TheA PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL PublicEye RESEARCH ASSOCIATES SPRING 1999 • Volume XIII, No. 1 Clinton, Conspiracism, and the Continuing Culture War What is Past is Prologue by Chip Berlet cal of the direct-mail genre, it asked: culture war as part of the age-old battle he roar was visceral. A torrent of Which Clinton Administration against forces aligned with Satan. sound fed by a vast subconscious scandal listed below do you consider to Demonization is central to the process. Treservoir of anger and resentment. be “very serious”? Essayist Ralph Melcher notes that the “ven- Repeatedly, as speaker after speaker strode to The scandals listed were: omous hatred” directed toward the entire the podium and denounced President Clin- Chinagate, Monicagate, Travel- culture exemplified by the President and his ton, the thousands in the cavernous audito- gate, Whitewater, FBI “Filegate,” wife succeeded in making them into “polit- rium surged to their feet with shouts and Cattlegate, Troopergate, Casinogate, ical monsters,” but also represented the applause. The scene was the Christian Coali- [and] Health Caregate… deeper continuity of the right's historic tion’s annual Road to Victory conference held In addition to attention to scandals, distaste for liberalism. As historian Robert in September 1998—three months before the those attending the annual conference clearly Dallek of Boston University puts it, “The House of Representatives voted to send arti- opposed Clinton’s agenda on abortion, gay Republicans are incensed because they cles of impeachment to the Senate. rights, foreign policy, and other issues. essentially see Clinton…as the embodi- Former Reagan appointee Alan Keyes Several months later, much of the coun- ment of the counterculture’s thumbing of observed that the country’s moral decline had try’s attention was focused on the House of its nose at accepted wisdoms and institu- spanned two decades and couldn’t be blamed Representatives “Managers” and their pursuit tions of the country.” exclusively on Clinton, but when he of a “removal” of Clinton in the Senate. Liberals are demonized for tolerating denounced Clinton for supporting the “rad- Few people understood the vast right-wing godless moral relativism and sinful immoral- ical homosexual agenda,” the crowd cheered political machinery that was mobilized to ity—especially in the form of abortion and and gave Keyes one of his several standing pressure the managers to fight on and never gay rights. Liberals also are demonized for ovations. Republican Senator Bob Smith of give up. Those gathered at the Road to Vic- supporting a strong federal government, New Hampshire attacked Clinton’s foreign tory Conference are naturally inclined to aggressive regulatory oversight, and global policies, stating that the “globalists of the oppose Clinton, but they were “educated” by interdependence—seen as subversive col- New World Order” must not be allowed to a large number of relatively unknown right- lectivism that undermines sovereignty and sell out American sovereignty. wing groups and individuals to see Clinton the spirit of free enterprise. Most attacks on Clinton highlighted his as the embodiment of evil, not just a liberal, The Christian Coalition audience’s pal- sexual misconduct and subsequent cover-up but corrupt, immoral, and even a murderer. pable hostility to Clinton and all he rep- as proof that he was unfit to remain Presi- They are the foot soldiers in the “culture war,” resents illustrates the zeal of the foot soldiers dent, but the list of complaints was long. the backlash launched by the political right When the American Conservative Union against the post-WWII social liberation IN THIS ISSUE distributed a National Impeachment Sur- movements. It has replaced communism as vey with the type of loaded question typi- the right’s major unifying focus. From the Director ...... 2 Today’s culture war is, in part, a contin- EDITORS’ NOTE: This article has 164 footnotes. For a uation of the right’s long-standing campaign Book Review ...... 24 copy of this article with footnotes and bibliography please call Political Research Associates at (617) 661-9313 or against the ideas of modernity and even the Eyes Right ...... 27 e-mail [email protected]. Enlightenment. Some openly support the

THE PUBLIC EYE 1 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

From the Director ThePublicEye Editors arly in the 1980s, New Right leaders described themselves as rightist revolutionaries. They Judith Glaubman Ewanted nothing less than a total transformation of society. Despite setbacks and a mes- Surina Khan sage from the public that they might be politically wise to compromise, their unyielding and Printing Red Sun Press dogmatic tone has persisted. We have learned that the right is single-minded when it sets itself Mailing on a political path. Walnut Street Center Never was this more clearly illustrated than in the effort to impeach President Bill Clinton. PRA Many of the journalists who have analyzed the right’s campaign against Clinton have fixed Political Research Associates on a single explanation for the right’s persistence. Sometimes they see Richard Mellon Scaife Board of Directors as the smoking gun that kept the investigation alive; sometimes it is Ken Starr. Hillary Clin- Joseph Agne ton points to a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Michael Chapman Jean Entine Public Eye readers understand that the right is a social movement, whose sectors often do not Jean V. Hardisty Geraldine Hines agree on various policy issues or ideological positions. In the case of Bill Clinton, however, Joyce King nearly every sector of the right condemns him. They hate him for a wide range of perfidies Michael Kozu Faith Smith that engage nearly every sector of the movement—he is a liberal, a “moral Dr. Loretta Williams disgrace,” a “draft dodger,” an “internationalist,” and a shady character willing to sell the Lucy A. Williams Lincoln bedroom of the White House. The right’s leadership and the grassroots followers Staff across the sectors wanted Clinton punished. Jean V. Hardisty, Ph.D., Executive Director Peter Snoad, Deputy Director And each sector made its own contribution to the cause. From the far right came videotapes Chip Berlet, Senior Research Analyst that told the story of Clinton as “murderer,” with special emphasis on the death of Vincent Surina Khan, Associate Research Analyst Judith Glaubman, Researcher/Office Manager Foster. From the anti-feminist movement came exposés of the “hypocrisy” of the women’s move- Mark Umi Perkins, Information Specialist ment in not condemning Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky relationship. From the right’s leg- Miranda Balkin, Intern islators came the attacks on Clinton’s “cover-up” and his lying under oath. At times the attacks, Advisory Board described in detail in this issue by Chip Berlet, looked partisan and obsessive to the general Rita Arditti John Roberts public. But to the right’s grassroots followers, they looked appropriate—in keeping with Clin- Ann Baker Mab Segrest ton’s crimes. Donna Bivens Alice Senturia Sara Diamond, Holly Sklar The anti-Clinton campaign was a case study in how an experienced movement, with a strong Ph.D. Barbara Simon infrastructure and skilled leadership, can capture and frame a cause that touches the passions Fred Goff Urvashi Vaid Beni Ivey Lucius Walker of a very broad segment of its members and ride that cause to its ultimate end. It’s better, of Maya Miller Leah Wise course, to win the campaign and have a victory to celebrate. But even a defeat can serve to Suzanne Pharr Louis Wolf showcase the movement’s principles, reach new recruits, and tie up the opposition. Skipp Porteous

In this issue, Chip Berlet gives us one of the most detailed accounts of the anti-Clinton cam- The Public Eye is published by Political Research Associates. Subscriptions are $29.00 for individuals paign yet published. The campaign appears to have been a resounding failure for the right. and non-profit organizations, $39.00 for other organizations, $19.00 for students and low-income And perhaps the movement is discouraged and demoralized. But no right-wing campaign has individuals. Outside U.S., Canada, and Mexico, add more clearly established that the movement is on the side of morality. $9.00 for surface delivery or $14.00 for air mail. Please make checks payable to Political Research Uncompromising they were, and uncompromising they remain. Associates, 120 Beacon Street, Suite 202, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143-4304. 617.661.9313 fax: 617.661.0059

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THE PUBLIC EYE 2 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye mobilized in the crusade for God and coun- trum and incorporate both secular and reli- Former congressman Vin Weber, try. We should not discount the political gious themes. That a wide variety of conser- an early and active member of the impact of these activists, who are motivated vative and hard right groups work together “movement conservative” Republican by deep ideological, theological, and emo- in coalition to challenge liberalism is hardly faction on Capitol Hill, recalled that tional commitments. While the Senate voted surprising. However, right-wing coalitions in “people on the right were absolutely not to sustain the charges sent over by the the 1990s increasingly tolerated, or even convinced that there was a vast, left- House of Representatives, there is no truce embraced, the most outlandish and nasty wing conspiracy” that had to be mim- in the culture war. Bill and Hillary Clinton assertions of conspiracist subcultures. Even icked and countered with new continue to serve as high profile targets. conservative groups with a more cautious and conservative organizations that were Much of the original constituency for rational track record appear more and more “philosophically sound, technologi- the impeachment battle came from the open to the paranoid-sounding vernacular cally proficient and movement-ori- Christian Right, but the Christian Right and conspiracist narratives of hard right pop- ented.” This became a mantra for does not act alone or in isolation. Right- ulist movements. Many of these themes the new conservative activists. wing attacks on President Clinton flow became the subtexts of the anti-Clinton Academic studies have shown that some from a large and diverse network of indi- conspiracist groups on the right, such as the viduals and organizations. This is not so John Birch Society, are not “marginal” to the much a secret conspiracy against Presi- Critics of Clinton in the electoral process, but have members with dent Clinton as a loosely-knit pre-existing above-average income, status, and educa- coalition among several sectors of the polit- conspiracist subculture tion, who often are long-term activists ical right that share an anti-Clinton agenda, within the Republican Party. As the polit- despite wide differences in political outlook range across the political ical scene has shifted to the right over the and style. As analyst Russ Bellant explains, past twenty years and the culture of con- “different sectors on the right didn’t have spectrum and incorporate spiracism spread into television’s prime to agree on the person they would choose time news and commentary outlets, the to replace Clinton; all they had to do was both secular and apocalyptic prophets of the right-wing agree that they wanted Clinton to go.” It paranoid style have reintegrated themselves is this convergence of anti-Clinton senti- religious themes. into the Republican Party. ment across sectors of the right that Within the hard right and the far right, accounts for the fervor and drive of the anti- a considerable amount of the information Clinton campaign. campaign. The impeachment struggle being circulated is undocumented rumor Most of us are tired of the impeachment demonstrated the extent to which the Repub- and apocalyptic conspiracist theory. Right- scandal and interminable pundit rumina- lican Party is willing to enlist (or at least wing conspiracist movements in the US tions about it. This article, however, will accommodate for political gain) three sectors grow from a belief that common citizens are review the attacks on President Clinton of the right that use apocalyptic conspir- held down by a small network of secret elites with an eye to discerning clues to how the acism—the Christian Right, right wing pop- who manipulate a vast legion of corrupt Christian Right and its allies will regroup ulist and patriot groups, and the far right. politicians, mendacious journalists, pro- and launch the next battle in the culture The conspiracist wing of the Republican pagandizing schoolteachers, and nefarious war. I will pay special attention to the right had been pushed back following the bankers. This conspiracist subculture has a process by which dubious conspiracy the- disgrace of Senator Joseph McCarthy and long historical pedigree and periodically ories became acceptable within the Repub- his reign of error and false accusation in the appears on the US political scene, usually lican Party, and then became major 1950s, and again after the 1964 presiden- accompanying a right-wing populist headlines. I also will examine why the tial campaign of Barry Goldwater, where its upsurge such as we are currently experi- right’s leaders and followers pushed so alarmist charges about Lyndon Johnson encing. Conspiracism is not merely a mar- hard for the impeachment of Clinton, and and liberalism helped doom Goldwater’s ginal “extremist” phenomenon, but is deeply why the failure of the campaign has left such candidacy. This wing, rooted in nativism, embedded in our culture. bitterness and disillusionment within the took the movements built to support Gold- An alarming number of our fellow citi- right’s ranks. water (and later, right-wing populist George zens saw symptoms of secret conspiracies Wallace) and used them to build the “New afoot during the 1990s. These symptoms The Conspiracist Worldview Right.” A conspiracist worldview under- include restrictions on gun ownership, gov- ritics of Clinton in the conspiracist sub- girded this movement. According to Robert ernment abuse of power, federal health Cculture range across the political spec- G. Kaiser and Ira Chinoy: and safety regulations, abortion, homo-

