The vast right-wing conspiracy is back

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Some of Bill Clinton's most unhinged foes are flinging wild charges at Obama. This time, they're better organized

By Joe Conason

Wearily familiar as he is with the "vast right-wing conspiracy," Bill Clinton says the network that sought to destroy him and his wife, Hillary, remains malignant as ever, yet lacks the might of a decade ago. "It's not as strong as it was, because America's changed," he told David Gregory on "Meet the Press." "But it's as virulent as it was."

Whether Clinton is correct about the current condition of his old adversaries can best be measured by the passage or wreckage of healthcare reform and the outcome of next year's congressional midterm elections -- the same early milestones that marked the beginning of Clinton's tumultuous White House tenure. Perhaps Barack Obama will be saved by political demography and decent intentions, as the former president tried to assure Gregory; perhaps he and his administration will prove less vulnerable to intrigue and propaganda and less flawed than their predecessors.

What Obama should anticipate -- indeed, what he is already encountering -- is a cascade of slurs, threats and rhetorical violence that reanimates all of the worst themes of the bad old days. That wave will inevitably damage the president and his hopes for change, even if the majority of Americans is less receptive to right-wing messages than they once were. The greasy machinery once used to grind Clinton down has grown larger and more sophisticated by orders of magnitude, from Fox News Channel (which did not exist during his first term) to all of the conservative digital outlets that enable echoing and organizing on a truly vast scale.

The negative mythologizing of Obama bears a remarkable resemblance in tone and style if not precisely in content to the attacks on Clinton. "It's like when they accused me of murder, and all that stuff they did," said the former president -- presumably a reference to the wilder fantasies circulated in conservative publications about Obama, from the forged Kenyan birth certificates to the president's supposed plans to inflict corruption, homosexual radicals and Muslim jihad on innocent Americans. While some of the current themes mimic those deployed against Clinton, there are generational differences and the obvious fact that Obama is not just notionally "the first black president." That status evokes a special animus on the far right, of course -- although Clinton at least had earned the lifelong hatred of his most dedicated enemy, "Justice Jim" Johnson of Arkansas, for fighting segregation and racism in Arkansas.

Back when videotapes still had to be circulated by mail order, the Clinton-hunters did a brisk business with "The Clinton Chronicles," a "documentary" alleging that as governor of Arkansas he oversaw an enormous, unchecked racketeering enterprise that encompassed international bank fraud, cocaine smuggling and multiple murders, facilitated by a kind of backwoods dictatorship. Nothing resembling that remarkable work of extremist art, once promoted by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Wall Street Journal editorial page, has appeared so far in the crusade against Obama -- but that doesn't mean nothing is in the works. Many of the same organizations and operatives behind the original Clinton smears are still active and some have amassed considerable wealth and influence over the intervening decade.

The signs of a resurgent right-wing smear industry, and the role that would be played by the old VRWC in the Obama era, first became clear toward the end of last year's historic election. Suddenly in the final months of the campaign, long after conservatives had despaired of another Swift-boat triumph, a curious outfit called the National Republican Trust PAC emerged from the shadows with two exceptionally nasty independent commercials -- and millions of dollars to spend airing them. Between the end of September and Election Day, the mysterious NRT PAC raised and spent enough money to qualify as the single largest non-party purchaser of airtime in the 2008 election.

Using a photo of Mohammed Atta, the first NRT ad connected Obama to the 9/11 hijackers with the false claim that he wanted to permit illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses. FactCheck.org described that ad as "one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign." The second ad attempted to remind voters about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor at the Chicago church where the Obama family worshiped, whose black nationalist sermons caused them to break with him during the presidential campaign. The script criticized Obama for failing to protest Wright's sermons sooner and warned that the Democrat was "too radical" and "too risky."

These blunt instruments of political warfare were less interesting than their creators. The executive director of NRT PAC, responsible for the production of those ads, was Scott Wheeler -- who had worked, years before, on the making of "The Clinton Chronicles," according to reporter Murray Waas. Behind Wheeler was the mastermind of the NRT PAC and one of the central figures in the anti-Clinton network of the '90s: Christopher Ruddy.

