Blinded by the Right The Conscience of an Ex Conservative

In a powerful and deeply personal memoir in the tradition of Arthur Koestler’s The God That Failed, David Brock, the original right-wing scandal reporter, chronicles his rise to the pinnacle of the conservative movement and his painful break with it.

David Brock pilloried Anita Hill in a bestseller. His reporting in The American Spectator as part of the infamous “Arkansas Project” triggered the course of events that led to the historic impeachment trial of President Clinton. Brock was at the center of the right-wing dirty tricks operation of the Gingrich era–and a true believer–until he could no longer deny that the political force he was advancing was built on little more than lies, hate, and hypocrisy.

In Blinded By the Right, Brock, who came out of the closet at the height of his conservative renown, tells his riveting story from the beginning, giving us the first insider’s view of what Hillary Rodham Clinton called “the vast right-wing conspiracy.” Whether dealing with the right-wing press, the richly endowed think tanks, Republican political operatives, or the Paula Jones case, Brock names names from Clarence Thomas on down, uncovers hidden links, and demonstrates how the Republican Right’s zeal for power created the poisonous political climate that culminated in George W. Bush’s election.

Now in paperback and with a new afterword by the author, Blinded By the Right is a classic political memoir of our times.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Great title, good read…
Anyone feeling nostalgic for the ’90s culture wars (which have receded slightly due to concerns about terrorism) will enjoy ‘Blinded by the Right’ David Brock’s revealing memoir of his time as a part of the “vast right wing conspiracy.” Yes, it’s true, a well funded political machine arose to take down the presidency of Bill Clinton, who was an emblem of changing values and long held partisan rifts. Combine the Vietnam war, feminism, Watergate, the changing family, gay and lesbian visibility, and 24 hour media saturation and you have one group of embittered conservatives, trying to preserve 1950s values against a tidal wave of change. David Brock was seduced into this maelstrom by his experiences at Berkeley, where political correctness silenced its opposition. He found a safe haven among the shunned, and made his way to DC after graduation. There he found a niche writing exposes for conservative periodicals.

Brock hit pay dirt during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in 1991. He made a name for himself trashing the reputation of Anita Hill, actions he later came to rue. He freely admits that his book about her was a hack job of partisan quotes from people with axes to grind; he made little effort to check the background of the people who discredited Dr. Hill.

Outrage over Ms. Hill’s treatment ignited the culture wars, and helped Bill Clinton get elected a year later. Then all hell broke lose. Clinton’s socially progressive policies in his first year outraged conservatives, which led to the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress. Things were never the same after that; Clinton embraced his famous “waffling” and neo-cons dug up every piece of dirt they could to discredit him. Journalism had never been so yellow. Brock was at the front lines, interviewing embittered (and often axe grinding) Arkansans and elevating every charge to national scandal. Troopergate, Travelgate, Paula Jones, Whitewater. Finally they got something on him: Clinton’s sleezy affair with a White House intern. Impeachment and aquittal followed.

Brock offers a fascinating insider’s look at the key players behind the machine. Many of them were staples of TV talk shows (like “Politically Incorrect”) and many (according to Brock) were harboring bizarre hatred towards the counterculture. This, and the dirtiness of the deals, led him to a change of heart. As a gay man, he grew uncomfortable with the bigotry and intolerance.

Or so he says. This is, after all, a memoir by an admitted liar. I have no doubt that the vast right wing conspiracy existed… it was the forbearer of Fox news. All of the people he mentions that I am familiar with (independent of this reading) have at times shown intense hatred for the counterculture and the changing nature of America. I’m not convinced the Clintons were squeeky clean by any means, but the hatred directed at them pointed to much greater forces at work. But there is another side of this, only hinted at by Brock’s narrative. Liberals shared the blame for this vast cultural rift and contributed to it in many ways. The kind of self-righteousness and political correctness that Brock experienced at Berkeley was still the norm of college campuses during the era he writes about. (I was a student during 1990-1994 and saw a lot of it.) Disrespect for traditional Christianity and conservative values was found in many types of media and entertainment as well. The culture war had two distinct sides, and each gave as good as it got.