THE PUBLIC EYE 3 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye sexuality, the feminist movement, sex edu- According to a Roper Center study of over ton Post) for devoting so much coverage to cation, new age spirituality, modern edu- 20 polls over a 30-year period, “belief in a the alleged “Whitewater Scandal” over a col- cational curricula, environmentalism, and Kennedy assassination conspiracy has been lapsed land deal, for which no evidence rock or rap music, to name just a few. The related to a political world view which sees implicating the Clintons in criminal acts has conspirators are many: politicians and law the government as failing to provide its cit- ever been substantiated. Lyons argues that enforcement officials above county level, izens with the help they need to cope with much of the scandal coverage in the main- game wardens, internal revenue agents, the problems of modern life.” For many, this stream media “rests on ‘facts’ that are some- judges, lawyers, bankers, journalists, union- neglect is seen as the intentional policy of where between highly dubious and ists, leftists, the Rockefellers, the UN, the a small group of powerful people who demonstrably false,” and he calls it “jour- Trilateral Commission, the Bilderberger control the government and ignore the nalistic malpractice” resulting from a coor- banking discussion group, the Council on needs of average citizens. In 1992 and dinated right-wing “dirty tricks” campaign. Foreign Relations, Federal Reserve bank 1998, around 75 percent of those polled In addition to corporate newspaper and officials, Jews, Blacks, Latinos, Arabs, and thought there was a larger plot to assassi- magazine coverage attacking Clinton, there Asians. nate Kennedy. were books, newsletters, fax reports, video- The charges against Clinton were influ- tapes, audiotapes, direct mail pieces, Inter- enced by these historic right-wing con- net sites, and more that spewed out from spiracist theories—that link liberalism, tiny—sometimes one-person—operations sexual immorality, statist intrusion, col- Those who are immersed to international media conglomerates. lectivism, and treason. Those who are The most alarmist attacks on Clinton immersed in hard right conspiracist dis- in hard right conspiracist originated in right-wing alternative media, course frequently believe that liberals are then spread throughout right-wing infor- engaged in criminal conspiracies to subvert discourse frequently mation networks, finally appearing in main- the country. This apocalyptic paradigm is stream outlets. This troubling dynamic deeply rooted in the American psyche. Joel believe that liberals are was described in a 1995 White House Kovel, in Red Hunting in the Promised memo “Communication Stream of Con- Land, reviews the influence of this paradigm engaged in criminal spiracy Commerce.” The memo was widely on American anti-communism, and traces derided in the corporate media, but it is it to the same “diabolism” and apocalyptic conspiracies to subvert essentially accurate. Eric Alterman in The demonization that shaped the Catholic Nation described how reporters dismissed Inquisition and the witch hunts of Protes- the country. the criticisms of their role in feeding con- tant Puritanism. spiracist rumor to the public: During the Cold War, special prosecu- Listen to Cokie Roberts and Sam tor Kenneth Starr’s political patron, Sena- Donaldson giggle like school-kids tor Jesse Helms (R-NC), was in the forefront The Role of the Media on ABC's This Week. Cokie: “The of purveying conspiracist allegations of a he amount of conspiracist material White House seems to have a theory global “red menace,” including charges Tattacking Clinton before and during the of how this happens...and it appears that domestic subversives were undermin- impeachment hearings was staggering. There to be a right-wing conspiracy. Who ing the US. Throughout the twentieth cen- are few reasons to think the attacks will cease knew...we were such dupes?” Sam: tury there has been an elaborate network of now that the impeachment crisis is over. “Not since Rube Goldberg came up conspiracist anti-communists who spread The small but vocal minority that orig- with contraptions.” McLaughlin the gospel against liberal collectivist treach- inally supported the Starr investigation compared the report to beliefs that ery through books, magazine articles, elec- was nurtured by the conspiracist stories cir- “Elvis is alive, J.F.K. is alive and both tronic media, and workshops. The right’s culating about Clinton. Much of the media are living on an alien mother ship.’ anti-Clinton campaign replicated the style coverage of Clinton from 1997 until 1999 Fred Barnes chimed in, “It can now and themes of those anti-communist witch focused on scandal and impeachment rather be told—there are full-mooners at the hunts, adding new media such as fax than ideological political issues or electoral White House.” machines, AM talk radio, shortwave radio, politics. This was true not only in alterna- Actually, similar contentions about and the Internet. tive right-wing media, but also in main- unsubstantiated conspiracy theories fueling People who see the world through con- stream corporate media. Reporter Gene anti-Clinton news stories had already spiracist lenses frequently distrust the gov- Lyons is especially critical of The New York appeared in mainstream newspapers and ernment no matter what party is in power. Times (and to a lesser degree the Washing- magazines, including the Columbia Jour-

THE PUBLIC EYE 4 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye nalism Review. According to Michael Kazin, overwhelmingly from conservative and lib- tionship between right-wing alternative this process is typical of how populist move- ertarian sources. Fact-checking was de- media and corporate media. ments move their ideas into the main- emphasized. There was also a blurring of the Secular conservatives have long molded stream. A 1998 scholarly book edited by lines between news, entertainment and public opinion through major traditional Linda Kintz and Julia Lesage, Culture, advertising. corporate media—especially in large-cir- Media, and the Religious Right, contains sev- This transition in the news media was culation publications such as Reader’s Digest, eral chapters that show how discussions in happening at a time that popular acceptance through conservative commentary on radio right-wing alternative media help frame of conspiracy theories was growing on the and TV, as well as through TV drama pro- issues that are refined for later coverage in right, left, and center. In a lengthy article grams such as “I Led Three Lives,” and “The the mainstream media. on snowballing conspiracism in The New FBI.” But during the 1980s and 1990s, the In early 1995, Mary Ann Mauney of the Yorker, Michael Kelly called this “fusion right refined its use of the media. Center for Democratic Renewal, was paranoia.” With the rise of “info-tainment” Many of the right’s ideas and proposals quoted in a Scripps Howard syndicated news programs and talk shows, hard right are first developed at think tanks funded by news feature discussing how conservative right-wing foundations and corporations. and militia conspiracy theories seemed to After these ideas are sharpened through be blending together. An example is Michael feedback at conferences and other meetings, Reagan, the top-rated nighttime talk radio The most alarmist attacks they are field-tested within right-wing alter- host, who has an ultraconservative world- native media, such as small-circulation view but a reputation for being fair and on Clinton originated in newsletters, journals, and direct mail appeals. open-minded. Nonetheless, Reagan used his As popular themes that resonate with con- nationally-syndicated program to promote right-wing alternative servative audiences emerge, they are moved conspiracy theories emerging from the into more mainstream corporate media patriot movement—the post Cold-war media, then spread through columns by conservative luminar- populist backlash against liberalism and ies, press releases picked up as articles in the globalism—about a global one-world gov- throughout right-wing print media, conversations on radio talk ernment and attempts to rewrite the US shows, and discussions on TV news round- Constitution. He also pushed various the- information networks, tables. ories claiming Clinton aide Vincent Foster As the increasingly refined arguments did not die due to a self-inflicted gunshot, finally appearing reach a broader audience, they help mobi- but was assassinated. These conspiracist lize mass constituencies for rightist ideas. allegations are also in Reagan’s book, Mak- in mainstream outlets. This in turn adds to the impression that all ing Waves, endorsed in back cover blurbs by fresh ideas are coming from the right, as former US Attorney General Edwin Meese, there is no comparable left infrastructure for III, Republican National Committee chair conspiracism, especially about alleged gov- the refinement and distribution of ideas. For Haley Barbour, and several current and ernment misconduct, jumps into the cor- example, between 1990 and 1993, four former congressmen. porate media with increasing regularity. influential conservative magazines There has been a rapid growth of new As Kelly observes, “It is not remarkable (National Interest, Public Interest, The New “horizontal” electronic communications that accusations of abuse of power should Criterion, and American Spectator) received networks that bypass traditional media fil- be leveled against Presidents—particularly a total of $2.7 million in grants, while the ters and editing standards. Editors and in light of Vietnam, Watergate, and Iran- four major progressive magazines (The producers have responded by lowering tra- Contra. But now, in the age of fusion para- Nation, The Progressive, In These Times, ditional standards on checking sources and noia, there is no longer any distinction and Mother Jones) received less than 10 facts. In the case of accusations against made between credible charges and utterly percent of that amount, under $270,000. Clinton, the mainstream corporate news unfounded slanders.” Christian Right media is extensive and media was willing to peddle rumors for rat- A tremendous range of right-wing infor- reflects a large subculture in our society. For ings. As corporate owners sought to squeeze mation exchange takes place in traditional example, televangelist Jerry Falwell peri- more profits out of news media, there was and alternative media throughout the US. odically sends material to “162,000 con- less investment in research and investigative Mainstream analysts habitually fail to con- servative pastors and churches through reporting. Increasingly, reporters began to sider this massive information network Pastors’ Policy Briefings.” In late 1998, he rely on pre-packaged information from when calculating the political clout of the solicited funds to expand in order to think tanks and publicists, which came right, and also overlook the important rela- “[A]lert, educate and rally America’s

