Fascinating article about Media Matters:
David Brock was smoking a cigarette on the roof of his Washington, D.C. office one day in the late fall of 2010 when his assistant and two bodyguards suddenly appeared and whisked him and his colleague Eric Burns down the stairs.
Brock, the head of the liberal nonprofit Media Matters for America, had told friends and co-workers that he feared he was in imminent danger from right-wing assassins and needed a security team to keep him safe.
The threat he faced while smoking on his roof? “Snipers,” a former co-worker recalled.
“He had more security than a Third World dictator,” one employee said, explaining that Brock’s bodyguards would rarely leave his side, even accompanying him to his home in an affluent Washington neighborhood each night where they “stood post” to protect him. “What movement leader has a detail?” asked someone who saw it.
Extensive interviews with a number of Brock’s current and former colleagues at Media Matters, as well as with leaders from across the spectrum of Democratic politics, reveal an organization roiled by its leader’s volatile and erratic behavior and struggles with mental illness, and an office where Brock’s executive assistant carried a handgun to public events in order to defend his boss from unseen threats. . . .
You can read the whole thing, and then consider how strange it is that someone with a clearly warped personality has such enormous influence:
Media Matters has perhaps achieved more influence simply by putting its talking points into the willing hands of liberal journalists. “In ‘08 it became pretty apparent MSNBC was going left,” says one source. “They were using our research to write their stories. They were eager to use our stuff.” Media Matters staff had the direct line of MSNBC president Phil Griffin, and used it. Griffin took their calls.
Did I say “enormous influence“?
According to visitor logs, on June 16, 2010, Brock and then-Media Matters president Eric Burns traveled to the White House for a meeting with Valerie Jarrett, arguably the president’s closest adviser. Recently departed Obama communications director Anita Dunn returned to the White House for the meeting as well.
And did I say “clearly warped personality“?
During a 2008 meeting of the left-wing umbrella group Democracy Alliance outside San Diego, Brock’s unusual behavior drew considerable attention. According to a fellow attendee, “David completely lost his s–t. He started getting incredibly aggressive. He alienated important people in the progressive movement, like John Podesta [of the Center for American Progress] and Anna Burger [of the Service Employees International Union]. Lots of drama. There were a lot of conversations about David’s mental health.”
Two years later, at another Democracy Alliance meeting shortly after the 2010 election, Brock behaved in a way one prominent liberal who was there described as “erratic, unstable and disturbing.” Brock’s aggression, this person said, was “hard to ignore and noticed by a number of people,” generating “quite a bit of concern” about his condition. . . .
Last spring, some at Media Matters headquarters and in other parts of the progressive world were caught off guard by an interview Brock gave to Ben Smith at Politico, in which he promised to wage “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” against Fox News. “It was insane,” says a coworker. “David was totally manic at the time. We were all shocked.”
The story goes on and on and, beyond the specific revelations about MMFA in the Daily Caller article, there is a larger and more general scandal about liberal non-profit organizations like MMFA: The enormous gap in pay, prestige and privilege between the executives and the peons who actually do the work. David Brock and the other bosses at such operations not only collect six-figure salaries, but also certainly monopolize the perks that go with the job, including expense-paid travel to various conferences and meetings in resort locales where they “work” a little and relax a lot.
Ask anyone who’s spent much time in the D.C. non-profit world, and you’ll hear astonishing tales of the luxurious lifestyles of the 501(c) executive class, a lifestyle made possible by the work done by dozens of low-paid staffers. This is equally true, I should point out, of certain conservative non-profits — we need not name names — but such stuff is especially obnoxious when observed at liberal groups, which are ostentatiously devoted to left-wing notions of equality and social justice.
The poor underpaid slobs who toil inside a racket like MMFA tend to rationalize their work on the basis of “advancing the cause,” and perhaps also with the idea that one day they might get a shot at joining the non-profit political executive class. But the smarter ones eventually wise up to the racket and seek employment in the world of greedy capitalism, where one’s day-to-day work might not advance any glorious “cause,” but at least the unequal transactions aren’t dressed up in a lot of idealistic nonsense.
Congratulations to Tucker Carlson, Alex Pappas and the other underpaid slobs at The Daily Caller who put together this overdue exposé.
UPDATE: Richard McEnroe suspects that we have attracted trolls of the agent provocateur type, who are posting anti-homosexual statements in the comments in a stealthy effort to elicit derogatory reactions from other commenters, thus to “prove” that anyone who doesn’t like MMFA is a right-wing bigot. Whether or not McEnroe’s suspicion is justfied, I don’t claim to know, but consider yourself warned.
Brock is a flamer, OF COURSE he’s apt to act bizarrely. The guy spends good chunks of his existence in unnatural sexual activity, OF COURSE this behavior CAUSES intellectual and behavioral peculiarities.