Now editor and publisher of Newsmax, the enormously successful right-wing magazine and Web site, Ruddy was the journalist who spun the most fanciful theories about the death of Clinton White House lawyer Vince Foster. Working at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, owned by billionaire and avowed Clinton foe Richard Mellon Scaife, Ruddy popularized the canard that Foster had not committed suicide, as determined by five official investigations, but more likely had been murdered -- possibly to cover up corruption in the Whitewater land deal or because of an illicit affair with Hillary Rodham Clinton or both.

Beyond spreading paranoia about the Foster tragedy, Ruddy and Scaife both played central roles in the distribution of nearly half a million copies of "The Clinton Chronicles" and other covert machinations against the Clinton White House –- most notably the "Arkansas Project," a $2.4 million scheme to dig up or invent crimes by the president and first lady, with assistance from several unsavory characters, including die-hard segregationist Jim Johnson, a couple of private detectives and a bait-shop owner.

Ten years later, life has changed for Ruddy and Scaife. They're partners in Newsmax, based in West Palm Beach, Fla., and now the largest conservative publication in the country, both online and off. With 130,000 print subscribers its circulation is nearly twice as large as the Weekly Standard, and with nearly 4 million unique monthly visitors to Newsmax.com, it is larger than the Drudge Report. According to Forbes, which profiled Newsmax last spring, the low-budget site and its affiliates brought in nearly $30 million last year. More important than its profits is its sway over conservative readers.

Newsmax is a muscular media presence with influence across the right from Rush Limbaugh and all his radio imitators to Fox News Channel and beyond. Ruddy was among the most insistent endorsers of the Obama birth certificate myth, playing much the same role he once did during the Vince Foster affair. He has assiduously promoted the "tea party" movement and the "socialism" meme. When Newsmax published an essay by an obscure former newsman that seemed to urge a military coup against Obama last week (and then removed it), the reverberations were felt across the political spectrum. Every day the site blasts forth a barrage of supposed Obama scandals and embarrassments to be amplified by Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the panoply of talk radio and cable megaphones, knowing that by sheer volume, some of it will stick.

Combining the propaganda power of Newsmax with the spending power of the NRT PAC, the once-laughable Ruddy could become a formidable player in the 2010 midterm elections -– and the fate of the Obama administration.

As Clinton himself pointed out, the same forces that wanted to defeat and destroy his administration have predictably mobilized against Obama. For the moment, however, those forces cannot muster the same kind of concerted attack that almost brought Clinton down. They may still have Scaife's money but they have no independent counsel, like the partisan zealot Kenneth Starr. They have no scandal-mongering allies in the mainstream media, like the late William Safire of the New York Times. They have no congressional majority, and nobody like Newt Gingrich to build and lead one -- at least not yet.

Yet while the Republican right struggles for credibility, leaving Obama with breathing space, he and his aides ought to reconsider their scornful and high-handed attitude toward the progressive wing of their own party. They might just lose the Democratic majority next year and find themselves facing the sharp end of a series of congressional investigations or worse. If and when that happens, as Clinton could remind them, the progressives will be their only reliable allies.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/.../clinton_obama/

[Ban Hammer 13,977]

there's a "vast spooge mark" on some intern's back, but apparently that's not a major concern for bill.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The "vast right wing conspiracy" phrase was coined by Hillary when she said Bill wasn't getting Lewinsky's from Lewinsky. Is it the same now.

Don't worry, Lord Obama can handle it. His actions will silence his critics and we will all be in awe of what he does (someday, maybe)

[HYENA 4]

one party should mow the other party down and solidify their power, get wealthy so they can concentrate on helping the country again. Otherwise it's a temporary race of who can get into office and sleep with the lobbyists, make deals and get made for the rest of their lives only to have elections and repeat the process. It's amazing the policies that come out are typically contrary to what the people want (like the bailout packages bush and obama sent with the multiple BILLIONS in unaccounted money both parties refuse to say where it went...cause it went to lobbyists)!

