Blinded by the Right or The Separation of Church and State

Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative

Author: David Brock

In a powerful and deeply personal memoir in the tradition of Arthur Koestler's The God That Failed, David Brock, the original right-wing scandal reporter, chronicles his rise to the pinnacle of the conservative movement and his painful break with it.

David Brock pilloried Anita Hill in a bestseller. His reporting in The American Spectator as part of the infamous "Arkansas Project" triggered the course of events that led to the historic impeachment trial of President Clinton. Brock was at the center of the right-wing dirty tricks operation of the Gingrich era—and a true believer—until he could no longer deny that the political force he was advancing was built on little more than lies, hate, and hypocrisy.

In Blinded By the Right, Brock, who came out of the closet at the height of his conservative renown, tells his riveting story from the beginning, giving us the first insider's view of what Hillary Rodham Clinton called "the vast right-wing conspiracy." Whether dealing with the right-wing press, the richly endowed think tanks, Republican political operatives, or the Paula Jones case, Brock names names from Clarence Thomas on down, uncovers hidden links, and demonstrates how the Republican Right's zeal for power created the poisonous political climate that culminated in George W. Bush's election.

Already making national headlines, David Brock writes with stunning candor about a fascinating but deeply disturbing period of American politics. Blinded By the Right is a classic political memoir of our times.

Los Angeles Times - Todd Gitlin

Anyone wishing to understand America in the 1990s will have to read his book.

Tribune Media Services - Bill Press

If you're looking for proof of corruption and immoral behavior among the nation's most famous conservatives -- read this book.

If you want to learn all about organized crime -- for God's sake, read this book.

David Brock's Blinded by the Right reads like the memoirs of a mafia hit man. But it's the personal story of a former Republican hit man, instead.

New Yorker - Hendrik Hertzberg

Blinded by the Right is a valuable book. It is not an apologia. It is something rarer, and it is something that is owed not only from its author but also from the political cadre he has so spectacularly served and forsaken: an apology.

New York Times - Frank Rich

....literary antecedent for Blinded by the Right is less The God That Failed than Julia Phillips's scorched-earth memoir of Hollywood, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again. But Brock, unlike Phillips, can write, and he seems to have expelled much of the bile that marked his past writing. In his portrayal, there are some honorable and principled conservatives who cross his path -- John O'Sullivan of The National Review (which had the guts to pan The Real Anita Hill), Tod Lindberg of The Washington Times, the writer Christopher Caldwell -- and there's a humanity to some (though not all) of the gargoyles and lunatics who outnumber them.

NYPress - Michelangelo Signorile

...illuminating and at times enraging ....[the] cast of hypocrites, vipers and freaks doesn't get any more perverse than those in Blinded.

The Nation - Michael Tomasky

....the writing has about it the tenor of veracity and candor. Brock comes clean on things he has no contemporary motive to come clean on...

Chicago Sun Times - Steve Neal

Brock draws vivid portraits of his contemporaries in the conservative movement, from the hypocritical Newt Gingrich to the sloppy Matt Drudge and socialite Arianne Huffington, who padded her syndicated column by writing down the thoughts of others at cocktail parties.

Philadelphia City Paper - Andrew Milner

Blinded by the Right is a terrific personal account of the seamier side of American political life.

New York Observer - Joe Conason

By journalistic standards, then, Mr. Brock is a credible person; more credible, certainly, than those who tried to deny the existence of the Arkansas Project and, more broadly, the "right-wing conspiracy" to undermine the Clinton Presidency. But there are elements of his story that are perhaps more compelling than the dry corroboration of names, dates and bank accounts.

Boston Globe - John Aloysius Farrell

Blinded by the Right is terrific. It's bitchy. Audacious. Malevolent. An indulging, mesmerizing treat....No one on the right comes off looking clean in this book. Not the hypocritical House Republicans who investigated Clinton's sex life while nursing their own adulteries. Not the closeted conservative columnists and office holders who chased and pawed Brock at parties, clubs, and dance floors while their party preached the depravity of gay life. Not the high-ranking Republican legal establishment, whose rage at the left's tactics in the confirmation battles over Robert Bork and Thomas was such that they abandoned time-tested conservative principles such as truth, fair play, and patriotism.

USA Today - Clara Frenk

.... fascinating look into the murky world of the politics of personal destruction that led to a $70 million impeachment inquiry. Most important, in a town where everyone from journalists to political appointees does everything to avoid admitting past transgressions, Brock not only says he was wrong -- he tries to make amends.

Library Journal

When Brock (The Real Anita Hill; The Seduction of Hillary Rodham) was a freshman at the University of California at Berkeley in 1981, his political idol was Bobby Kennedy. Four years later, he was a committed conservative who idolized Oliver North and Robert Bork. In this book, Brock chronicles the political round trip back to his more liberal roots. Along the way, he earned the adoration of the extreme right, even after he acknowledged that he was gay, because he worked feverishly as a writer for conservative publications such as the Washington Times and American Spectator, promoting and validating conservative causes. An American Spectator article in early 1994 broke the "Troopergate" scandal and laid the groundwork for the Paula Jones suits against President Clinton, but Brock says he was troubled by the relentless investigations of the Clintons and came to regret his part in them. Eventually, the shallowness of his relationship with the conservatives forced him to make a final break in 1997. Although readers may doubt the sincerity of Brock's latest conversion, the book offers a revealing inside look at the conservative media and provides a careful chronicling of the investigations of the Clintons. Recommended for media studies and political science collections and for larger public libraries. Jill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Libs. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Prologue
Ch. 1	The Making of a Conservative	1
Ch. 2	The Third Generation	21
Ch. 3	Leninists of the Right	48
Ch. 4	"A Counter-Intelligentsia"	71
Ch. 5	The Real Anita Hill	87
Ch. 6	Holy War	121
Ch. 7	Troopergate	134
Ch. 8	Out of the Closet	160
Ch. 9	"A Woman Named Paula"	176
Ch. 10	The Arkansas Project	193
Ch. 11	The Best and the Rightist	215
Ch. 12	Strange Lies	237
Ch. 13	The Seduction of Hillary Rodham	249
Ch. 14	The Gary Aldrich Affair	264
Ch. 15	Breaking Ranks	273
Ch. 16	Monica, Sidney, and Me	299
	Epilogue	330

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The Separation of Church and State: Writings on a Fundamental Freedom by America's Founders

Author: Forrest Church

A primer of essential writings about one of the cornerstones of our democracy

Certain basic issues will always be debated in our country, even without a presidential election at stake. One of the most important of these is the separation of church and state. On this issue, Americans constantly interpret and reinterpret the intentions of America's founders. Now, they will have a collection of the most eloquent writings of the founders to help them understand the original reasoning behind this separation.

Forrest Church, well-known writer and religious leader, son of former senator Frank Church, has used his considerable knowledge about this subject to bring together these writings for modern readers. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, George Washington, Patrick Henry—these are just some of the leaders who wrote movingly about the need to separate religion and government. This concise primer will get past the rhetoric that surrounds the current debate and deliver instead specific writings by the original authors of the Constitution.

Edited and introduced by Church, this volume will inform readers about the founders' original vision and will stand as a timely reminder of how important this fundamental separation is to our way of life.