THE PUBLIC EYE 5 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

200,000 conservative pastors who collec- dismiss the Christian Right as “religious than Newsweek. However, World awarded tively speak to 50-60 million persons each political extremists” or a “lunatic fringe” Kenneth Starr a “Daniel of the Year” cover week.” Moreover, Falwell is just one of because it trivializes their significant role in story on December 8, 1998. The reference many national Christian Right leaders seek- electoral politics and masks their drive to is to the Biblical story of devout Daniel in ing to mobilize evangelicals and funda- deny basic human rights for people they the lion’s den. mentalists to engage in conservative political label as sinful. action. In January 1999 Pat Robertson’s Ringleaders in the Anti-Clinton “700 Club” TV program featured a special Diversity in Coverage and Campaign week-long series of reports on “America’s Framing here was a robust and diverse cast of char- Moral Crisis.” Evidence of “America’s moral he content, tone, and amount of anti- Tacters who joined the attack on Clinton: decline” included abortion, euthanasia, TClinton coverage varied considerably • Opportunists and publicity seekers homosexuality, and “America’s obsession across both the secular and Christian right. such as Linda Tripp and her agent with sex.” Viewers with concerns about the Within the hard right, coverage was far more Lucianne Goldberg. moral crises were urged to call the National consistently conspiracist and apocalyptic in • Conservative political operatives in Counseling Center, part of the Christian tone. But not everyone jumped on the think tanks, foundations, legal advocacy groups and law firms, exemplified by John W. Whitehead at the Rutherford Institute. As popular themes that resonate with conservative • Scandal and gossip mongers such as Matt Drudge and The Star super- audiences emerge, they are moved into more market tabloid. • Christian Right ideologues such as mainstream corporate media through columns by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Randall Terry. conservative luminaries, press releases picked up as • Arkansas-based political enemies of Bill and Hillary Clinton, such as articles in the print media, conversations on radio talk Larry Nichols. • Ultra-conservative Senators and shows, and discussions on TV news roundtables. Representatives and the staff they hire to work as aides or committee researchers. Broadcasting Network Ministry. According impeachment bandwagon. For instance, • Conservative media seeking to to the “700 Club,”the Center logged 5,000 Phyllis Schlafly, the grande dame of ultra-con- undermine a Democratic President, calls per day. servative conspiracism, wrote only the occa- including the Washington Times, Studies show members of some Christ- sional column blasting Clinton’s morality as New York Post, American Spectator, ian Right activist groups, such as Focus on symptomatic of decadent liberalism. and the editorial page of The Wall the Family and Concerned Women for Although D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Street Journal. America, share three related attributes; they Ministries is embedded in the conspiracist • Hard right ideologues such as Reed are much more likely than the general pop- subculture, only one out of 30 of his direct Irvine of Accuracy in Media, Larry ulation to: mail letters reviewed was directly about Clin- Klayman of Judicial Watch, and • Depend on religious television, ton—a call for resignation penned by Floyd G. Brown of Citizens United. radio, magazines, and direct mail as Kennedy in November of 1998. • Conspiracist-oriented right-lean- important sources of information. The glossy conservative evangelical mag- ing media and reporters such as • Vote in primary and general elec- azine World featured consistent coverage of Christopher Ruddy of The Pitts- tions. Clinton’s travails, but while highly critical burgh Tribune-Review, Ambrose • Believe that most political issues of Clinton and liberal politics, its coverage Evans-Pritchard of the Sunday Tele- have “one correct Christian view” was generally thoughtful, and based on graph of London, William Rees- that shouldn’t be compromised. solid reporting and interviews. World often Mogg of The Times in London, This subculture was the core of the con- displayed more professionalism than The and Joseph Farah of the Western stituency pushing for Clinton’s impeach- Wall Street Journal, and contained less sala- Journalism Center and its online ment and removal. It is important not to cious pandering and self-referential conceit WorldNetDaily.

THE PUBLIC EYE 6 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

• The conspiracy subculture, span- supporters describe Scaife’s chief aide, Scaife Funding List ning talk radio hosts such as Michael Richard M. Larry, as having great influence This is just a partial list of the conservative,libertar- Reagan, online sites such as Wash- and autonomy. ian,and hard right groups Scaife foundations have ington Weekly, and veteran sources Scaife controls three foundations from funded:* such as Sherman K. Skolnick of his base in Pittsburgh, PA: the Sarah Scaife Accuracy in Media Chicago. Foundation, with assets of $302 million; the American Enterprise Institute for Public • The patriot and militia movements, Allegheny Foundation, with assets of $39 Policy Research including individuals such as Mark million; and the Carthage Foundation, American Spectator Educational Foundation Koernke, known as Mark of Michi- with assets of $24 million; and his children gan, and the website Free Republic. control a fourth, The Scaife Family Foun- Cato Institute More detailed descriptions of some of the dation, with assets of $170 million. These Center for Individual Rights essential players in the right’s anti-Clinton foundations fund numerous conservative Center for Media and Public Affairs campaign illustrate the diversity of indi- policy think tanks, legal groups, and pub- Center for Strategic and International Studies viduals and ideologies that converged in the lications, including many that pursued Center for the Study of Popular Culture right’s hatred of Bill Clinton. Clearly many Clinton, his aides, or his administration. Collegiate Networks anti-Clinton activists (including some who (See sidebar) favored impeachment and removal) avoided Scaife funded GOPAC, the political Competitive Enterprise Institute undemocratic techniques. These critics action committee that Newt Gingrich Ethics and Public Policy Center had substantial complaints against Clinton, used to help himself become Speaker of the Federalist Society for Law and Public and articulated their grievances in a sincere House. According to reporter Nurith Policy Studies and logical manner. This article focuses Aizenman: Federation for American Immigration Reform not on legitimate criticism of Clinton, but A crucial element of Gingrich's Foreign Policy Research Institute on anti-Clinton activism that employed effort was to use his political organi- Free Congress Research and Education Foundation demonization, scapegoating, apocalypti- zation, GOPAC, to identify like- Freedom House cism, millennialism, or conspiracism. minded candidates and provide them Contrary to popular punditry, polls with the ideological and logistical Fully Informed Jury Association show that during 1998 those endorsing the support they needed to win office. Heritage Foundation impeachment process and either removal, Scaife was naturally a big backer— High Frontier forced resignation, or formal censure grew donating $60,000 to GOPAC Hudson Institute from a small minority to “a huge majority between 1989 and 1995. And by Independent Women’s Forum of the public and even a majority of those funding National Empowerment Institute for Contemporary Studies who say they approve Clinton’s handling of Television, which broadcasted Gin- the job as president,” according to Everett grich’s “Renewing American Civi- Institute for Justice Ladd, head of the Roper Center for Public lization” course and the Institute on Religion and Democracy Opinion Research. Gingrich-hosted “Progress Report,” Institute on Religion and Public Life Scaife made it possible for Gingrich Intercollegiate Studies Institute Richard Mellon Scaife to reach 11 million American homes. Judicial Watch number of alarming allegations against Other Scaife-funded organizations Landmark Legal Foundation AClinton came from people funded or include the Western Journalism Center, Maldon Institute encouraged by ultraconservative activist and American Spectator, Accuracy in Media, millionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. While his Landmark Legal Foundation, and Judicial National Association of Scholars network was not the command center of a Watch—all were especially active in the anti- National Taxpayers Union Foundation “vast right-wing conspiracy,” his funding was Clinton network. According to People for Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy important in sustaining anti-Clinton con- the American Way (PFAW), two other Political Economy Research Center spiracism, especially around the Foster case. organizations supported by Scaife, Brent Reason Foundation Scaife is an heir to the Mellon family fortune Bozell’s Media Research Center and Paul Washington Legal Foundation made through the Mellon Bank, and major Weyrich’s National Empowerment Televi- investments in Gulf Oil, and Alcoa. Part of sion, also served as significant “anti-Clin- Western Journalism Center his success as an important political player ton media outlets.” Scaife is not an Women’s Freedom Network within the right is that he surrounds himself investor in Regnery Publishing, but this *Funding documents from Scaife foundations,online at cnn.com, with sophisticated advisors. Both critics and house published Gary Aldrich’s similar and other sources.