Edited October 5, 2009 by HYENA

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

CNN - Left

ABC - Left

CBS - Left

NBC - Left

House of Rep. - Left majority

Senate - Left majority

White house - Most Left leaning President ever

Fox - Right

Talk radio - Right

The vast right-wing conspiracy?

The punchline? The open minded liberals want something done about Fox and talk radio.

[zqt3344 21]

righttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.....................

Some of Bill Clinton's most unhinged foes are flinging wild charges at Obama. This time, they're better organized

By Joe Conason

Wearily familiar as he is with the "vast right-wing conspiracy," Bill Clinton says the network that sought to destroy him and his wife, Hillary, remains malignant as ever, yet lacks the might of a decade ago. "It's not as strong as it was, because America's changed," he told David Gregory on "Meet the Press." "But it's as virulent as it was."

Whether Clinton is correct about the current condition of his old adversaries can best be measured by the passage or wreckage of healthcare reform and the outcome of next year's congressional midterm elections -- the same early milestones that marked the beginning of Clinton's tumultuous White House tenure. Perhaps Barack Obama will be saved by political demography and decent intentions, as the former president tried to assure Gregory; perhaps he and his administration will prove less vulnerable to intrigue and propaganda and less flawed than their predecessors.

What Obama should anticipate -- indeed, what he is already encountering -- is a cascade of slurs, threats and rhetorical violence that reanimates all of the worst themes of the bad old days. That wave will inevitably damage the president and his hopes for change, even if the majority of Americans is less receptive to right-wing messages than they once were. The greasy machinery once used to grind Clinton down has grown larger and more sophisticated by orders of magnitude, from Fox News Channel (which did not exist during his first term) to all of the conservative digital outlets that enable echoing and organizing on a truly vast scale.

The negative mythologizing of Obama bears a remarkable resemblance in tone and style if not precisely in content to the attacks on Clinton. "It's like when they accused me of murder, and all that stuff they did," said the former president -- presumably a reference to the wilder fantasies circulated in conservative publications about Obama, from the forged Kenyan birth certificates to the president's supposed plans to inflict corruption, homosexual radicals and Muslim jihad on innocent Americans. While some of the current themes mimic those deployed against Clinton, there are generational differences and the obvious fact that Obama is not just notionally "the first black president." That status evokes a special animus on the far right, of course -- although Clinton at least had earned the lifelong hatred of his most dedicated enemy, "Justice Jim" Johnson of Arkansas, for fighting segregation and racism in Arkansas.

Back when videotapes still had to be circulated by mail order, the Clinton-hunters did a brisk business with "The Clinton Chronicles," a "documentary" alleging that as governor of Arkansas he oversaw an enormous, unchecked racketeering enterprise that encompassed international bank fraud, cocaine smuggling and multiple murders, facilitated by a kind of backwoods dictatorship. Nothing resembling that remarkable work of extremist art, once promoted by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Wall Street Journal editorial page, has appeared so far in the crusade against Obama -- but that doesn't mean nothing is in the works. Many of the same organizations and operatives behind the original Clinton smears are still active and some have amassed considerable wealth and influence over the intervening decade.

The signs of a resurgent right-wing smear industry, and the role that would be played by the old VRWC in the Obama era, first became clear toward the end of last year's historic election. Suddenly in the final months of the campaign, long after conservatives had despaired of another Swift-boat triumph, a curious outfit called the National Republican Trust PAC emerged from the shadows with two exceptionally nasty independent commercials -- and millions of dollars to spend airing them. Between the end of September and Election Day, the mysterious NRT PAC raised and spent enough money to qualify as the single largest non-party purchaser of airtime in the 2008 election.

Using a photo of Mohammed Atta, the first NRT ad connected Obama to the 9/11 hijackers with the false claim that he wanted to permit illegal immigrants to get drivers licenses. FactCheck.org described that ad as "one of the sleaziest false TV ads of the campaign." The second ad attempted to remind voters about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor at the Chicago church where the Obama family worshiped, whose black nationalist sermons caused them to break with him during the presidential campaign. The script criticized Obama for failing to protest Wright's sermons sooner and warned that the Democrat was "too radical" and "too risky."

