Read Blinded By The Right: The Conscience Of An Ex-Conservative, the memoir/tell-all by David Brock this summer. Brock wrote for Insight and American Spectator, and also wrote an attack book on Anita Hill shortly after the Clarence Thomas nomination fight. However, in 1996 he published a book on Hillary Clinton that was widely expected to be an attack piece. When it turned out to be relatively balanced, the right wing disavowed him. In the years since, he wrote this book, and started Media Matters, a counter-information source on the right wing.
I don’t know how much of the facts in the books can be independently verified. My guess is a lot of it is. It was interesting for a number of reasons. First, Brock is one of few who has moved from conservative to liberal. Second, the inside look at the attack media that nearly brought down Clinton and prevented from Gore from winning in 2000 is priceless. There really was a right-wing conspiracy, though it may not have been vast
. Third, the insight Brock gave into how he thought and felt at the time, and what might have motivated him. However, that part seems to veer into the psycho-babble realm more than I like. Fourth, and last, he offers retractions and mea culpas on the prominent pieces he wrote. These days, it’s rare to see any kind of substantive correction in the media at all, much less something as prominent as this book.
Title: Blinded by the right: the conscience of an ex-conservative
Author: David Brock
Imprint / publisher: Crown / Random House
Format: Hardcover
Length: 352 p.
Publication date: 2002
ISBN-10: 0-8129-3099-1
Subject: Brock, David
Subject: Clinton, Bill, 1946 — Adversaries
Subject: United States — Politics and government — 1993-2001
Subject: Republican Party (U.S.L 1854- ) — Biography
Subject: Journalists — United States — Biography
Subject: Conspiracies — United States — History — 20th century
Subject: Conservatism — United States — History— 20th century
Subject: Right and left (Political science) — History — 20th century
LC classification: E886.2.B754 2001
