Rating: Summary: A Liar says "I only tell the truth" Review: What's the point? ...he never was conservative: "EastBay Express, which says its investigation also revealed that no one else noticed any change in Brock's views and that the publication he helped start was not conservative and was a newspaper not a magazine." Even liberals don't believe it: ... ...quote Tim Noah from "Slate" magazine. Tim is hardly a member of the right-wing conspiracy. He says, I'm quoting now, "This book is terrible, whiny, histrionic, and so factually unreliable that I gave practically gave myself a migraine trying to figure out which parts of Brock's lurid story were true and which parts were false." It appears he'll say anything for money and make it up as he goes along. It calls into question his prior works but also his repudiation of his prior works.
Rating: Summary: Finally, someone gets it right! Review: I couldn't put this book down until I finished it! This is a must read for anyone interested in American politics. David Brock remains a talented writer as he takes us behind the scenes and reveals all their dirty little secrets. There WAS a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to get Clinton. It all rang true as I reflected back on the events as they unfolded. The right- wingers in the GOP continue to prove to all of us that they will do whatever it takes.... just the simple fact the the AMERICAN SPECTATOR did not employ fact checkers should make you sit up and take notice.
Rating: Summary: Hitchens' Dishonest Smear Review: I note Chris Hitchens has re-printed his Nation essay here, albeit with a few emendations (he leaves out the section of his Nation critique which deals specifically with Brock's devastating portrait of a boozy, incoherent Hitchens making common cause with some of the most grotesque vampires of the radical right in pursuit of Bill Clinton, and more essentially, fame and talk show privileges.) That Hitchens would a. post on Amazon a reprint of his Nation article and b. leave out the very personal nature of Brock's attack on him, specifically, shows not only that Brock hit a nerve but that Hitchens is so wounded personally and professionally that he is trying to limit Brock's book sales. Thus the blood feuds that dominated Washington, based not on politics and poilicy but on personality, on which "team" you are on, continue, which of course was the very subject of Brock's book. Hitchens, to most of us, is a buffoon. A rambling, incoherent Brit who knows absolutely nothing about American politics or culture (like Andy Sullivan and Tina Brown, two other 'cultural imperialists' imposing their hideous preconceptions and snobberies on an American public that, thankfully, doesn't care much. Hitchens latching on to David Horowitz, his defense (he poo poos it) of the radical wight wing's attempt to subvert our democracy in the decade just past reminds me of a similar high society, know nothing Brit who also embraced the dark side, and was proved wrong by history. Which one was it of the Mitford sisters who sidled up to Oswald Mosley and Hitler? I'm sure Hitch will know.
Rating: Summary: 2 problems Review: There are only two problems with this book: 1) Clinton recommends it to his aides. 2) Brock has always been a Politically Correct Liberal. That's right, this is not a story by a defector.... He was never a Conservative thinker....
Rating: Summary: Hilary was right! Review: Conservatives need to read this book but probably won't. He's not much of a writer but this is one of the best resources that proves, once and for all, that there was indeed a right wing conspiracy to cripple the Clinton presidency and to remove the last elected president from office. Financed by right wing kooks with $$ and executed with the help of hypocrites, like Newt (sleeping with a lobbyist), Trent Lott... One can only wonder if the events of 9/11 might have been prevented, had Clinton been allowed to do his job rather than spend all his time fighting the impeachment nonsense.
Rating: Summary: Absolutely Devastating Portrait a Culture of Scandal Review: I knew most this story before I picked up this book. Having followed the Neocon/NewRight movement since the Reagan years, I had long despaired at the inability of the left/center to counter the lies, smears, and just plain evil doings of a well financed and well disciplined cadre of smartasses looking to get rich and famous, while wielding no small degree of political power. No matter what Chris Hitchens sez, every word in this memoir rings of a painful, gut wretching truth that can only be delivered by a insider from this Toxic Waste Dump O Politics, whose lyin' and cheatin' ways fooled some of the people, most of the time----especially the mediawhores whose only interest was their careers... Even as their Smear Machine turns on one of the (former) own (courtesy of Freeper Madness and the other usual suspects) you can smell the fear a book like this engenders. (right here on this review section) The interesting thing is that for all their posturing on morality, "decency" and American family values....it is all a lie---made worse because they assume that EVERYONE thinks, lies, and betrays each other like they do..... And this calculated bath of hyprocrisy is acted out on Political BBS all through the internet. Don't believe me, look for yourself. You can't miss it. Well, now David Brock has gone and done it....and even though people who pretty know that Brock's story can be verified elsewhere...you will see his old friends not too happy with the family portrait he has turned out with incredible and deadly accuracy. It also shows the contempt the New Right has for the "extra chromosome" crowd as described by that other evil genius, Lee Atwater. Whoa, baby...what a nest of vipers is trying to run this country......watch your back, America. We have met the enemy and they are--- not them foreign evil doers and axis of evil villains-- strictly homeground and totally nasty domestic pieces of work-- with notoriously thin skins. Read the book, if you have an ounce of intellectual honesty left, it will ring true to you. It will also throughly depress you when you see the huge damage Brock's former buddies have done to themselves, to their "enemies" and to the country.