These blunt instruments of political warfare were less interesting than their creators. The executive director of NRT PAC, responsible for the production of those ads, was Scott Wheeler -- who had worked, years before, on the making of "The Clinton Chronicles," according to reporter Murray Waas. Behind Wheeler was the mastermind of the NRT PAC and one of the central figures in the anti-Clinton network of the '90s: Christopher Ruddy.

Now editor and publisher of Newsmax, the enormously successful right-wing magazine and Web site, Ruddy was the journalist who spun the most fanciful theories about the death of Clinton White House lawyer Vince Foster. Working at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, owned by billionaire and avowed Clinton foe Richard Mellon Scaife, Ruddy popularized the canard that Foster had not committed suicide, as determined by five official investigations, but more likely had been murdered -- possibly to cover up corruption in the Whitewater land deal or because of an illicit affair with Hillary Rodham Clinton or both.

Beyond spreading paranoia about the Foster tragedy, Ruddy and Scaife both played central roles in the distribution of nearly half a million copies of "The Clinton Chronicles" and other covert machinations against the Clinton White House –- most notably the "Arkansas Project," a $2.4 million scheme to dig up or invent crimes by the president and first lady, with assistance from several unsavory characters, including die-hard segregationist Jim Johnson, a couple of private detectives and a bait-shop owner.

Ten years later, life has changed for Ruddy and Scaife. They're partners in Newsmax, based in West Palm Beach, Fla., and now the largest conservative publication in the country, both online and off. With 130,000 print subscribers its circulation is nearly twice as large as the Weekly Standard, and with nearly 4 million unique monthly visitors to Newsmax.com, it is larger than the Drudge Report. According to Forbes, which profiled Newsmax last spring, the low-budget site and its affiliates brought in nearly $30 million last year. More important than its profits is its sway over conservative readers.

Newsmax is a muscular media presence with influence across the right from Rush Limbaugh and all his radio imitators to Fox News Channel and beyond. Ruddy was among the most insistent endorsers of the Obama birth certificate myth, playing much the same role he once did during the Vince Foster affair. He has assiduously promoted the "tea party" movement and the "socialism" meme. When Newsmax published an essay by an obscure former newsman that seemed to urge a military coup against Obama last week (and then removed it), the reverberations were felt across the political spectrum. Every day the site blasts forth a barrage of supposed Obama scandals and embarrassments to be amplified by Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the panoply of talk radio and cable megaphones, knowing that by sheer volume, some of it will stick.

Combining the propaganda power of Newsmax with the spending power of the NRT PAC, the once-laughable Ruddy could become a formidable player in the 2010 midterm elections -– and the fate of the Obama administration.

As Clinton himself pointed out, the same forces that wanted to defeat and destroy his administration have predictably mobilized against Obama. For the moment, however, those forces cannot muster the same kind of concerted attack that almost brought Clinton down. They may still have Scaife's money but they have no independent counsel, like the partisan zealot Kenneth Starr. They have no scandal-mongering allies in the mainstream media, like the late William Safire of the New York Times. They have no congressional majority, and nobody like Newt Gingrich to build and lead one -- at least not yet.

Yet while the Republican right struggles for credibility, leaving Obama with breathing space, he and his aides ought to reconsider their scornful and high-handed attitude toward the progressive wing of their own party. They might just lose the Democratic majority next year and find themselves facing the sharp end of a series of congressional investigations or worse. If and when that happens, as Clinton could remind them, the progressives will be their only reliable allies.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/.../clinton_obama/

[Ban Hammer 13,977]

CNN - Left

ABC - Left

CBS - Left

NBC - Left

House of Rep. - Left majority

Senate - Left majority

White house - Most Left leaning President ever

Fox - Right

Talk radio - Right

The vast right-wing conspiracy?

The punchline? The open minded liberals want something done about Fox and talk radio.

that about sums it up.

[Pooky 3,857]

I'll ask it again ... Why are all conspiracies in the USA vast conspiracies?

Don't you lot ever have and small ones? Not even middling ones?