THE PUBLIC EYE 7 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye totally discredited book about the Clinton did not. Credulous media coverage of scan- ing The New York Times, Washington Post, White House, Unlimited Access. Regnery dal mongering then helped create a broader Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. has published a number of other books crit- base of support than the original relatively The ad campaign brought in over ical of Clinton or raising conspiracy theo- small base in the Christian Right and pop- $500,000, half from individual donors— ries about his administration. [see Regnery ulist right. There was much inbreeding. For many of whom bought Foster conspiracy sidebar p. 17] instance, Scaife funded Gingrich projects, materials—and half from foundations, Scaife, publisher of The Pittsburgh Tri- and Gingrich raised questions about the including $100,000 from Carthage. bune-Review, hired reporter Christopher death of Vincent Foster, a pet project of WJC circulated a video featuring Ruddy to pursue the idea that the death of Scaife’s. There were circles within circles. Ruddy’s claims, “Unanswered—The Death Vincent Foster was not a suicide. Ruddy’s Anti-Clinton authors and publications of Vincent Foster,” that was produced by work and several other Scaife-funded anti- funded by Scaife gave coverage and favor- ultra-conservative James Davidson, chair- Clinton projects will be discussed later. able reviews to other anti-Clinton authors man of the National Taxpayers Union Scaife gave grants to the Fund for a Liv- and publications funded by Scaife. Non- (NTU) and co-editor of the Strategic Invest- ing American Government (FLAG), run by theless, there were a substantial number of ment newsletter. attorney William Lehrfeld. Lehrfeld, Clinton critics and conspiracy peddlers NTU’s research arm receives funds from through FLAG, gave “a secret $50,000 who did not receive funds from Scaife. Scaife. Davidson is a large financial con- contribution in 1995 to the legal fund of tributor to Farah’s Western Journalism Cen- Paula Corbin Jones [while he] simultane- Western Journalism Center ter, which gave its first “Courage in ously served as the primary legal counsel to he Western Journalism Center (WJC) Journalism Awards” to Ruddy, reporter a covert, multimillion-dollar effort by con- Tis a project of Joseph Farah, former David Brock of the Scaife-funded American servative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife publisher of the ultra-conservative Sacra- Spectator, and ABC correspondent John to investigate President Clinton” according mento Union—once owned by Scaife. The Stossel, whose reports often repackage to reporters Murray Waas and Jonathan Carthage Foundation, controlled by Scaife, themes from conservative and libertarian Broder. An anti-Clinton “Arkansas Project” is one of the largest funders of the WJC. think tanks. was run by a foundation tied to the neo- Founded in 1991, for several years the In 1997 Farah started a daily Internet conservative American Spectator magazine, major product of WJC was a small newslet- newspaper WorldNetDaily.com, which another Scaife grantee. ter, Dispatches, once billed as “from the front featured anti-Clinton stories. In a three-page One Scaife grantee that has received lit- lines of the culture war.” According to interview in the John Birch Society’s mag- tle attention is the Maldon Institute, a reporter Trudy Lieberman, Farah has assem- azine The New American, Farah claimed that right-wing think tank that studies national bled for the Western Journalism Center: by March 1998 the website was receiving security and terrorism from a countersub- a high-profile board of advisers to 20,000 to 30,000 hits per day. In the April versive and often conspiracist perspective. help with fund-raising, including 17, 1998 issue of Dispatches, Farah claimed One Maldon consultant and author, John such conservative luminaries as Sally 150,000 hits per day. That issue carried a Rees, infiltrated the political left in the Pipes, president of the Pacific lead story rife with anti-communist red- 1970s, and passed the information to Research Institute, Marvin Olasky, a baiting aimed at Barbara Lee, an African- groups ranging from the John Birch Soci- professor of journalism at the Uni- American elected to Congress from ety to the FBI. versity of Texas, and Arianna Huff- California. She is described as filling the seat For two years Scaife funded the Fully ington. Both Olasky and Huffington of retiring “Ron ‘Red’ Dellums.” Christopher Informed Jury Association, a group that are senior fellows at Newt Gingrich’s Ruddy is listed as a Contributing Editor. encourages jury members to disregard Progress & Freedom Foundation. judges’ instruction if they feel strongly Scaife also funds the Pacific Research Ambrose Evans-Pritchard about a verdict, but which also has some Institute and GOPAC. he work of British journalist Ambrose leaders and followers who use the group to The Center placed some 50 ads reprint- TEvans-Pritchard is a mix of industrious recruit for the patriot movement, and to ing reporter Christopher Ruddy’s anti- investigative reporting and irresponsible spread conspiracy theories, some of which Clinton stories—first published in Scaife’s rumor-mongering. His book, The Secret Life are rooted in anti-Semitism. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review—in the Wash- of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories, is an At the very least, Scaife’s funding pro- ington Times. WJC then repackaged the example of material that should remain unre- duced an echo effect that amplified the articles as a packet titled “The Ruddy Inves- ported by the general media until it is cor- voices of critics and conspiracists targeting tigation,” which sold for $12. Farah also roborated with further documentation. A Clinton, creating the illusion that these ideas bought full page ads publicizing Ruddy’s significant number of footnotes track back had widespread support at a time when they allegations that appeared in papers includ- to rightist anti-Clinton sources, especially to

THE PUBLIC EYE 8 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye the American Spectator, a neo-conservative Evans-Pritchard cites Davidson’s Strategic gave speeches, endlessly. He lobbied magazine that ran articles on Clinton with Investment several more times, noting that on Capitol Hill. He lobbied at the allegations that often lacked adequate cor- Davidson financed examinations by several Christian Roundtable meetings in roboration. handwriting experts of the Foster suicide Tennessee. He lobbied wherever peo- One chapter in The note. Claims that the sui- ple would listen. He built alliances: Secret Life of Bill Clinton cide note was a forgery with Reed Irvine’s Accuracy in Media alleges official miscon- were later debunked, and in Washington; with Jim Davidson’s duct and a cover-up in one “expert” was later Strategic Investment; with the West- the death of Vincent Fos- revealed as having mis- ern Journalism Center in California; ter, tracing the conspir- represented his creden- with Jeremiah Films (which made acy all the way to special tials. Hard-right ideologue the Clinton Chronicles). He signed up prosecutor Kenneth Joe Farah from the West- with Richard Scaife, writing about the Starr. Other assertions ern Journalism Center is Foster case for The Pittsburgh Tri- in Evans-Pritchard’s introduced as a dispas- bune-Review. It was a modest little book include the sionate media ethics brigade. But it was enough for insur- claimed assassination of expert. gent warfare. two teenagers who, According to the 1995 Evans-Pritchard also discusses the cru- Evans-Pritchard says, White House memo, cial role played by the Internet: “What was stumbled across a major Evans-Pritchard was a bothering the White House most about the drug delivery tied to crucial link in taking hard Internet was the enormous amplification it Clinton. Other deaths right conspiracism and gives to newsletters like Strategic Investment,” attributed to Clinton or publishing it in the Sun- or articles by Evans-Pritchard or Ruddy. his operatives are discussed: “Already, peo- day Telegraph of London where it was picked According to Evans-Pritchard: ple associated with the case were beginning up and reported on by mainstream US In the 1980s our stories would to die in what amounted to a reign of ter- media. Another British journalist who not have gained any traction. Now ror among young people in…Arkansas.” played a similar role was William Rees- they are “posted” within hours of Evans-Pritchard tells the story of one par- Mogg of The Times of London. publication, and are then perused by ent who “joined up with a California film the producers of radio talk shows, who producer named Pat Matrisciana to make Christopher Ruddy surf the Net in search of avant-garde a documentary on the deaths.” Matrisciana hristopher Ruddy, the most energetic of material. A good scoop may be picked runs Jeremiah Films, which produces hard Cthe journalists claiming vast Clinton up….[and] read on the air by G. right Christian apocalyptic videos riddled conspiracies, left the New York Post after his Gordon Liddy, Paul Harvey, or with conspiracy theories, and made a widely early 1994 stories on the death of Vincent Chuck Harder. It might be featured circulated anti-Clinton video,The Clinton Foster were heavily criticized in other media by Blanquita Column, or by Rush Chronicles. outlets. Hired by The Pittsburgh Tribune- Limbaugh, with his 20 million “ditto Evans-Pritchard uses James Davidson of Review, Ruddy was assigned by publisher heads.” the rightist newsletter Strategic Investment Scaife to pursue stories about Clinton. Scaife Ruddy has become a commodity. The to introduce the idea that Clinton’s actions learned of Ruddy through the Western Jour- Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investi- mirror those of Nazi totalitarians. In his role nalism Center, a Scaife grantee, which had gation by Christopher Ruddy, was published as a far right prophet of financial doom, placed ads consisting of republished Ruddy by the mainstream Free Press in 1996. Davidson has written a book, The Story of articles on Foster. Ruddy even started a monthly newsletter, a One-Term President, which forecasts a Some of the most interesting informa- Vortex, and solicited subscriptions in a let- vast economic collapse and “bloodbath in tion on Ruddy comes from his ally, Ambrose ter headed, “Investigative reporter Chris US stocks and bonds” under Clinton. Evans-Pritchard. While praising Ruddy in Ruddy, the man who blew the whistle on Davidson’s in-house “muckraker” for his book, Evans-Pritchard details how the Clinton cover up of Vincent Foster’s Strategic Investment is Jack Wheeler, Ruddy was an activist in a nationwide death has an urgent message for you.” The described in his bio as a “veteran of six anti- right-wing network: message was simple: communist guerilla wars [and] anti-Soviet He waged war on the airwaves, Our country is in crisis…Monica insurgencies, including those in Nicaragua, broadcasting night after night across Lewinsky and her mother…could Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia, and the country on the radio talk circuit be murdered if details of her rela- Laos.” where he soon became a folk hero. He tionship with Clinton ever got

