Rating: 
Summary: Both Brock and the Daily Show lose a customer
Review: After accidently watching the interview of David Brock on Comedy Central's the Daily Show, I've lost respect for both. He is obviously a slighted political puppet who dives to whatever side will give him the most attention and completely oblivious of the media bias on both sides. He lamented the plight of the poor liberals since the conservatives own fox news. The poor liberals only have ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, New York Times and whoops... he didn't say THAT. I'd be happy with this if it was legit, but it is just political opportunist profiteering. Pass.
Rating: 
Summary: Not sure what to make of Mr. Brock.
Review: I alway knew that Brock was one of those right-wing zealots out there posing as a respectable journalist, but after reading this book I'm not sure what to think. He often tries to play himself off as the victim, as if he was forced into writing the things he did about Anita Hill, President Clinton, etc. I don't know that I buy it. At times I think he still really believes those things he wrote, but has written this book as a way to try to absolve himself and his name. Let's face it, it's easy to take shots at Ken Starr, etc. now that the smoke has cleared. As I read this book (and found some of it quite fascinating, I admit), I couldn't help but wonder if the joke is on me. Here I was, reading the words of this man I despised...again. Only, this time he was trying to get me to side with him and consider him as the vicitim, and as my ally. While I realize much of what he writes is true, there is certainly a right-wing machine out there that lies and manipulates the truth to it's own agenda...I'm just not sure that I buy the idea that Brock has really changed sides in this battle. Instead I still see him as something of a "double agent" in this fight, and that he could be back to peddling his lies without much prodding at all. I'm just not convinced that there is really that much "conscience" in this "ex-conservative".
Rating: 
Summary: a must-read for either side
Review: No matter where you stand politically, this is a must-read as Brock confesses how things work among our nation's power-elite, a position he admits desperately wanting for himself at one point. With the current revelations about 9/11 ("let one happen" theories), this book is more important than ever in allowing the American people a glimpse into how we are manipulated. No conspiracy here -- just hard facts -- I don't blame him one bit for waiting until the statute of limitations expired before coming out with this book. How else could he have published it? This is a must-read no matter what your political persuasion.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, if not disturbing book
Review: When I first heard the words "vast right-wing conspiracy' from Hillary's mouth, I rolled my eyes and thought, "she has gone over the edge." But Brock makes a compelling argument that indeed, she was right (and he played a central part). I used to be a Republican but left the party seven years ago when they started their 'ends justify the means' philosophy. They viewed the political process as a war, a zero-sum game. They brought politics to a whole new level of mean.
This book lays out the entire battle plan. It explains the strategies and the players. It shows how a small number of well-funded people let their hatred for Clinton become an all-encompassing passion. It shows how truth was a luxury but not a necessity in their zeal to discredit Clinton at all costs.
I am not a Clinton fan and believe he made many many poor decisions. And I believed he deserved to be accountable to his actions. But I also believe the Republicans went way too far, damaging the body politic because of personal hatreds. This book is a must-read.
Rating:
Summary: Proven to be wrong
Review: Brock is a liar, his claims in his book have been disputed by friends in his college. The fact is he was never Conservative and he has mental problems. Just another member of the loony-left attempting to make up stuff. I'm sure that people who don't challenge facts and believe in DNC propeganda will like this book
Rating:
Summary: Can a Gonzo Journalist go "Honest" by changing sides?
Review: OK. I'm one of those leftists who knew it all before Brock actually admitted it, so maybe this is sour grapes, but it strikes me that Brock's greatest success is the greatest weakness with the book -- he manages to convince the reader the truth never mattered to him when he was "on a quest." The end result is that, much as I want to believe the book represents an objective recounting of where he went wrong and the blind hate/anger of his circle of "friends" at The American Spectator, in the Arkansas Project and the right-wing law "names" like Olson and Starr and Silberman, in the end all I have is the sensation that he is still playing for the "shocking" -- just from the other side.