Rating: Summary: Machiavelli could take lessons from these people. Review: David Block is no writer, but that didn't keep him from becoming the right wing's favorite scribe because, as this book makes crystal clear, he was willing to write anything without letting truth, decency or any sense of fair-play get in the way. This gossipy book reveals the truly ugly side of right-wing politics and the people who perpetrate them. To anyone who espouses the left or even the center in politics, this is not news. What may be news is how so many on the extreme right, including many of those talking heads seen regularly on the Fox News Channel, espoused family values, and the creation of a God-fearing moral society without having any belief in these concepts other than as a means to an end. That end was, and still is, power. These concepts became the right's tickets to the hearts and minds of Middle America as replacement for the Communism that used to be the cement that held the party together. The book details the money and the personalities behind the movement for which anything and everything that would further their goals were acceptable. Truth was not just a casualty, it was a target. Even if you don't believe everything in this book, enough of it rings true to give any thoughtful reader a very uneasy feeling about the future. Brock is obviously writing from a point of view and it's hard to respect him as a person, even though he has "seen the light". He wholehearted embraced despicable tactics and eagerly disseminated out-and-out lies as absolute truth. While he was doing their bidding, he was the darling of the right, enjoying the largesse and basking in the accolades of his benefactors. But after penning a relatively even-handed book on Hillary Clinton, he naively seemed genuinely surprised when his "friends" started treating him like a leper. With all he had previously seen, and done, he should have expected nothing less. The book has a disingenuous "woe is me" tone to it but nevertheless, on its substance, is very believable. So much so that it makes the reader want to take a shower after reading it. Just knowing that these ghastly people are now so close to the seat of power is enough to keep anyone up nights. Although she said it in an unfortunate defense of her indefensible hound dog of a husband, Hillary Clinton was right about the "vast right-wing conspiracy" and this book is ample and chilling proof.
Rating: Summary: Dogma Review: This book is a good read. It is disturbing at times, and should be read with a grain of salt due to the reputation of the author. However, it does little to enhance reputation of the neoconservative/christian fundamentalist movement. If you like books on US politics, this is a good one to get. One of the myths that this book should shatter is this so-called liberal media bias. It just should be called what it really is, bias. Truth is everyone has got one and if they say otherwise, they're a filthy liar. How is Rev Moon spiking a story because it makes Hillary look good any different than Dan Rather not talking about Gary Condit? None. Finally, I am amused by the dogmatic idiocy that Republican supporters attack this book in the same way that Democratic supporters attack anything that criticizes the failures of Clinton. Scum is scum regardless what flag, what nationality, what political views, what skin color or what religion people belong to. If people wake up and realize that then we'll all be a hell of a lot better off instead of being a bunch of ditto heads/Clinton appologists who let others do the thinking for them...
Rating: Summary: Depressing but necessary reading Review: Brock's book is written as his penance for his excesses while he was writing for the conservative movement. It is absolutely a must-read for anyone, on either side, interested in the politics of the last decade. Is it honest and sincere? Who knows? Almost every character in the book including the author is a confirmed liar. Regardless, it is clearly fact based, and details how the politics of both sides are run by ruthless people with lots of money to spend to undermine any positive goals of the other side. Clearly, US politics has become the realm of the 'Lowest Common Denominator'
Rating: Summary: Eye Opening Review: The book was recommended with the caveat "you decide if he is telling the truth." I read the book with a large amount of initial skepticism since Mr. Brock is an admitted liar. However, I must say the book was informative and in the end I believe him. I believe his allegations and statements made in the book because of the reaction of those he exposes. They do not try to invalidate his statements with contradictory facts (something that could be easily done if his allegations were false). Instead there has been an effort to discredit him via a smear campaign. Descriptions of the players inside the beltway and how things really get done in Washington are surprising. Brock brings to light the shear depth of hatred some people possess by describing the extent they will go to further their agenda. It's scary. Many of the so-called current pundits on T.V. will never be looked at the same way by me again and forget even thinking of wanting them as neighbors.
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