Do the conspiracies need to be vast to cover up the feelings of inadequacy of the conspirators and the conspired against?

I need to know ... soon.

[HYENA 4]

they're all evil and we're all doomed

[Pooky 3,857]

they're all evil and we're all doomed

Who are "they"?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I'll ask it again ... Why are all conspiracies in the USA vast conspiracies?

Don't you lot ever have and small ones? Not even middling ones?

Do the conspiracies need to be vast to cover up the feelings of inadequacy of the conspirators and the conspired against?

I need to know ... soon.

It's playing with Clinton's term he used back when he was in office. Whatever you want to call it, there is a very real, concerted effort by an arm of the Right Wing that want to delegitimize Obama's presidency in the hope of rendering him ineffective in pushing forward his agenda, which he campaigned and was elected for.

[Pooky 3,857]

I'll ask it again ... Why are all conspiracies in the USA vast conspiracies?

Don't you lot ever have and small ones? Not even middling ones?

Do the conspiracies need to be vast to cover up the feelings of inadequacy of the conspirators and the conspired against?

I need to know ... soon.

It's playing with Clinton's term he used back when he was in office. Whatever you want to call it, there is a very real, concerted effort by an arm of the Right Wing that want to delegitimize Obama's presidency in the hope of rendering him ineffective in pushing forward his agenda, which he campaigned and was elected for.

Don't answer the question, then.

And anyway, Nancy Pelosi Harry Reid are delegitimising Obama's presidency far better than the Republican'ts ever could.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

...Nancy Pelosi Harry Reid are delegitimising Obama's presidency far better than the Republican'ts ever could.

Oh, they are favorite targets by the Right Wing attack machine too as you just demonstrated. This is about power and those who still haven't accepted the fact that they lost power and are so addicted to that power that they are gnashing their teeth for when they can grab that power back.

[Pooky 3,857]

...Nancy Pelosi Harry Reid are delegitimising Obama's presidency far better than the Republican'ts ever could.

Oh, they are favorite targets by the Right Wing attack machine too as you just demonstrated. This is about power and those who still haven't accepted the fact that they lost power and are so addicted to that power that they are gnashing their teeth for when they can grab that power back.

You are obviously and deliberately misinterpreting me once again.

I despise Pelosi and Reid because all they have done is try and trump the President's policy initiatives and decisions and steal a little of the glory for themselves. What they fail to see is that they are only hindering the administration and detracting from what might have been achieved, if they hadn't injected their own partisan divisiveness into the mix.

Their brand of vested interest politics has given the Republican'ts ammunition with which to fight, and has tarnished the President's image more than his own actions deserve.

Without them, Obama stood a chance to get things done better, sooner and cleaner than he has been able to with their assistance. And that's a damned shame.

Edited October 6, 2009 by Pooky

[one...two...tree 2,762]

...Nancy Pelosi Harry Reid are delegitimising Obama's presidency far better than the Republican'ts ever could.

Oh, they are favorite targets by the Right Wing attack machine too as you just demonstrated. This is about power and those who still haven't accepted the fact that they lost power and are so addicted to that power that they are gnashing their teeth for when they can grab that power back.

You are obviously and deliberately misinterpreting me once again.

I despise Pelosi and Reid because all they have done is try and trump the President's policy initiatives and decisions and steal a little of the glory for themselves. What they fail to see is that they are only hindering the administration and detracting from what might have been achieved, if they hadn't injected their own partisan divisiveness into the mix.

Their brand of vested interest politics has given the Republican'ts ammunition with which to fight, and has tarnished the President's image more than his own actions deserve.

Without them, Obama stood a chance to get things done better, sooner and cleaner than he has been able to with their assistance. And that's a damned shame.

There's plenty of fair criticism to dish out. It's too bad that the Right Wing can't seem to capitalize on it, rather than the silly nonsense they keep focusing on. There's a huge leadership vacuum among the Republican Party, with people like Palin jockeying for position. I think whichever Republican comes forward with a more centrist and pragmatic view of things will be the one who will have the most chance of succeeding...if the Far Right Wing doesn't hang 'em out to dry.