THE PUBLIC EYE 9 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

out….This man and his wife have in January of 1998. Drudge claims to have showman who plays at a serious call- abused the power and trust of their scooped Newsweek magazine when he ing.” The “moral panic” over the sup- office…. Slick Willie earned his nick- reported rumors that Newsweek editors were posed dangers of the Net, he says, name because his lack of integrity gov- not running a Lewinsky scandal story that overlooks the amplifying role played erned his actions as a family man, reporter Michael Isikoff had been working by traditional news organizations lawyer, and politician. on for months. This is less a scoop than an when they trumpet its stranger stories. In his style of demonizing rhetoric, act of scavenging. Actually, Newsweek editors “All these conspiracy theories— Ruddy goes on: “Clinton is the quintes- were exercising appropriate caution with a Kurt Cobain lives—wouldn’t really sential slippery lawyer. Just as a weasel story that needed more confirmation. After attract any attention if the big media sucks the blood from its prey, so Clinton Drudge “broke” the story, Newsweek ran an didn’t pick them up and start broad- sucks the ordinary meaning out of words Isikoff article on the scandal…the first of casting them,” he says. “If they treated to deceive others…Clinton is a filthy- many. The previous summer, Drudge had sur- the fringes of the Web with a grain of minded, self-centered man who fits the faced Isikoff’s Kathleen Willey story in the salt, it wouldn’t be that big a deal.” criteria of a sociopath….” Ruddy reveals same manner. Conservative sources, includ- Drudge…intentionally sets his that “In recently released grand jury testi- ing Lucianne Goldberg and Linda Tripp, had personal bar fairly low. Declaring mony, Linda Tripp, who worked as Foster’s fed Isikoff the basics of the story. Isikoff now that he’s not a journalist, he seems to secretary, said she knew of one Clinton admits in his book on the subject that he was feel he can dispense with double ‘body count’ list of some 40 people who being used by conservative activists, but he checking the facts. By boasting that have died suspiciously.” Vortex, claims is accurate in noting the extensive research he his information is 80 percent accurate, Ruddy, will bring you the truth, “Stories too devoted to nailing down the details of the he figures to defuse criticism when a hot for the Clinton-compliant, Establish- Lewinsky and Willey stories. scoop blows up in his face. Alter- ment media to handle.” Washington Post media critic Howard nately charming and infuriating the Subscribers to Vortex get “FREE Kurtz described Matt Drudge as an “Inter- media elite, he reaps a publicity BONUSES” including a new video, “The net gossip-monger,” who refused to “play bonanza from the very folks whose Death of Ron Brown,” with vivid death- by the rules.” According to Kurtz, “Untu- stories he sometimes steals. scene photos suggesting a bullet hole in the tored in such basic survival techniques as In early 1999, Drudge again claimed a brain. With the warning, “THIS FREE getting both sides of the story…Drudge story had been suppressed, this time by TAPE IS GRAPHIC,” the video suggests seemed to overreach as he moved from tit- NBC news. The story concerned allegations Brown may have been murdered, a theory illating fare to serious scandal.” According that 20 years ago, while he was Arkansas covered in Ruddy’s own “special report on to Kurtz: Attorney General, Clinton forced an the Ron Brown case…a $15 value.” Ruddy Drudge understood how to tap unnamed woman to have sex with him. Tim also sells a report on the TWA Flight 800 into his self-absorbed audience. By Cuprisin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explosion “cover-up” by a former naval making himself an object of fascina- dismissed Drudge’s story, calling Drudge a officer, and an audiotape interview by tion for media types, who love read- “cybergossip:” Ruddy of Larry Nichols, a former aide to ing about themselves and their The source of this latest wave of Governor Clinton. political pals, he turned the hype interest in the case is Drudge. Before In addition to Vortex, Ruddy started an machine to his own advantage. He this, he told us all about how a super- Internet news site at www.NewsMax.com. billed himself as an “old-fashioned market tabloid was testing an Its breathless, near hysterical tone is common troublemaker” putting out a “gotcha Arkansas teenager to prove the boy to the genre. And don’t think the failure of sheet,” with no annoying editors, was the president’s “love child.” the impeachment drive has stopped Vortex. free to disseminate the latest rumors That story turned out to be bogus, A March 5, 1999 ad in Human Events at the touch of a button.” but not before it became grist for Jay announces that Vortex, “America’s most con- “He gets to write some of the Leno’s monologues and front-page troversial Journal,” now features “special things we all hear but can’t put into fodder for tabloids like the New York reports by Chris Ruddy, Carl Limbacher, Jr., print because we can’t corroborate it,” Post. Jeffrey Nyquist and many others.” says conservative author David Brock, And anyone claiming that the TV who recently threw a Washington networks are holding up a story to Matt Drudge dinner party for Drudge. “Some part avoid embarrassing the president att Drudge parlayed an Internet gos- of all of us wishes we could do that.” must have been asleep for the past 12 Msip page into international celebrity Steven Johnson, co-editor of the months. when he surfaced the Monica Lewinsky story online magazine Feed, calls Drudge “a Actually, even Drudge had quoted an

THE PUBLIC EYE 10 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

fathered by Clinton, Irvine argued that “I see no reason why [Ruddy’s] NewsMax.com, the Drudge Report, WorldNetDaily, the New York Post or AIM should feel embarrassed for having reported that the Williams family believed Clinton” was the father.

Judicial Watch s of January 1999, Larry Klayman of AJudicial Watch had filed 18 lawsuits against the Clinton administration. He claims most of the money to support his filings comes from direct mail solicitations, but admits some funding comes from Scaife, including $550,000 in 1997. According to Time magazine, “Klayman calmly and rou- tinely proposes the most outlandish con- spiracies,” including speculation that Commerce Secretary Ron Brown’s death in a plane crash was not accidental. Klayman is an industrious media hound NBC source saying the story was delayed Drudge only made public. who “regularly faxes his findings to hun- while further corroboration was sought. CSPC’s online FrontPage magazine web- dreds of media outlets around the country Furthermore, the entire censorship con- site features a “Matt Drudge Information and travels the television circuit.” Accord- troversy was a staged event to crowbar more Center and Defense Fund.” CSPC is funded ing to a bio from Judicial Watch: media attention for Drudge. Cuprisin by Scaife. In addition to his role as General noted that NBC News had already reported For his part, Drudge has demanded an Counsel representing Judicial Watch the story in March 1998, and had named apology from his mainstream media critics, in court, Mr. Klayman has made fre- the woman. and compared his own pioneering spirit to quent television appearances on such David Horowitz, who with his partner that of “Ben Franklin, or a Thomas Edison, programs as CNN’s Crossfire, ABC’s Peter Collier founded the rightist Center for or a Henry Ford, or an Einstein…They all Prime Time Live, and FOX television the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC), leapt so far ahead of the system, shaked it speaking on ethics and the need for wrote that he was proud that he and Col- up, changed the balance.” honest government. Mr. Klayman is lier “organized a fund to defend Matt currently providing legal commentary Drudge, the Internet gadfly,” and com- Accuracy in Media on the campaign finance hearings plained: ccuracy in Media (AIM) is the brainchild for NET…. Why then the seeming tolerance Aof Reed Irvine, a hard right activist who According to Francine Kiefer in The for the current White House witch- also created Accuracy in Academia. Irvine fix- Christian Science Monitor, “Klayman spends hunt, whose purpose is to smear and ated on the Vincent Foster case, publishing much of his 70- to 80-hour work week wag- destroy its political critics? As anyone a 218-page book, Vincent Foster, The Ruddy ing a ‘guerrilla war’ against the Clinton can see, there was no conspiracy in the Investigation. In 1996 he created a five-part administration, because, as Klayman says, events leading up to the First Lady’s series of print ads excoriating The New York you might as well start at the top.” accusation. There is no Communist Times for refusing to print the facts about the In March 1999, Judicial Watch’s main Party of the right with secret codes and death of Foster. The ads ran in several news- web page included a teaser for an article on top-down discipline that possesses papers, including the Times. As recently as the “Clinton body count.” This macabre the ability to give marching orders to January 1999, the Accuracy in Media AIM charge is a staple in the conspiracist cup- anyone. If Monica Lewinsky was Report featured a cover story on Foster, “Find board: planted in the White House, she was the X-Rays or Exhume the Body,” complete List of deceased persons reportedly planted by Democrats. It was with a forensic drawing detailing a cross-sec- associated with the Clinton Adminis- Newsweek—no conservative institu- tion of a human head. After DNA testing tration left on Linda Tripp’s chair by tion—that developed the story that showed that a young Black man had not been Monica Lewinsky, according to Ms.

THE PUBLIC EYE 11 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

Tripp’s Filegate testimony. (The origin “Reasserting Traditional American Values: Brown has appeared on radio and tele- of the handwriting is unknown. Ms. limited government, freedom of enterprise, vision talk shows including CNN’s Tripp perceived this as a threat to her.) strong families, national sovereignty and Crossfire and Inside Politics, NBC At the top of the same opening page is security.” The group claims 150,000 mem- News, ABC’s Prime Time Live, CBS a banner that encourages a visit to the web bers, but that is most likely a count of any- News, FOX Morning News, Comedy site of Free Republic, an anti-Clinton orga- one who has sent money for projects touted Central’s Politically Incorrect, Don- nization that uses conspiracist patriot move- in frequent direct mail appeals. The group has ahue, and many more. ment rhetoric. In an exercise in mutual a member newsletter, Citizens Agenda, and Brown remains proud of the 1992 Willie back-scratching, a Christopher Ruddy a specialty periodical, ClintonWatch, sent to Horton ad which was widely denounced advertisement quoted Klayman, saying selected reporters and political activists. as racist pandering. Also in 1992, he about Ruddy: “An Intrepid Journalist—read Citizens United is the project of Floyd attempted to place ads for a $4.99 paid his stuff!” G. Brown who published “Slick Willie:” phone call that would play tapes of Gen- In 1997 US District Judge Denny Chin Why America Cannot Trust Bill Clinton, a nifer Flowers in a telephone conversation of New York City imposed sanctions on slim paperback book distributed as part of with then-governor Clinton. The hook Klayman and an associate after they ques- a direct mail fundraising effort. The book was a promise that the conversation probed tioned his impartiality in a commercial is a right-wing tirade designed to document sexual matters. The incident was so taste- case unrelated to Klayman’s anti-Clinton Clinton’s lack of character. What it also less that the Bush/Quayle campaign was lawsuits. After an unfavorable ruling, Klay- showed was that Brown unabashedly mixes again forced to condemn Brown and his man and his associate had sent a letter with sexism and homophobia in his conserva- tactics. Brown also arranged a screening for a conspiratorial and racist subtext to Judge tive analysis. Along with standard attacks a reporter of Militia leader Linda Thomp- Chin, an Asian-American. on Clinton as a draft dodger son’s video, “Waco: The Big Lie,” a potage The letter noted that Judicial and friend to labor unions, of conspiracy theories linking Clinton to Watch had filed a lawsuit Brown claims: “Bill Clinton’s premeditated murder. claiming the Clinton admin- America sees no difference In a 1994 Chicago Tribune opinion piece, istration, a Clinton appointee between families of ‘homo- reporter Carol Jouzaitis wrote that the main named John Huang, and sexual lovers’ and the tradi- researcher for Citizens United, David “other persons in the Asian tional, monogamous, faithful Bossie, “harvests tales of alleged wrongdo- and Asian-American com- family...In addition, Mr. ings from a network of Clinton enemies, munities,” were involved in Clinton has surrendered then peddles them to Capitol Hill and illegal fundraising activities. completely to the pro-abor- media contacts in hopes of prompting According to the AP report: tion feminists who dominate scandalous stories. Bossie was the main The letter to Chin men- the Democratic Party.” It’s researcher for Brown’s “Slick Willie” book, tioned that the judge, too, no surprise to find cites to the and wrote for ClintonWatch. Jouzaitis found was a Clinton appointee, ultra-conservative Human that some members of the mainstream and asked him to tell the Events and neo-conservative media regularly checked in with Brown “for lawyers whether he knew and had American Spectator in “Slick Willie.” the latest Whitewater grist.” For instance, dealings with Huang and others Brown’s bio establishes his ultra-con- Jouzaitis reported that “Members of The involved in the Judicial Watch litiga- servative credentials and his success at Wall Street Journal’s editorial board… tion over the Democratic campaign. attracting media attention: [met] with Brown and examined his pile of Klayman has not been slowed by the In 1988 and 1992, Mr. Brown’s information.” Following that meeting, “the Senate’s failure to remove Clinton. In a late- independent expenditure campaigns Journal devoted nearly half of its editorial January 1999 direct mail fundraising let- supporting President Bush produced page one day to reprinting” materials ter, Klayman continues to target both effective and memorable ads includ- obtained from Brown: Clinton and Al Gore over the “China- ing the now-famous “Willie Horton Brown and Bossie claim that gate” scandal he claims involves “crimes that ad.” In 1991 Citizens United pro- “dozens” of networks, newspapers include election fraud, espionage and pos- duced the highly controversial ad and magazines—including Time and sibly treason.” “Who Will Judge the Judge” in its Money magazines, NBC and the successful campaign supporting Judge London Times—have used them for Citizens United Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the information or interviews. he web banner for Citizens United Supreme Court...A frequently sought When journalist Trudy Lieberman Texplains that the group is dedicated to after commentator and lecturer, Mr. researched the influence of Citizens United