Rating: 
Summary: Conscience?
Review: Mr. Brock seems to have found one at last. His autobiography is well-written, and I would assume mostly true. If not, he would have been looking at several law suits by now. He does not pull punches and accuses Clarence Thomas, among others of barely and il-legal maneuvering to keep the Republican hold on the courts and politics in general. Makes me damn glad to be a Democrat. The "right wing conspiracy" to bring down Clinton may not have been huge, but it was certainly effective; and Mr. Brock was a player in the bizarre actions by leading conservatives for quite some time. Of course, Brock is best known for his books on Anita Hill and Hilary Clinton. When he didn't do the hatchet job his right-wing buddies expected, they cut him loose. Now, he has come out of the closet both sexually and politically. He currently (as of this writing) lives happily in the DC area with his dog. Just one thing ... Gay conservatives? I don't get it. Do they disapprove of their own lifestyle?
Rating:
Summary: Best account of the VRWC--"vast right wing conspiracy" yet!
Review: Goeffrey Toobin's book, _ A Vast Conspiracy_, is pretty good. Gene Lyons' and Joe Conason's _The Hunting of the President_ is also good. But this is by far the best book to explain, succinctly and by means of a personal odyssey, just what happened in the '90s as the corrupt and hypocritical GOP right wingers pursued Bill Clinton. Brock is a fine writer. Yes, he is self-indulgent to a degree, but if you are sympathetic to his situation, you will find it more "introspective" as he struggled with his sexual orientation, his suspicions about his friends' true feelings toward him, but most importantly, his suspicions about the integrity of the VRWC. Almost everyone in the VRWC gets trashed convincingly here: The Wall Street Journal, Kenneth Starr, Theodore Olson, Bill Bennett, Ann Coulter, Robert Bork, Matt Drudge. As a special bonus, Brock adds personal insults that are mostly well-deserved. (For every cheap shot he offers against some of these people, he usually offers examples of worse conduct on their parts... It takes a lot of courage to write a book like this, wherein the author acknowledges that he stretched the truth and journalistic ethics in his political diatribes that were so influential in the "hunting of the President". I found his observations about his personal struggles with those who were supposedly his close personal friends to be convincing and moving, whether they were the results of his sexual orientation or his increasing estrangement from the right wing. I think it's pretty telling that no one has succeeded in attacking Brock's book on the merits or the facts. And the insights he offers about how one can get caught up in the social, financial, and political advantages of service to a well-funded and glamorous coterie of partisans only make his book more convincing. The Bush administration is full of VRWC members. He also offers some observations that I have been looking for in the mainstream press, but have not been able to find, such as that many of the so-called "commentators" in the middle of the so-called "Lewinsky scandal", including most of those you used to see on the cable news programs--Olson, Braden, Levin, Coulter, Bennett, Fund, et al. were in fact members, even paid members, of the VRWC... I highly recommend this book. Why not five stars? No photos, no index, and most annoyingly, no photo of the "amazing dog" that Brock describes, ending the book, alluding to Truman's remark about how to have a friend in Washington.
Rating:
Summary: I wouldn't trust anything Matt Drudge reports
Review: ...If even 10% of this book is true, then Mr. Brock surely paints a scary picture of the "blood sport" that politics in this country has become.
Rating:
Summary: I wouldn't trust anything Matt Drudge reports
Review: Matt Drudge claims that David Brock was in a mental institution last summer, but I wouldn't take anything Drudge reports seriously -- he's a sleazy gossip columnist whose show on Fox was cancelled because he would (and still does) constantly purvey inaccurate information. Why so many people mistake a gossip columnist for a serious journalist is a mystery to me. Besides, I think Drudge is angry at Brock because Drudge is -- as Brock suggests in this book -- a closeted gay man himself and does not want to come out. If even 10% of this book is true, then Mr. Brock surely paints a scary picture of the "blood sport" that politics in this country has become.
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