Previous generations knew that, understood that, were able to put one and two together.
It’s really only this generation that has deluded itself that homosexual behavior is perfectly kosher.
It sounds to me like if they dig a little deeper they might uncover evidence of drug abuse, specifically cocaine. His security detail sounds like it might double as Whitney Houston’s former entourage.
Y’know, an enterprising person that’s a good shot with a high-powered paintball gun could have no end of fun harassing David Brock. All they’d need would be some friends to help keep him under surveillance.
[…] Stacy on the sweat-shop angle: Ask anyone who’s spent much time in the D.C. non-profit world, and you’ll hear astonishing tales of the luxurious lifestyles of the 501(c) executive class, a lifestyle made possible by the work done by dozens of low-paid staffers. This is equally true, I should point out, of certain conservative non-profits — we need not name names — but such stuff is especially obnoxious when observed at liberal groups, which are ostentatiously devoted to left-wing notions of equality and social justice. […]
That’s already in the article.
And friends they didn’t mind getting shot.
Finn, I know I never bought your politics but that is just a fucking stupid thing to put in print, even on a blog with someone else’s name on it.
It tells you exactly what chance the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party have of doing anything good for this country, if Brock is the sort of person they rely on. Of course, since that it not their intention (Obama simply wants to degrade this country and the Democrats simply want to loot it), no problemo.
“‘In ’08 it became pretty apparent MSNBC was going
leftfull-on rat bastard Commie”,’ saysone sourcemultiple sources.”I believe the proper editing is now complete. You have to account for their nuanced approach.
The Left have always relied on the services of the mentally ill to do their dirty work [see: Hitler’s minions].
Brock’s behavioral problem is probably rooted in the stress of maintaining the cognitive dissonance of his life. He started as a decent conservatively based writer from which we can conclude that he knows the truth of the issues. However, the strongly left-wing gay community, using the threat of never having any personal relationships, forced him to espouse the liberal causes. Holding that constant contradiction together has been and will continue to drive him nuts.
Remember Bradley Manning.
Just another flamer whose sexual disorders reflected itself in treason.
Recall those known as “the Cambridge Five.” That was a group of traitors who could never have arisen absent the whole anti-bourgeois, anti-traditional values of those termed “the hominetern,” {a riff off of the old Comintern}.
Men that bend over for other men, that long to bend over for other men are sooner or later going to erratic, shall we say………
Exactly.
Creatures like Brock have already shattered moral thresholds in their own lives. They’ve already made their bones as the mob would say. That being the case, they’re uniquely well suited for what the Left has in mind for them.
It’s way more than that.
Men like that are at war with the whole order of nature itself.
Oh, for God’s sake. I gotta suspect Drek and Yahoowhatever came here from MMFA just to kill this thread.
Yeah, queers, that’s what MMFA is all about.
BTW, Walker family, straight; Aldrich Ames, straight; Pollard, straight…
I didn’t comment about MMFA.
I simply sought to throw some light on the deeper causes of Brock’s behavior.
How then was that off topic.
Besides, you misinterpreted the point I made, about unnatural behavior reflecting itself in other ways, one of which I pointed out, anti-bourgeois, anti-traditional values, most notable of which would be treason.
Today, people in Brock’s community deride ordinary married couples with children as “the breeders.” Don’t you recall when the whole AIDS thing blew up, who did that community try to finger for the death rates in their grouping? They tried to finger the Reagan administration, {“The Band Played On”}.
The point stands; they’re a bizarre group, and their unnatural behavior can’t stay confined to their sexual antics.
Go read David Horowitz’s “The Politics of Bad Faith.” He has a whole chapter of that book about how bizarre they are.
Maybe David Brock is actually paranoid of left-wing assassins who want to use his martyrdom as a Reichstag Fire kinda deal.
David Brock and Valerie Jarrett make a good couple. If they were accidentally trapped inside of an elevator together for 48 hours, with nothing but $300 worth of cocaine and a lawn shears, America would be a better place for it.
[Note this is supposed to be a response to Drek’s comment in re: Bradley Manning, but it keeps posting down here]: I’m a “family values” guy in large part for consequentialist reasons, but I must point out that your mentioning a few examples (anecdotal evidence) falls very well short of proving your argument.
Mere speculation while painting with a broad brush. Unless you are a biographer of Brock or his psychiatrist, you’re really going out on a limb.
Plus, with the rigor and tone of your responses on this thread, you’re behaving more like a plant.
Either asteroturf or a thread-jacking idiot. Pick one.
It’s not about proving his argument, it’s about killing the discussion of MMFA’s lunacy as an institution.
What’s wrong with a broad brush?
Generalizations are a byproduct of generation after generation of human experience.