THE PUBLIC EYE 12 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye for the Columbia Journalism Review, she rejecting the official finding of suicide both published by Huntington House. reviewed some 200 news stories in late and feeding conspiracy theories with Kincaid’s claims about the UN are pro- 1993 and early 1994 and found four sto- an account of re-enacting the event in moted within the patriot movement. Kin- ries where there was “an eerie similarity his own backyard by shooting bullets caid also works for Accuracy in Media, and between the Citizens United agenda and into a “head-like object.” writes columns for Human Events and the what has been appearing in the press, not Brown’s ClintonWatch newsletter, which American Legion Magazine, with a circu- only in terms of specific details but in terms referred to Clinton’s “radical socialist lation of 3 million. Human Events is now of omissions, spin, and implication.” Lieber- agenda,” reflects the apocalyptic conspir- published by Eagle/Phillips Publishing, man tracked one incident where Citizens acism commonly found in the hard right. which also owns Regnery Publishing, United repackaged previously reported Despite this, Brown’s work reached deep which published the Gary Aldrich book. charges about a letter Michael Boos, a from Vincent Foster in longstanding hard a more dramatic form, right ideologue, is the and sent the charge out Citizens United is an example of how the players Legal Director of the to media contacts. National Citizens According to Lieber- and themes in conspiracist anti-communism shifted Legal Network, a pro- man, “From January 1 ject of Citizens United to the end of March, seamlessly to conspiracist antiliberalism and joined Foundation. In the twenty-three news Winter 1982-83 edi- organizations referred the campaign against a demonized Clinton, tion of the Young to the Foster letter— pulling their conspiracy theories into the Americans for Free- more than triple the dom magazine, New number that picked up Guard, he wrote an the story after the mainstream media and Congress. article headlined “The November 3 Washing- Nuclear Freeze Fairy ton Post piece.” Accord- Tale: Communist ing to Lieberman, The Atlanta into mainstream politics. In 1994, accord- Front Groups Behind the Peace Move- Journal-Constitution, The Dallas Morning ing to Jouzaitis: ment.” Boos warned that the peace move- News, The Arizona Republic, The Boston Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) qui- ment is, in fact, not spontaneous but, Globe, and Newsday regularly featured what etly invited Brown to give 10 junior “Rather, it is a well conceived and thus far ClintonWatch had highlighted. House Republicans his highly parti- successfully implemented sinister scheme The worldview of Citizen’s United is san take on Whitewater probes. being directed by the Soviet Union through easy to trace to anti-Clinton Republicans Brown’s materials also have wound up its front groups in the U.S. and abroad.” In in the House. According to an article from in the hands of Rep. Jim Leach (R- 1984 Boos spied on the anti-intervention The New York Times News Service posted Iowa) whose staff also has been doing group Committee in Solidarity with the on the Free Republic Website: its own investigation as the con- People of El Salvador (CISPES), then wrote The dominant staff member of the gressman presses for hearings into a report titled: “Group in Nation’s Capitol House committee [investigating cam- Whitewater. Leach’s spokesman, Joe to Aid Left-Wing Terrorists.” Boos also paign finances] is its chief investigator, Pinder, declined to say how they got filed a story with the right-wing newsletter David N. Bossie. He reports directly there. from Phillips Publishing, American Sentinel, to [Rep. Dan] Burton and not through Two of Brown’s senior staff are veterans and sent an unsolicited copy to the FBI, the general counsel….He was an inves- of the ultra-conservative subculture with its which promptly distributed it to 32 of its tigator in last year’s Whitewater inquiry conspiracist worldview of communism as field offices. The FBI launched an official conducted by Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, a vast left wing conspiracy—a worldview probe of CISPES based in part on the Boos R-N.Y. that originated in the Old Right. Cliff Kin- report. As reporter Francis X. Clines reports, caid is director of Citizens United Foun- Citizens United is an example of how the Burton, an ultra-conservative Republican dation’s American Sovereignty Action players and themes in conspiracist anti-com- from Indiana, seemed to have adopted the Project. He is the author of two conspiracist munism shifted seamlessly to conspiracist Citizens United line: books on the United Nations, Global antiliberalism and joined the campaign “Who moved the body?” Burton Bondage: The U.N. Plan to Rule the World against a demonized Clinton, pulling their boomed from the House floor in and Global Taxes for World Government, conspiracy theories into the mainstream

THE PUBLIC EYE 13 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye media and Congress. Mena Airport Drug Smuggling Opera- Citizens Intelligence Digest featured a posed tion.” The appendix includes articles based photograph of John Wheeler Jr., director of Citizens for Honest Government in part on claims by Richard Brenneke, a publications for Citizens for Honest Gov- he Clinton Chronicles” is probably “source” used by journalists who described ernment, handing “The Citizens Presiden- “Tthe best known video attacking Clin- details of a vast drug-running conspiracy but tial Impeachment Indictment” to Rep. Bob ton with spurious conspiracy theories, who was later shown to have misrepre- Barr (R-GA), at a “Strategy Briefing Break- although there are several others. “The Clin- sented his knowledge. One article about fast” held in Washington, DC on Nov. 7, ton Chronicles” is presented as a secular Brenneke’s charges listed in the appendix 1998. Flanking the two was Howard investigative narrative, but is produced by was by Frank Snepp, a respected journalist Phillips, president of the Conservative Cau- Jeremiah Films, which specializes in apoca- at the Village Voice. But Snepp had written cus, and a leading player in the hard core lyptic Christian fundamentalist videos. Jere- a later article exposing Brenneke’s unrelia- theocratic wing of the fundamentalist Chris- miah is one of several projects of Pat bility and retracted his earlier articles based tian Right. That same issue of Citizens Intel- Matrisciana, who also runs the parent group, on Brenneke’s dubious assertions. Another ligence Digest also featured an article by Creative Ministries, and Citizens for Hon- article cited is from Executive Intelligence Christopher Ruddy suggesting that Com- est Government, publisher of the newsletter Review, a journal controlled by conspiracist merce Secretary Ron Brown was assassi- Citizen’s Intelligence Digest. demagogue Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. nated. Along with Ruddy, other Widely distributed by Jerry Falwell and Matrisciana spoke at a October 4, 1997 “Contributing Writers” to the newsletter other anti-Clinton activists, the video was “Take America Back” rally near the US included former Rep. William Dannemeyer circulated in June 1994 to Republican Capitol, a few blocks away from the mas- (R-CA), Joseph Farah, Ambrose Evans- members of the House of Representatives sive Promise Keepers rally, “Stand in the Pritchard, Timothy LaHaye, apocalyptic with a cover letter from ultra-conservative Gap.” “Take America Back” turned into a fundamentalist author Chuck Missler, anti- Illinois Republican Philip M. Crane. Fal- pro-impeachment rally. Other speakers gay author Dr. Stanley Monteith, and Larry well alone claims to have sold more than included Operation Rescue founder Ran- Pratt of Gun Owners of America, which is 60,000 copies of the video. A companion dall Terry, and Alan Keyes, a 1996 Repub- to the right of the National Rifle Association. item is The Clinton Chronicles Book, also lican presidential candidate, radio host, Citizens for Honest Government is an from Jeremiah. The Clinton Chronicles and founder of Black America’s PAC. The example of the practical linkages among the Book includes footnotes, which frequently rally program blurb for Matrisciana claims Republican Party, the conservative Chris- cite to standard ultraconservative sources that “Edwin Meese III, former U.S. Attor- tian Right, Christian Right theocrats, and such as the Washington Times, Insight, and ney General said ‘Citizens for Honest Gov- hard right conspiracism. Human Events. One chapter, “compiled ernment is doing important work on behalf by Citizens for Honest Government,” of the American people.’” Rev. Jerry Falwell includes condensations of articles by Matrisciana’s Citizens for major distributor of “The Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. Another chap- Honest Government also AClinton Chronicles” was ter, by ultra-conservative Scott Wheeler, distributed a 12-page book- Jerry Falwell Ministries and claims liberal media conspire to circulate let titled “The Citizens Pres- his “Old Time Gospel Hour.” “engineered information” in an “onslaught idential Impeachment During 1998 Falwell relent- of manipulated facts” in order to protect Indictment.” The 25 counts lessly harangued against Clin- Clinton. listed in the booklet included ton in TV appearances, radio A chapter by Lt. Col. Tom McKenney numerous conspiracist alle- programs, direct mail, his (retired), titled “Bill Clinton—The gations claiming miscon- monthly National Liberty Unthinkable Commander in Chief” picks duct by Clinton. The Paula Journal newspaper, and The up the theme of treason in high places. Jones case was listed, as well Falwell Fax, a chatty memo McKenney asks: “How could we have a as charges that Clinton sent weekly to subscribers. Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed engaged in massive and A review of 1997 and Forces who holds the military in contempt, repeated conspiracies such 1998 issues of the National who is anti-patriotic, who long ago embraced as laundering drug money, Liberty Journal shows that the dream of world socialism, and who, if bribery, and accessory to murder in the Vin- the majority of attacks on Clinton centered he were not President, could not receive a cent Foster case. Many of the allegations are on scandals involving Monica Lewinsky, security clearance.” standard fare in the US conspiracist sub- Webster Hubbell, Whitewater, Vincent The Clinton Chronicles has an appendix culture. Foster, Paula Jones, “communist Chinese of cites allegedly tying Clinton to “The The January/February 1998 issue of influence,” and impeachment. Sometimes

