David Brock becomes Democratic strategist

Watch your back, James Carville! Add "Democratic strategist" to the titles that right-wing hit man-turned-liberal loyalist David Brock might soon put on his résumé. Brock has attracted the friendship of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and admiring words from onetime target Bill Clinton since last year's release of his confessional memoir, "Blinded by the Right." Now he's hard at work on "The Republican Noise Machine," for which Crown has paid a mid-six-figure advance. We're told that the book, a history of conservative media dominance, will include Brock's ideas for how the Democrats can reclaim the bully pulpit and win the 2004 election.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26264-2003Jul22.html

I like Brock and I think he would do wonders as a strategist.

He really layed his a** adn career on the line with that book. He has seen the darkest of the dark side and should know how to counteract it.

and become enamored with him..

just so you know in future. My guess is you added them to make sure everyone knows he's gay. We do. We don't care.

My guess is you wouldn't say that about someone who is not gay.

If you happen to say that about everyone, please accept my apologies.

their position 180 degrees. Why should Democrats be so positive he won't have an "awakening" and turn on them?

180

I think Brock's epiphany was the real thing and that he will be a great asset to our side.

Julie

And it's nice to know that he's going to have a career too. I was afraid that we'd only get that one book out of him before he faded into obscurity.

I remember thinking what a waste if that's all he does. Glad to see that's not the case. Maybe we Dems are wising up.

Julie

I want to see his next book.

I've had it for almost a year and haven't been able to bring myself to read it.

Now that I know what he learned can be put to good use, I think I can handle it!

see below

In a statement that rings true of the Chimp himself, Brock writes, "As a young zealot, I disciplined myself to ignore the soft tug of my won conscience, and see only wheat I was supposed to see. In fighting for the what I saw as the larger good...I turned a blind eye to the facts that did not suit my political aims...papering over monstrous wrongs in the service of the perceived morality of my cause."

The names, the games, the money and the carefully crafted design of the Right Wing--and every branch of it--are detailed in the book. It makes you wonder how Democrats can survive at all.

Brock is like hiring a car theif to run your repo company. He knows it from the inside out and he's a great man for the cause.

"Blinded by the Right" was a great book, and I've been hoping he'd do something like this. Can't you just see Ann the Man's hissy fit right now, lol!

He's a very courageous guy, and sharp as a razor. And that he's hot as hell AND gay doesn't hurt him with me. ;-)
He should be a very helpful asset! Welcome to the fight David!!!!!!!!

More Power to him and I can't wait to read his new book "The republican Noise Machine"! Wow what a name..cause that's what it is! :kick:

"Dude, Where's My Country?"

"Dude, Where's My Country?" I should have known Michael Moore would use a title like that!

By the way, I'm sure all loyal DUers will enjoy Moore's book "Downsize This!" from a few years back.
There is a very funny chapter on immigration, plus one on Bob Dornan (remember him?).

"Had Enough? A Handbook for Taking Back the Congress, The White House and the Country"

probably in the same vein as "We're Right, They're Wrong"

Can't wait to read his next book.

I liked Brock's book, BUT...

Does anyone here feel the least bit, well, skeptical? It's hard for me to believe that Brock all of a sudden changed from being an unscrupulous end justifies the means careerist to some sort of idealist? From his book, I got the idea that his transformation was more about being outed and not feeling accepted than it was about disgust with his scruples.

I guess its good that David Brock is going to teach the Dems the dirty tricks used by the GOP, but I don't think fighting fire with fire is the answer. Do we really need a Democratic demagogue to counter Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly? IMO, no, we do not.

If Brock hasn't exactly "turned over a new leaf", then what do you suspect his motives are? Do you think he is a Trojan Horse and Dems had best beware?

Just curious.

And yes, it is about the turning over of a new leaf. I'm glad David Brock left the dark side. I'm glad he realized what a bunch of crap the mighty wurlitzer was spewing and wrote a book about it to tell the world.

But hiring him to work on dem strategy seems like hiring a reformed thief to manage your till. Obviously this is a little different. This is an organization where a person is a cog. Everything he does will be vetted, I'm sure, by several others. It is also an organization that has worked hard to move its constituency to the middle.

