The vast right-wing conspiracy is back

Salon ^ | October 5, 2009 | Joe Conason

[2ndDivisionVet]

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.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Who says there's no good fiction being written anymore?

[Carlos Martillo II]

They shouldn’t steal that phrase from the Clinton’s; they should be forever associated with it, especially in light of the Monica connection. For this guy, I’d say there is a vast white-wing conspiracy...started by his typical white grandmother.

[Kevmo]

Bill Clinton is shameless. It was his wife who said there was a VRWC when there was so much attention being paid to his possible perjury in a sexual harrassment lawsuit. And even when a blue dress with his DNA is produced and proven him to be a liar, he still uses the phraseology from that episode. It was not a VRWC against him that caused his impeachment. I wonder if he believes Lewinsky was part of the first VRWC?

[kcvl]

In defense of ACORN

by Joe Conason

The right-wing crusade against ACORN is a far bigger fraud than any misdeeds a few employees might have committed

Sept. 18, 2009 | For many years the combined forces of the far right and the Republican Party have sought to ruin ACORN, the largest organization of poor and working families in America. Owing to the idiocy of a few ACORN employees, notoriously caught in a videotape "sting" sponsored by a conservative Web site and publicized by Fox News, that campaign has scored significant victories on Capitol Hill and in the media.

Like so many conservative attacks, the crusade against ACORN has been highly exaggerated and even falsified to create a demonic image that bears little resemblance to the real organization.

More Here

Yeah, I'm going to believe this nutcase! Joe needs to crawl back under his rock where he must have left his partner in LIES, Gene Lyons.

[Post Toasties]

...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.

The author, one of the most virulent, dishonest flacks for the Clinton administration, here also reveals himself as a far left nutjob, telling 0bama to 'come home' to the 'progressive' wing of the 'Rat party.

[period end of story]

Be afraid, Joe, be very afraid.

[smoothsailing]

LOL!

[Iron Munro]

And then Bill says "The VRWC remains malignant as ever."

[Chet 99]

(chorus)
Im back
Im back in the saddle again
Im back
Im back in the saddle again

Ridin into town alone
By the light of the moon
Im looking for ol sukie jones
She crazy horse saloon
Barkeep gimme a drink
Thats when she caught my eye
She turned to give me a wink
That make a grown man cry

(chorus)

Come easy, go easy
All right until the rising sun
Im calling all the shots tonight
Im like a loaded gun
Peelin off my boots and chaps
Im saddle sore
Four bits gets you time in the racks
I scream for more
Fools gold out of their mines
The girls are soaking wet
Not tounges drier than mine
Ill come when I get back

Im back in the saddle again
Im back
Im back in the saddle again
Im riding, Im loading up my pistol
Im riding, I really got a fistful
Im riding, Im shining up my saddle
Im riding, this snake is gonna rattle

(chorus)

Ridin high
Ridin high
Ridin high already

[gargoyle]

...I disagree, this is not fiction. It’s comedy at best, satire, at the least. I especially love, “the bad old days” line. When GWB was in office and the liberal debate about the issues was,,, Mmmm,,, Uhhh,,, Oh yea, Bush is Hitler, Bush is SATAN, Bush assasination movie. Gee, can’t we Move On???

...Wish we could. Wish what is happening to our country under this administration and the impotent congress was fiction, but it’s fact! There is a war on, mostly peaceful now. But, retort like this, from this Ex-president, and others, is going to set this nation on fire. My biggest fear...

[Byron_the_Aussie]

....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......

Really? That's great news. Thanks, Salon.

[proud_yank]

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.

...is a fraction of what President Bush endured from a bunch of liberal misfits, vagrants and reporters.

[Dem Guard]

Clinton, Carter, and Obama keep adding fuel to the firestorm
against themselves and their policies, then they cry when their feet get hot. “Mommy, the kids are picking on me!”

[midway]

NOTE THE CONASON EDIT

“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.”

ACTUAL CLINTON QUOTE

“It’s not as strong as it was, because America has changed DEMOGRAPHICALLY. But it’s as virulent as it was.”

AS EVERYONE HERE PRESUMABLY KNOWS

High legal immigration rates, unenforced borders, unimpeded illegal immigration followed by Amnesty is the sure fire way to put the ‘Right’ out of power and keep it out of power permanently.

AND THAT’S WHY CONASON DOCTORED THE QUOTE.

[Dem Guard]

Perhaps we should raise the age requirements for national public office so we get can elect some adults with personal judgement and experience for a change.............

[gov_bean_ counter]

Whether Clinton is correct about the current condition of his old adversaries can best be measured by the passage or wreckage of healthcare reform

Not real good at math either, eh Joe?

[BigSkyFreeper]

Joe Conason is a revisionist historian. Bill Clinton’s world toppled down around him because of Bill Clinton. This country is too much of a center-right country to even accept Socialized health care. Bill Clinton failed because a majority of the American people rejected Socialism, and they’re rejecting it again with Obama.

[Paige]

These people hate the average working class American person. They look down their collective noses at the very people who pay taxes, work and make this nation great.

They only way to weaken moronic buffoons like this one is to go to the voting booth with a car load of people and vote out their enablers.

Furthermore, I sense fear an almost shrillness in the left. They can't believe their beloved media can't continue to cover for them.

2010 is the year - Let the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Rule! (wink)

[DeaconRed]

"THE VAST RIGHT-WING CONSPIRCY IS BACK"

We never left. . . . . .

[patj]

....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......

Many of the same organizations and operatives behind the original Clinton spin machine are still active. Still lying and trying to change history. Cheating and lying is just another day in liberal land.