THE PUBLIC EYE 14 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye a single issue would contain a front page in the culture war. Falwell opened 1999 by Whitehead’s shift is more tactical than a shift anti-Clinton scandal article and as many as declaring the Antichrist was alive and a in basic ideology, and reflects the trend in five additional scandal-oriented articles on Jewish man. the Christian Right toward re-applying inside pages. Many issues contained adver- the principle of “hating the sin, but loving tisements for anti-Clinton items such as a The Rutherford Institute the sinner,” even when the goal is still theo- book on “The Murder of Vince Foster.” ohn W. Whitehead, head of the Ruther- cratic and monocultural. Typical headlines included “Many Blacks Jford Institute, has gone to great lengths to From time to time Rutherford’s period- Wonder Why The Black Caucus Defends conceal the ideological leanings of his Chris- ical carries broad-based articles to buttress Clinton to the Bitter End,” and “Clinton tian Right legal center in statements to the the organization’s claim that it is just like an Tabs Lesbian Nun for White House Post.” mass media. He told The New York Times that American Civil Liberties Union for people In a December 1998 fundraising letter “Oh, gosh, no,” he had no political agenda of faith. In the September 1996 issue, for his lobbying organization, the Liberty in representing Paula Jones, and that he had which carries a cover story on “Politics & Alliance, Falwell decried Clinton’s “immoral founded the Rutherford Institute by himself. Religion: A Recipe for Disaster,” there are and illegal activities…and illegal foreign The New York Times reporter described The interviews with centrist political com- political fundraising by the President and Rutherford Institute as “a kind of evangeli- mentators such as E. J. Dionne, Jr. and Larry Vice President.” Yet Falwell, like others in cal Christian civil liberties union.” Sabato—as well as a column by Barry W. the Christian Right, sees Clinton as just part Whitehead’s claims Lynn of Americans of the “powerful liberal forces” that are misrepresent the United for Separation destroying America. Falwell also sought to group. Barry W. Lynn, John W. Whitehead, of Church and State. raise funds for a broader list of issues he executive director of Paul Weyrich, pres- wanted to organize around in 1999: Americans United for head of the Rutherford ident of the Free Con- • Initiate “grassroots” lobbying on Separation of Church gress Foundation, critical issues like hideous partial- and State, is blunt: Institute, has gone to rounds out the issue of birth abortion. “Our files on the Insti- Rutherford magazine • Stand up and fight for our precious tute go back 10 years. great lengths to conceal with a litany of all the religious freedoms. After examining the reasons he hates gov- • Lobby against ENDA, the extrem- material, we can safely the ideological leanings of ernment under Clin- ist proposal to require hiring of say Whitehead is not ton and his liberal homosexuals, even by churches, being honest in his his Christian Right legal allies. Claiming that schools and day-care centers. description of his orga- “liberals have domi- • Oppose homosexual marriages and nization.” center in statements to nated politics in this adoption of children. From its founding, country for more than • Battle the homosexual invasion of the Rutherford Insti- the mass media. sixty years,” Weyrich our schools. tute has pursued a paints a paranoid pic- • Oppose unelected liberal, activist highly-politicized, ture of life in the US judges who dangerously throw out ultra-conservative where “God-fearing, decisions by Congress and voters. agenda. A review of Rutherford Institute law-abiding, taxpaying citizens” live under • Lobby for much-needed family tax newsletters, reports, and direct mail appeals a statist globalist tyranny. He then concludes relief. going back seven years shows a long pattern that a nation with a government that is in • Promote a strong national defense, of attacks on liberals in government and opposition to his hard right view of Con- including a desperately needed anti- President Clinton in particular. White- stitutional and godly laws “will deserve the missile defense system. head consistently puts forward an apoca- hatred of God and its people.” Falwell’s lush rhetoric aside, this is a lyptic conspiracist vision of devout Christian In Facing the Wrath: Confronting the fairly representative list of the grievances activists under concerted attack by cor- Right in Dangerous Times, sociologist Sara of the Christian Right. As is standard, rupt and repressive government officials in Diamond describes the political activism of Falwell warned that if money didn’t flow the service of godless and immoral secular the Rutherford Institute: in, “the Clintons, the radical homosexu- humanism. Active since 1982, the Rutherford als, anti-family feminists, Godless atheists, In the late 1990s, Whitehead claimed he Institute represents a variety of Chris- and the liberal media will have won.” had changed his earlier views, giving a tian “civil liberties” litigants, anti- This, too, is a fairly representative list of detailed interview on the subject to Chris- abortion demonstrators, students enemies demonized by the Christian Right tianity Today in December of 1998. Yet asked not to read Bibles at public

THE PUBLIC EYE 15 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

schools, parents whose home school The Brock article is long on gossip and ter from Hale and others to investigators, facilities fail to meet government reg- hearsay and short on facts corroborated out- reporters, and representatives from The ulations. No doubt, Christians side the circle of troopers. Several years American Spectator. Theodore Olson, a deserve as much legal protection as later, Brock wrote an “open letter” published director at the Spectator Foundation, was anyone else. But with much of the in Esquire magazine where he apologized for Hale’s lawyer in 1995 and 1996. Olson is ACLJ and Rutherford case load, the Troopergate article and said the troop- Ken Starr’s former law partner. A grand jury there’s a fine line between defending ers’ greed and anger had motivated their sto- is considering if illegalities were committed. the interests of clients and stepping on ries. One trooper later changed his story. Other potential witnesses against Clin- the rights of other people. Buried on page 26 of the original Brock ton were clearly in the cash pipeline. Accord- In a…commentary sent to Chris- article was a paragraph mentioning a “Paula” ing to Boston Globe reporter John Aloysius tian radio stations, Rutherford Insti- who allegedly was taken to Clinton’s hotel Farrell: tute president John Whitehead argues room. Neither a date nor a conference …Peter W. Smith, a wealthy that workplace seminars on gay rights name was mentioned. Nonetheless, Paula Chicago businessman and supporter are a form of “religious discrimina- Jones stepped forward and claimed her of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, tion” against employees who are “told reputation had been sullied. The rest is paid thousands of dollars to the to rid themselves of stereotypes about history. Arkansas state troopers whose tales of gays and to accept homosexuality as During this period the editor of The Clinton’s sex life, published in the a valid lifestyle choice.” American Spectator was R. Emmett Tyrrell, Spectator, sparked the Paula Jones In an odd assertion of victim sta- Jr., author of Boy Clinton: The Political case. tus, Whitehead claims Christian mil- Biography, published by Regnery. Scaife’s Since the Spectator article in itary personnel may jeopardize their foundations gave $2.4 million to The Amer- December 1993, it was known that careers if they “speak out against ican Spectator Education Foundation while unnamed conservative benefactors homosexuality....The immediate rem- it was running anti-Clinton articles. The gave the troopers financial assistance. edy is for the military to exempt reli- foundation launched the “Arkansas Project,” The Chicago Sun-Times pierced the gious people from compelled personal financing information-gathering opera- veil of anonymity…identifying acceptance of homosexuality.” tions involving reporters, Smith—a big contrib- The politics of the Rutherford Insti- private investigators, for- utor to GOPAC, the tute, at least until recently, represented a mer law enforcement offi- political action com- form of theocratic Christianity that char- cers, and political mittee once led by Gin- acterizes the hard right of the evangelical operatives. Public tax grich—as the man who world. There is little reason to believe that records of the foundation gave $6,700 each to two a change in tone means a change in White- were obtained by Joe troopers and introduced head’s underlying philosophy. Conason at the New York them to David Brock, Observer, who discovered the writer of the arti- American Spectator that $1.7 million of the cle. Smith has given here had been stories about Bill Clinton’s Scaife funds between 1993 $150,000 to GOPAC Taffairs in various tabloid media but an and 1996 had been in the last 12 years. article in The American Spectator, a neocon- reported as legal fees but He told the Sun- servative magazine, raised the stakes. apparently used for the Times he spent $80,000 The cover of the January 1994 issue of “Arkansas Project.” in the 18 months after The American Spectator featured a carica- Some $35,000 of these funds ended up Clinton’s election to get stories about ture of Bill Clinton sneaking down a moon- with Parker Dozhier, who owns a fishing the president’s personal life into the lit alley with the headline: “His Cheatin’ camp in Arkansas. One witness for Starr, media. Heart: David Brock in Little Rock.” David Hale, “was staying at Dozhier’s fish- Reporter David Brock had already gained ing cabin complex in Hot Springs, Ark., The Washington Times a reputation for cutthroat journalism for his between 1994 and 1996.” Two former he Washington Times’ coverage of the March 1992 attack piece, “The Real Anita friends of Dozhier claim he made small cash T scandal was voluminous. In fact, the Hill,” and he returned to that mode in his payments to Hale, but Dozhier denies that paper even delayed its September 14-20, 1994 article “Living with the Clintons: claim. Dozhier, however, provided free 1998 “National Weekly Edition” for a day in Bill’s Arkansas bodyguards tell the story the accommodations to Hale. Dozhier served order to run a special pullout section with the press missed.” as a conduit for information on Whitewa- text of the Starr Report. In that special issue,