It may interest some people to know that memories of that time kept me from even considering voting for Hillary Clinton in the primaries this year. Who would want to relive that? It was a terrible time. Unlike Brock, I’m more than happy to avoid either side of that horrible divide.

5 Stars A jaw-dropper and a must read for the 2008 elections
There isn’t much I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said in other favorable reviews here. All I’ll add is that even if you allow for the zeal of Brock’s re-converson to liberal prinicples and some bitterness towards his former conservative and neocon mentors and paymasters, there is much in this book that rings frighteningly true. Most fascinating is Brock’s inside look at the anti-Clinton smear machine of which he was part - and which, no doubt, is warming up for 2008. Arm yourself with knowledge that you’ll need if Hillary runs for President. Read this book.

5 Stars Mea Culpa!
Brock is a gay former flame-throwing GOP-”insider” conservative writer who increasingly felt “like a Jew in Hitler’s army” due to growing Republican gay-bashing; because of that discomfort, Brock repented his conservative screeds and returned to his liberal roots. En route, readers also learn that neither Brock nor many others didn’t understand the supposed rationale behind many of their positions (they just toed the “party line”), and that integrity, fair play, civility were anachronisms even to some high-placed GOP judges and other leaders.

Brock also credibly presents the rationale for Justice Thomas’ nomination (would split Democrat opposition due to some representing areas with high black populations), and why his accusers were probably correct (eg. after a later expose, Thomas privately admitted being into porn), confesses to frequently writing mindless drivel (even more surprising was the sometimes support of George Will and New York Times book reviewers), and provides first-hand documentation (names, dollar amounts) of vendettas financed against the Clinton’s, etc.

Bottom Line: Republicans would undertake any manner of illegality to pursue perceived Clinton (and others) illegality - this was justified by their pursuit of a “higher good.” Lies and hypocrisy - no problem!

An excellent book!

5 Stars A Must Read in 2008
I wish I had read this sooner but I had shied away from it because I figured that Mr. Brock was a David Horowitz in reverse (and we know what an opportunistic scum bag Horowitz is). But this is an important and authentic work from an insider who shows us exactly how the neo-nazi, neocon “conservatives” took over and nearly destroyed our American nation (we are a nation, not a “homeland” or “fatherland”). We must take back our country in November (we started that process in the 2006 elections) and be rid of the Republican war criminals but that is not enough: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Tenet, Coulter/Limbaugh (Goebbels), and those already convicted (Libby, Abramoff, Delay, Cunningham, Foley, Craig, etc.) need to be brought before a duly appointed Tribunal to answer for their crimes against humanity and particularly their crimes against the American people (including our brave soldiers and my friend Pat Tillman, who they killed). Richard Clarke could be the chief witness for the prosecution. We need more jails to house the corporate crooks.

I had the privilege of meeting Barry Goldwater and his wonderful wife Peggy when I lived in Arizona in the early 90’s. Senator Goldwater was an honorable, real conservative and he was appalled by the Falwells, Robertsons, Gingriches, etc. If you consider yourself a principled conservative, you must read this book and help us remove the cancers from our society that Mr. Brock so ably describes. Through it all, I have believed there are more good people than evil people in our nation (”the better angels of our nature”, as Lincoln said): some start out evil like Brock but then their human heart and conscience kicks in; let’s kick out every last slime bag with an (R) by his or her name this November and rebuild our nation.

5 Stars Cause and Effect
I was having this conversation a while ago with this quite successful, yet dysfunctional person and anyway pretty much out the blue he says how Former President Bill Clinton was getting a BJ in the oval office and therefore too preoccupied to stop 9/11. Well if that person had read this book (which of course he would have dismissed as garbage) he would have realized that he was too busy defending himself against bogus attacks from the lunatic fringe. Does this mean that these so called ultra patriotic, g-d fearing, pure as the driven snow Americans caused 9/11, unintentionally… ? . Read this book and learn a little more about the “cult of the many” .

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