Take a look at the other way.
Dennis Prager has been pushing hard the idea that Romney, PRECISELY BECAUSE of his stable family life, {meaning his stable sexual life, which is completely consistent with nature} can be counted upon to be conservative, meaning thereby, stable, reliable, ordered.
That’s just the flip side of the point I’ve made, that unnatural relationships and activities inexorably produce their corollary in other ways.
The human being is a whole, mind, body and spirit. There isn’t any division possible. You can’t divide human sexuality out of the whole person’s human activity.
That’s a post-modern caprice.
I know that some think that part of conservatism is the complete embrace of the homosexual element. We even here this nonsense from Mark Levin. But political expediencies shouldn’t paralyze our intellectual assessment of behavioral oddities. Thus it’s one thing to parrot the politically correct line because you think you don’t have much choice otherwise.
But it’s another thing entirely to actually believe what you’re parroting.
One more point to advance those I made.
Take a look at Obama’s personal life.
You’re all aware of the rumours swirling around about the guy in Chicago. Stacy McCain himself posted a very pointed reference to it, when he said that he heard tales of a “slim Kenyan” who wasn’t a stranger to a certain community in Chicago.
Recall too that obama visited Pakistan, with several Pakistani “friends.” What do you think he was doing in Pakistan?
The girlfriend in his book, —————————–NO ONE has ever specified, pinpointed or subsequently identified.
No one!
The jerk obama already confessed to being a coke head. Who here suspected otherwise.
So what’s the point?
Obama’s personal irregularities naturally flow over into his political and social disorders.
Is that a stretch?
But I’m not really trying to “prove” to a certitude the point.
That would be beyond the scope of this thread, and it would take much more effort on my part.
I really suggest those interested to check out David Horowitz’s book: “The Politics of Bad Faith.”
Now Horowitz’s book goes way beyond the morbid community in question, and addresses the radical agenda of the left, and what he describes as their intellectual and moral “bad faith.” It’s a slim book, and a tour de force, and I heartily recommend it to one and all.
But Horowitz actually entered their bath houses, observed them first hand. He can give you chapter and verse.
One more thing to throw forward.
Ever hear tale or actually observe the creatures in question during one of their “gay pride parades.” Now ask yourself why doesn’t ABC/NBC/CBS televise those parades, as they do Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, or the Rose Bowl parade? ABC is obviously out there doing their level best to normalize and mainstream the oddity in question.
But they don’t show that parade, now do they?
We’re dealing with by and large, a demonstrably pathological grouping.
And every former generation understood as much.
Except ours.
Which begs the question.
When you look around you at the world we’re living in, the Western, post-modern, increasingly post-Christian world, what leads any of you to believe that we’re the era that has gotten it right, and all the former generations got it wrong.
As a conservative, isn’t one apt to have a healthy respect for the considered judgements of former generations?
At least I used to think so……..
It’s still funny, though.
Hardly. The man has a point. Homosexuality is a mental illness. Why should it not be accompanied by other bizarre behaviors?
Drek, many have realized that liberalism is a form of mental illness. That it afflicts queers and others is no stretch.
Frankly, liberalism is the politics of death. Liberals really do have a death wish. It would be better to confine for their own good and that of society. If we only had that many rubber rooms.
Considering the shit our enemies write about us, my comment is pretty tame.
Mitt Romney has flip-flopped on every subject imaginable with the sole exception of Ann Romney. Try again.
” equally true, I should point out, of certain conservative non-profits — we need not name names ”
Oh, but we do. We do. Get cracking. They’re not every going to fund you so what do you care?
Sign not found at Media Matters:
You don’t have to be crazy
to work here,
but it helps!
[…] is the larger scandal surrounding these non profits and how their big wigs live quite handsomely, as pointed out by Stacy McCain.The enormous gap in pay, prestige and privilege between the executives and the peons who […]
I don’t know what the hell MMFA is supposed to be, but I agree with Drek, homosexuals are sick, and delusional. That’s why they’re attracted to leftist politics, because that’s the way for them to try to achieve validation, through state and federal law imposed on society at large. Ironically, the first people at least in the modern era who tried to oppress homosexuals as a group was probably the Soviet Union, going back to the earliest days under Lenin. I think Castro also persecuted them. In the US they were just let’s say strongly encouraged to keep their shit to themselves. Some were prosecuted, sure, but there was never so far as I know any policy anywhere that purposely targeted homosexuals as a group.
But they’re by and large a bitter, hateful group of people. Deep down they hate what they are, and I think they feel their condition has been imposed on them by the same society they think hates them for it. Their “Gay Pride” and other forms of acting out is pure spite. They clearly don’t want you to like them and accept them. They want you to, well, bend over for them, in more than one way.
