all manner of her cheap and tawdry behavior. Alas, their friendship took precedence over the actual intent of this book, which is to reveal the Right's tactics and to provide a layman's amateur psychoanalysis of its underlying motives and feelings of inferiority in comparison to the Left.
This book is an important addition to the ongoing national debate over media biases and the polarized political climate we are experiencing in the US because it confirms what most of us understood as the truth anyway, which is the fact that there really is a right-wing conspiracy that uses hate, deception and fabrications to accomplish its goals. Now we can all toss aside this irrelevant movement as a relic of the 1980's and 1990's and move on to unite Americans and repair the enormous problems facing our country
Rating:
Summary: A detailed look at things as they were
Review: First of all, let me deal with the things I thought were bad about the book. There's no index or references in the book. This caused me a lot of problems because the author would switch between using first and last names for many of the key players, and so I became constantly lost about who he was talking about. As there was no index to look up the names or cross-reference I usually had no idea who he was talking about. Also, there were no referencing of quotes in the book, so I also had no way to verify what he had written. As I'm not an American, and as most of the events happened over 4 years ago I couldn't remember all the details he was talking about. It's for this reason I'm giving it 4, not 5, stars. These problems aside, it was a very good book. What I could follow, and that was quite a bit, it read as a disturbing change in the conservative movement in the U.S. Going from a traditional cconservative agenda to a fiercely right-wing religious one served as a clear backdrop to what we have today. Other reviewers have nit-picked some of his details and references, but overall, the book is a passionate plea to those who still care to change their ways. He does this through discussion of his own change and ostracism from the movement to one of, not empowerment, but acceptance of the follies of his way.
Rating:
Summary: Credible Account
Review: I believe David Brock's account in, "Blinded By The Right." He became alienated by the radical left and fell in with conservatives while a student at UC Berkley. The low path to lying and misrepresenting to smear Democrats and opponents to Clarence Thomas is disappointing, but believable. He wanted to belong, which is powerful motivator.
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