I remain skeptical. Even if he has truly turned a new leave, he may be of little benefit because, after all, dems are not repugs. We have an entirely different mindset.

When he had to be away, he hired the town thief to guard his restaurant. Who knew better what to look for?

The place was never robbed.

When he had to be away, he hired the town thief to guard his restaurant. Who knew better what to look for?

The place was never robbed.

When he had to be away, he hired the town thief to guard his restaurant. Who knew better what to look for?

The place was never robbed.

RC

Last time I checked, nobody joined the Dems looking to get filthy rich. I think Brock truly has seen the light and that his conversion was genuine. More power to him.

is always of value.

nt

The GOP counters and criticizes every Democrat word and turn, followed by mind dulling repetition of their spin on anything and everything. It works. I've been opposed to Dems using these
tactics because they are unethical, but I'm ready for the fight - fight fire with fire.

"The GOP counters and criticizes every Democrat word and turn, followed by mind dulling repetition of their spin on anything and everything. It works."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are so right! I saw a poll recently in which two thirds of those asked could not name one democratic candidate running for president. Most people are politically lazy and only pay attention to repeated criticism and spin, preferably spouted often and loud. Democrats cannot fight this fact and if they don't make use of it they will continue to lose.

But now I think that his words were sincere, personally costly, and sounding like someone who had seen the light.

I have experienced something like that in my own life since the stroke.
Maybe not to the degree that Mr. Brock has, but I understand.

I am glad the Democratic party is willing to do the same regarding his ability to serve the cause.

it seems to me that his outing was due to his transformation. The way the book details it, that is exactly what happened. They knew he was gay and didn't care until he wrote a book on Hilary that portrayed her as a normal person and that pissed the hell out of the rightwing idiots he worked for.

Did you read the book?

I see no reason Brock would be a demagogue.

If you read the book, it was a long and painful transformation, involving therapy.

It's funny, because I was reading a lot about cults at the time, and the descriptions of how people get into cults (and out of them, if they ever do) matched Brock's account of his time with the right. The book focused a great deal on what was going on in his mind - I found the psychology of it internally consistent, which is why I found it entirely plausible.

There was more to the book than giving up the dish on the right - it was also a book about self-deception and the need to belong.

I thought the psychology of what attracted him to the Right was fascinating--the anger that drove him to be "anti-anything" like the Repubs. Fascinating read.

The indoctrination is done while children's minds are still forming and all the buttons and knee-jerk reaction and denial are installed then, so they react certain ways without even understanding why. Alice Miller's work outlines just how hard it is to break out of childhood indoctrination and find peace with self-knowlede that contradicts childhood instruction. Brock will never be welcome back into the right-wing as an out-homosexual so worries about him being a double-agent are groundless.

The left can't counter-act the right wing spin machine well because we refuse to accept just how low we have to go in dumbing ourselves down to get to the level of the reasoning of the right, which is mostly knee-jerk reactions to subconscious hobgoblins installed by religion. If the truth be told, they're probably is no intelligent way to counter it; instead we need to get this voting machine crap straightened out so we know our votes are counted, and let the neo-cons, who get scarier by the minute, dig their own graves with their pro-McCarthyism, etc.

Everyone knows his story and it's not as if no one understands it- check out Janet Meyer's review of BBTR in the New York Review of Books. The mix of closeted homosexuality and immoralism that Brock recanted is an overt phenomenon- have a close look at Matt Drudge, Lindsey Graham, etc. It's not new territory psychologically, it's a novel use for it in the services of the radical Right that is unfamiliar.

There is so much raw evidence about the Right and their media manipulation out there, though, that Brock is simply putting pieces together and articulating reasons why it is as effective (or not) as it is. It's simply that, with all the emergencies and internal problems on the Democratic side over the past dozen years, no one has properly worked out the Right's system or proven how it functions. Brock should be able to supply the right arguments and offer proofs that can be tested.

It's important stuff for Democrats to become competitive again in the highly right wing propagandized parts of the country, in taking out extremist Republican politicians and countering the saturation propaganda that Bush is expected to hit Oregon, Iowa, etc with next year. It's not that important in pretty liberal regions.

Then you should know that there was nothing sudden about it. It happened gradually over an extended period of time.

