Rating: 
Summary: Verifies what most suspected anyhow.
Review: As a life-long Republican in a very un-Republican state and only slightly older than Brock, I have long been horrified by the actions of the party. Two events stand out and are mentioned in this book. The first was Pat Buchanan's speech at the National Convention where I actually gasped aloud at what he was saying, and the second was the impeachment proceedings where the sheer stupidity and attempts at history-grabbing were positively shameful. Like Brock I chose to be a Rupublican in college because I couldn't stand most of the left-wing ranting what was all around me and I still can't stand it. Growing up in Mass. and attending the State University, one is exposed to the hollowness of it all, and his reasoning for joining the cause will ring true to anyone of a certain age. It was true for me. But somewhere along the line the party got hijacked by the far-right nutcases so acurately depicted in this book. Spend some time in Washington and you understand how these characters are totally believeable. Just the flat tone of most of what is written should alert the reader to where the truth really is. Anyone who cares, and most of all those of us that still do have conservative tendencies should read this book. It is time to move these power-hungry right-wing lunatics on. After all, haven't we already seen first-hand what the far right of any political system is capable of? I don't for a minute think that it can't happen here...or maybe the phrase "Homeland Security" doesn't scare you like it does me. But the worst part of this book? Hillary was right.
Rating: 
Summary: Read This Book!
Review: Whether you consider yourself liberal, conservative, or somewhere in-between, you MUST read this book. It's an insider's story of the politics of right-wing hatred and spin that held us captive throughout the '90s. You'll learn how a handful of ambitious zealots managed to brainwash millions of good Americans into buying their warped ideology. In a nutshell, they did it by being louder, meaner, and better financed than everyone else -- not by being right (or, as they want us to believe, righteous). How did we let this happen? And why are we still letting it happen today?
Rating: 
Summary: Why should we belive him now??
Review: David Brock should be the poster boy for the new politics. First he makes a living writing stories the right wingers want to hear. Now, he is retracting it all and telling stories tthe left wingers want to hear. Pretty amazing! He is able to rip off both sides of the political spectrum. Why would anyone want to buy a book from an admited liar??????? and not just about little things, but just about everything he previously wrote. The sad part is the book is well written. Perhaps Mr. Brock should consider a carrer as a fiction writer, evidently he already has a good start! Don't wast your Money.
Rating:
Summary: What next.
Review: David are we to believe that all at once you woke up and sw the light. What are you going to do next??????? See the light again??? Bad book keep your money... Wait for paperback or go see it from someone else.
Rating:
Summary: Important but not for the obvious reasons
Review: David Brock's book Blinded by the Right is an interesting portrait of an era when many young and ambitious college students became members of the conservative party as part of a rebellion against the domination of liberal values in the University system. The book goes on to chronicle Brock's various journalistic indiscretions as an ambitious right wing reporter. All this is interesting although the conservative press' views and reporting methodology have long been suspect and this book merely confirms some of the darkest of those suspicions. While Brock certainly is responsible for the worst of the book's misdeeds he also names names of prominent figures in the conservative movement who were also responsible for the spread of misinformation (although often piously declaiming to the contrary). While this act of muckraking is important to the national discourse on the role of journalism it isn't the most intriguing part of the Brock story. The question that the book begs, that the liberal left must answer, is how a gay, left leaning admirer of Kennedy could become such a devoted and truculent conservative? Brock speaks of watching conservative figures bashed repeatedly with no attempt made communicate at all and a self righteousness that accepted no alternative way of seeing things. This monolithic culture of left elitism is what ultimately drove Brock to the right and is a serious impediment to clear discussion of important issues to this day. It is obvious from this book and from William McGowan's excellent Coloring the News that the need for journalistic reform is necessary to create a clear and sensitive discussion of the issues facing our society instead of simply using journalism as a tool to fulfill a political dogma. I urge any person concerned with the state of journalism today to read both of these fine books. We can not resolve anything by simply calling each other names.
Rating:
Summary: Oh yes, Hillary, there is a right wing conspiracy.
