David Brock in Cambridge:
David Brock author of "Blinded by the Right" did a book signing in Harvard Square last night as his memoirs are now out in paperback.
Humble John IAT was there to get his copy duly autographed.
Brock is an odd duck, he's slight of frame like Bobby Kennedy with none of the facile glibness you'd associate with an ex-hard core rightical chic attack dog.
Hell he comes across as earnest...not a whole lot of verbal pyrotechnics.
This is is what makes his discource noteworthy....whether you believe him or not.
Personally I think "Blinded by the Right" is somewhat akin to Albert Speer's confessional "Inside the Third Reich"
in that both men can be relied to tell the truth about everyone else whilst trying to reinvent themselves as someone who is now worthy of trust/respect.
That is not to conflate Brock with nazism or anything only to note heavy political memoirs have to serve the author's agenda be it rehabilitation or preparation for a new career or whatever.
That having been said...
Brock made three useful and suggestive points about the rise of the conservative counter establishment in the 1990's.
1.) The endless attacks on Bill Clinton and his wife, weren't about them as people. Bill Clinton was perceived as an affective democratic politician by the conservative movement and had to be de-legitimized by any means. Clinton's most vociferous GOP/conservative critics would have done the same thing to Tom Harkin, Paul Tsongas or Mario Cuomo if they were elected and seen as a similar threat. So in that sense it wasn't about adultery or perjury at all it was about power.
The same thing will happen again if a democrat is elected in 2004. The conservative movement's issues are demonstrably out of sync with the U.S. electorate therefore they must use their considerable spin power to demonize the opposition and emotionalize the race.
2.) The movement's anti Bill Clinton crowd are now the leading lights of the Bush Administration. The approval of the right wing Federalist Society are a prerequisite to nomination to any post under Bush Jr.
Hillary's "vast right wing conspiracy" has essentially followed Bill Clinton into the White House.
3.) There is a vast well funded conservative counter establishment that exists and prospers irregardless of whether the GOP is in office. The main mission of this counter establishment is to relentlessly propagandize on behalf of conservative issues in as emotionally manipulative manner as possible through as many conservative media outlets as possible.
To call this process part of the "ongoing debate" is disengenuous...the primary purpose of said conservative propaganda is to forestall discourse and discussion in favor of their own ideological precepts.

So it's all very much food for thought...it may not be anything new dear readers but it does bear repeating as we swing into the next election cycle.
JohnIAT@aol.com