Actually he is a good one to speak for us. He has seen the face of evil over on the other side very close up, and he paid dearly for it. I doubt he will ever be likable to me, but I think it took courage to write the book.

Yes, I would have liked to have Michael Moore yet
Brock would be OK only if he doesn't get swayed by the right
again.

I hate to say this, but he will be on trial with me for a while
until he has truely prooven himself.
I do like him.

He has been redeeming himself through his outspokenness and
books.....yet he needs to dig and dig deep on this one.

He needs to look the bloodlust GOP in the eyes and not even blink
and at the same time screw them to the wall!!!!

:toast: to Mr Brock, for he hath seen the light, and it was good


we need more like him!

MY EXPERIENCE WITH CHURCH WORKERS FOR MANY DECADES REVEALED THAT BEST AND MOST DEVOTED CHURCH WORKERS WERE THOSE WHO --REFORMED--FROM EVIL WAYS.

BIGGEST LIARS BECAME MOST TRUTHFUL.

REFORMED ALCOHOLICS BEST BEHAVED. BUSH? IS HE REFORMED?

THAT IS WHY I BECAME A BROCK FAN. BIG FAN. WHEN I READ HIS JULY 1997 ARTICLE IN ESQUIRE. IT WAS GREAT.

I HAVE NOT CHECKED IF YOU CAN STILL PULL IT OUT OF ESQUIRE ARCHIVES BUT IF SO READ IT.

whatever happened to the liberal radio network ? It's been what, 5 months now since that was announced ?

Nobody seems to be actually doing anything.

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The reformed Republicans in our local party here in TX are some of the hardest working Democrats. I beleive David made not only a huge transformation, but looked himself in the mirror and saw who he really wanted to be. That's called growing up.

And, when we are here with an election year around the corner, I believe his insight from the other camp could be invaluable. Thank God he finally saw the light!

I'm very interested in hearing more and yes I did read "Blinded by the Right".

I used to be one.

What lead me to the Democratic side was the fact I was a “Conservative Environmentalist.” Yea, laugh again.

At least on one issue I was Liberal (the environment). When I began to hear Republicans make scientific claims about nature and the environment that I knew were wrong did I begin to ask the question, “What else are they wrong about?”

We are always treated to the laundry list of “former Democrats” who turn Repuke (Raygun, Horribblewitz, various Senators, etc), so what is so wrong about trotting out the “former Republicans”.

In the bottom of my mind I was always a Democrat, I just didn’t know it. My upbringing, my life’s paradigm lent itself to Conservative ideology, but once my mind began to open I decided that not only did I disagree with Conservatism, but hated it with a passion.

Welcome to David.

realized that their agenda was the opposite of just about every value I have. I thought Nixon was an aberration.

Anyway, I left the Republican party and became Independent for a couple of years till I finally realized that my values and the Democratic Party platform were about a perfect fit.

Been a hard-working, card-carrying Democrat ever since.

Is I seemed to pick the Democratic side as we were losing our credibility, power and value in the public's eye.

The right-wing propagandization of the word "Liberal" and the cadre' of talk show maggots spinning far-right verbal vomit really makes it tough to be a Democrat.

But my theory is if the stock and barrel Democrats and our representatives will fight the good fight, then I'll be right there with them.

No one ever said it was easy being a Democrat. This is 10 times harder than being a Republican and I'm older, wiser and more mature in how I deal with issues and people.

some folks just lead an unexamined life and are never able to figure out what's what. we need more folks like you to keep the democratic party vibrant and pull it back from its march to the right.

SharonAnn,
Just curious. We "Liberals Like Christ" are trying to persuade the 80% of American voters who self-identify as "Christians" that they should be Democrats.


at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/Democrats .

When the guy says - "I don't see why someone should be patted on the back for FINALLY TELLING THE TRUTH."

While I don't see why this hatchet-man should ever be trusted, I appreciate his piracy upon the political high seas.

his former victims. If you read Conason, Blumenthal, you'll find out that Brock's conversion was not merely publishing a book or appologizing to Anita Hill. He actually helped the White House during the Starr Chamber horrors. He paid at least some of his dues - which is much more than someone like say, Arianna has ever done (yet I saw no mistrust there)