Review: I have waited for months for this book to be published! I was afraid once it was pushed back due to 9/11 that it would never see the light of day due to the President's "approval rating". Anyone in America who considers themselves a thinking individual should read this book and really see what's really going on behind the scenes. The "Family Values" party is filled with folks who simply project their own issues (alcoholism, womanizing, greed, fraud, etc.) onto others, and believe they have the right to be sanctimonious hypocrits. It's psychological drama at its finest. And it's great to see conservatives pour their money into organizations headed by fools similar to themselves who like to spend the money on themselves first and the "cause" second. It's amazing to watch greed and unrealistic fears in action. On the down side, it's pretty scary to think that so many downright psychopaths have found their way into the judiciary, the executive branch and the legislative branches of government. Read it - you owe it to yourself to know the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: The Perils of a Gay Neoconservative
Review: While this is a very well-written book and David Brock does an excellent job exposing the inner machinations of the neoconservative framework and his role as the mouthpiece of neoconservatism, I had a difficult time accepting the sincerity of Brock's adoption of these views in the first place and his ultimate gravitation away from them. The truth of the matter is that Brock's embrace of the Right Wing was a post-adolescent reaction to liberal academia combined with an attempt to seek the acceptance of his conservative father who was reviled by the fact that Brock is gay. Brock intimates as much throughout the book and his honesty in this regard is commendable. Brock ultimately rejects neoconservatism, not because of an ideological evolution or his general disenchantment with ultra right-wing politics, but because of his role as a gay man, and thus an anomaly, within a political framework that is contrary to everything he truly represents. Brock's epiphany: he can't be gay and right wing. While I commend Brock's project of self-criticism, ultimately it is self-serving, just as was his work as a chief ideologue for neoconservatism during his tenure with the American Spectator and his later libel of Anita Hill.
Rating:
Summary: Let's go, David; there's work to do.
Review: ...I...spent a few days rapt in the writer's good prose and detailed accounts of who, what, when, and where. This is a little akin to the famous deathbed conversion of Reagan's chief hitman/strategist, Lee Atwater. In telling us what he did to trash the president (for hire), he lays open the "vast right-wing conspiracy" Hillary alluded to...the one the media pooh-poohed. OK, David. I accept your version of events. Now what the hell are you going to do to try to get this book into every reader's hands? And what do you plan to do to help us oust the cynical Republican cabal you helped get elected?
Rating:
Summary: An insider and former "favorite son" names names
Review: Very good book...he tells all, and I see why his ex-cronies are running scared and attacking him left and right. They **know** he knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak. He is very brave to do this - I don't care what epiphany brought him to this point, what matters is verifiable information that points to a power-mad group who will do anything to keep themselves in power, and have succeeded in subverting the democracy that we tout around the world. None of the information is surprising - after all, we were all witnesses to the madness that took over the political process for 8 interminable years - vitriol, lies and attacks were the order of the day. I was asked by fellow passengers at the Amsterdam Airport "what is wrong with you Americans" as the impeachment affair revved up to its sordid end. So the global onlookers had front seats to the madness, too. This illogical cry of "if he was lying then how do we know he is not lying now" is a testament to the power of spin and "heads-in-the-sand" defensiveness. He **cannot** be telling lies now if his pre-epiphany writings were also lies - the information presented *now* is opposite of the *past* info. It is like saying because he lied and said something was ON, if he decides to come clean and say that it was really OFF (by the way, at great cost to himself re: credibility, embarassment, harassment, "excommunication", etc - who would **choose** this experience if it wasn't true) that OFF must be a lie because ON was a lie. It is not possible to have it both ways. It is also ironic that the group of "believers" who have made an industry of publishing hate- and vitriol-filled books (of which Brocks own "Anita Hill.." book was one) is whining about his personal characterizations of his partners in crime. He is expressing his OPINIONS - beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. If he describes someone as "horsey" or drunk, so what? If it was what he observed and is not a lie, let it go. These complaints are yet more red herrings to diver attention from the expose - the meat of the book. IMO, he is telling the truth now and there is a desperate attempt to kill the message and the messenger before the masses catch wind of both. Read the book with an open, non-defensive mind, compare what you read to what you have observed over time in the national media, including the sordid 2000 elections and their aftermath, and then decide for yourself what to do about the coup.
Rating:
Summary: Worth Considering
Review: Have read lots about the right wing lunatics... but couldn't put this down, even if it covered familiar territory. Unfortunately, the people who should read this book probably won't.
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