Drek writes in the style of Dcmick and has used several other names here in the past few months, mostly to attempt to shout down anyone who writes anything bad about Newton Leroy.
Re: the Update – perhaps you should implement your own version of the policy I use at my place, it involves extensive use of a Ban Hammer and is a great conservator of time, patience, and bandwidth. Nothing wrong with zapping comments that may be detrimental to your stuff.
We all thought George Stephanopoulos was acting weird when he brought up contraception at the GOP debate a month ago…funny how easy it is to connect the dots in hindsight.
I think I agree with Drek and PT.
Also, an open letter to Mr. Brock…
Dear Sir,
You’re not important enough for someone to waste fifty cents on shooting you. Please go into rehab, and then get right with God.
Sincerely,
Tennwriter
Separated at Birth: Creepy Couples Edition!
It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.
Obvious troll is obvious.
I think Da Formah Governatah’s in-eye display in Guns ‘n’ Roses’ video for “You Could Be Mine” said it best:
“EVALUATION: WASTE OF AMMO”
No you didn’t. THAT’S THE FUCKING POINT. This was an article about MMFA and their incestuous relationship with the WH and the media, and you killed it with your QUEERS! QUEERS! QUEERS! bullshit. No one will link this this now. Well done, asshole.
Whether or not the thread hijackers are plants, they do illustrate a typical problem. You see, MMFA would be just as radical and dishonest a propaganda outlet and have just as close ties to the Obama regime, and David Brock would be just as insane, if Brock were straight.
But there are those who cannot let a story with a gay connection in the fabric, however minor or irrelevant, go by without turning the entire discussion into a debate over Teh Gehe. This in turn invites the left – not just the MMFA apparatchiks or the gay warriors – to point to the thread with a knowing nod.
They do this because they understand the PC world they’ve helped build. There are many, many people who aren’t political junkies, who aren’t versed in all the issues and the histories of the players, but who are turned off by what they perceive (or are led to perceive) as bigotry. They won’t listen to any arguments once this charge is planted. Game over due to a foot fault.
This is the mindset which may be Santorum’s biggest obstacle in a general election. He’s been a target of that crowd for years, but once the swing voters and young people are bombarded with accusations of anti-gay bigotry, he’ll be made toxic.
It’s the sort of dirty campaign which could make the disillusioned leftists and others who would have stayed home turn out for Obama. And Obama isn’t above getting someone else’s hands dirty.
Get the TrollBGone and put it on blast.
I agree, up to a point. We should concentrate on the core arguments, which will have the biggest persuasive impacts, and strip away peripheral nonsense that can be used to marginalize everything else.
That said, the left/Democrats will target WHOEVER is the GOP nominee with a dirty MMFA-style campaign, bombarding swing voters and young people with accusations that the GOP nominee is toxic and bigot because of X, Y, or Z. Sorry to break the news to you, but the left already has a nice little canister of propaganda dust it’ll use to turn the Mitt cocktail into a toxic stew. It’s just a different flavor than the packet they’ve saved up for Santorum, but no less “toxic.”
That could backfire. People might be ready to accept homosexuals as some relatively faceless, amorphous group, but let the radical fairy mongers start closing ranks and getting in everybody’s face, suddenly they become the de facto faces of the overall homosexual community, and suddenly maybe people are no longer so tolerant or accepting of them. And that would not be good for their Democrat enablers and advocates.
Sorry, I was late getting to the thread.
It is dcmick, and he’s *this* close to getting whacked with the banhammer.
General comment.
I’m not a troll, nor am I someone looking to elicit anti-homosexual commentary all in an effort to prove something.
The point was rather narrow. Part of the agenda of the Left encompasses sexual matters. I think all would concur with that.
Roughly thirty years ago the Left started efforts to mainstream and normalize homosexual behavior. Part of that was the removal of the stigma that attached.
Why?
Rather, not why the Left was advancing their radical agenda, but why now do so many on the right, those ostensibly opposed to the agenda of the Left, VALIDATE their long time criticisms of opposition to same sex pathology and now share in their unchecked acceptance of such behavior?
If you’re opposed to the welfare state, if you’re opposed to their efforts to weaken the United States, if you’re opposed to their long effort to completely dominate American education, if you’re opposed to their war on religion, especially organized Christianity, —————— if you’re opposed to all of that and more, if you’re opposed to confiscatory taxation, and the growth of the federal government, if you’re opposed to the encroachment of the federal judiciary, if you’re opposed to all of that, ——————– why on Earth then would you completely assent to the agenda of the Left when it comes to all things sexual?
Think of it this way, ——– if the Left has screwed up everything else, ——- and they just about have, ——– what makes any of you think that when it comes to sexuality, that’s the one thing they got right?
Food for thought people………