THE PUBLIC EYE 16 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

Regnery Publishing and Clinton Clinton’s Rise to Power,” which promises Note that Scaife is NOT an investor in Regnery Publishing despite published reports information on the “Other Clinton Scan- dals,” including Chinagate, organized crime, Meredith L. Oakley, On the Make: The Rise of Bill Clinton, (Washington, DC: Whitewater, and the “mysterious deaths of Regnery, 1994). dozens of witnesses who had insider knowl- R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., Boy Clinton: The Political Biography, (Washington, DC: edge of Clinton’s scandals.” Regnery, 1996). Gary Aldrich, Unlimited Access: An FBI Agent Inside the Clinton White House, Patriot Conspiracism (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1996). Re-issued as a paperback in 1998, the book listed urther to the right, numerous groups hard right talk show host Michael Reagan as co-author. Freflecting the conspiracism of the patriot Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories, movement issued attacks on Clinton. Rep- (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1997). resentative examples include The Free Repub- R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. and “Anonymous,” The Impeachment of William Jefferson lic, the American Sentinel, and the John Clinton : A Political Docu-Drama, (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1997). Birch Society. Dan E. Moldea, A Washington Tragedy : How the Death of Vincent Foster Ignited a The Free Republic is a loosely knit orga- Political Firestorm, (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1998). nization that exists primarily as a web page Ann Coulter, High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, with articles and discussion groups. Peri- (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1998; currently published by National Book Network). odically the group stages a demonstration. Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett II, The Year of the Rat: How Bill Clinton Here is an example of where the patriot Compromised U.S. Security for Chinese Cash, (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1998). movement and the theocratic Chistian Right can intersect with more mainstream sectors of the anti-Clinton campaign. ultra-conservative columnists Cal Thomas, Family, sent a letter this week to more than Jim Robinson of Free Republic echoes Mona Charen, Thomas Sowell, Joseph 2.4 million U.S. households, commenting the basic position of the patriot move- Sobran, Don Feder, Oliver North, Suzanne on the ‘humiliation’ President Clinton has ment: Fields, and Tod Lindberg each excoriated brought ‘on himself, his family and our The federal government has over- Clinton. Columnist Richard Grenier started nation.’” stepped its Constitutional limits and his column by bashing Clinton, but then Without an apparent sense of irony, the the complicit media is acting in con- devoted the rest of the column to bemoan- paper ran an article deprecating the farther cert to continue the illegal govern- ing the “feminization” of our society. Clin- fringes of Clinton conspiracy mongers. ment expansion and to strengthen its ton is frequently represented as both weak and Meanwhile the paper also carried some fifty own stranglehold on truth and to effeminate, and controlled by the bossy fem- ads from the Western Journalism Center continue its agenda of projecting the inist Hillary. reprinting Ruddy’s Tribune-Review stories. socialist government propaganda slant Two of six editorials in the special issue on the news. were anti-Clinton, including one titled, Human Events …the government and the cor- “Don’t forget those other Clinton Scandals.” he popular ultra-conservative weekly porate media have over the years cre- Here The Washington Times takes its read- Tnewspaper Human Events gave regular ated, through regulation and policy, ers into the world of right-wing conspir- coverage of real and alleged scandals. From a liberal propaganda machine whose acism. There was also a half-page ad for the its perspective, House Republicans—includ- goal is to continue the expansion of “Conservative Voices Tape of the Month ing Judiciary Chair Henry Hyde (R.-IL)— a collective state and to control every Club,” featuring two audiotapes claiming didn’t go far enough. “Hyde Punts aspect of our lives and fortunes. a cover-up in the “case”of Vincent Foster’s Impeachment Inquiry: Starr, Not Clinton, We, the People, are exercising our death and a full-page ad for the anti-Clin- to Be Put on Trial,” blared the front-page Constitutional right to free speech to ton group, Judicial Watch. A full-page ad headline for Human Events on November 13, alert our elected representatives to ful- for two Jerry Falwell publications, the 1998. Before the Senate vote in mid-January fill their Constitutional duty. National Liberty Journal and “The Falwell 1999, Human Events ran a banner headline The patriot movement was awash with Fax,” had anti-Clinton hooks. Another ad “It’s All About an Oath,” over a full front page this type of right-wing populist conspir- promoted a conspiracist report on intelli- article, continuing inside with five pages of acism, which is rooted in anti-collectivist gence agency abuses. The “Inside the Belt- Senate impeachment-related material, several ideology. Consider the statement of Dr. L. way” column by John McCaslin contained more anti-Clinton articles and briefs, and a K. Landis, circulated by Wilderness Voice several anti-Clinton snippets, and a note that 3/5 page ad for Judicial Watch. That issue also Publications and posted in the WhiteWater “James C. Dobson, president of Focus on the contains a half-page ad for the video “Bill topic discussion group:

THE PUBLIC EYE 17 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: This excerpt from a short post is worth ton wrongdoing despite his being enmeshed Mother of the Village People dissecting. The author cites to an article in in a network of conservative, libertarian, According to an article in the the ultra-conservative Human Events writ- and hard right attorneys and political activists December 8, 1995 issue of Human ten by Floyd G. Brown who runs the anti- for years. According to People for the Amer- Events, First Lady (?) Hillary Rodham Clinton Citizens United. Liberalism, ican Way: (even she was so embarrassed by it that radicalism, feminist principles, statist col- Judge David Sentelle, who was she refused to take her husband’s last lectivism, and socialism are seen as a pack- one of the three judges appointed to name until after he was elected pres- age. Biblical scripture is quoted. oversee the selection of the inde- ident) Clinton has written a book On October 31, 1998, Free Republic pendent prosecutor, was instrumen- titled “It Takes a Village.” The thesis staged a “March for Justice” in Washington, tal in the decision to fire the previous of the upcoming book on child rear- DC. Invited speakers included Larry Klay- prosecutor and appoint Starr. Shortly ing supposedly comes from an man, Gary Aldrich, Matt Drudge, Alan before Starr’s appointment, Sentelle African proverb that maintains children Keyes, Rep. Bob Barr, Lucianne Goldberg, lunched with Senators Jesse Helms should be raised by a whole village. Ann Coulter, Reed Irvine, and former and Lauch Faircloth, who had been To quote the article written by Arkansas State Trooper L. D. Brown. demanding a new prosecutor. Fair- Floyd G. Brown, “...it appears that When Clinton cited his old professor, cloth later hired David Bossie as a per- Mrs. Clinton’s manual on child rear- Carrol Quigley, during the campaign and sonal aide on the Senate Whitewater ing will showcase her radical ideas on in his convention speech, he inadvertently Committee. Bossie previously parenting and the family. In [this mentioned a Birch Society hero. The worked with Floyd Brown at Citizens model,] parents rights are secondary Birchers and others in the patriot movement United where he helped compile the and the village (i.e. the state) knows have long claimed that Quigley revealed the book, “Slick Willie,” and has been a better than the parents how to raise truth about the Anglophile network of long-time anti-Clinton investigator. a child.” “Insiders” who secretly run the world Eric Schlosser in Rolling Stone pointed Four years ago when the Clintons through organizations such as the Rhodes to further connections: were running for president, I warned scholarships, the Council on Foreign Rela- Linda Tripp has known Kenneth that they had a hidden agenda which tions, and the Trilateral Commission. Starr since at least 1994, when she met was not thoroughly Early in the Clinton him during the Vincent Foster inves- revealed in the news administration the publisher tigation. Tripp happens to be a friend media. Mr. Clinton’s adul- of the hard right American of Unlimited Access author Gary terous lifestyle and Sentinel put out a booklet Aldrich, the FBI agent who claimed Hillary’s open, flagrant titled The Clinton Clique, to have seen the cock rings on the attack on the institution by long-time John Birch Clinton Christmas tree. Aldrich’s of motherhood were Society stalwarts Larry Abra- publisher, Alfred Regnery, has been brought to the surface dur- ham and William P. Hoar, friends with Kenneth Starr since their ing their campaign, but detailing the JBS theory that days together at the Reagan Justice their radical philosophies Clinton is part of the Anglo- Department. Tripp’s attorney, James on “children’s rights” and American conspiracy which Moody, attended meetings of the child rearing were not supposedly rules the world. Federalist Society and did work for the exposed until after they The John Birch Society itself Landmark Legal Foundation, as did were fully intrenched in has been promoting bulk Kenneth Starr. Tripp’s literary agent, Washington. distribution of one issue of Lucianne Goldberg, has known God’s people must loudly pro- its magazine, The New American, with a Alfred Regnery for years. None of claim outrage against this socialist cover story and special report on the “Con- these facts proves the existence of propaganda of a society better fit to spiracy for Global Control,” linking Clin- any hidden conspiracy. Nevertheless, raise children than the parents to ton to the purported Council on Foreign when it comes to the far right, it’s an whom God gave them. Remember, Relations conspiracy. awfully small world. “Lo, children are an heritage of the In early 1997 Starr announced he would Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his Starr, the Federalist Society leave the position of Special Prosecutor to reward.” Children are NOT the prop- and Collegial Networks take a position at Pepperdine University. erty of the state, but rather a gift enneth Starr was appointed Special The position had been funded by Richard from God. KProsecutor to investigate alleged Clin- Mellon Scaife. Although news stories dis-

THE PUBLIC EYE 18 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye cussed the possibility that Scaife had specif- Thomas” in 1991. IWF was founded by by works such as the Federalist Society advance ically arranged for Kenneth Starr to accept Barbara Olson, wife of Theodore Olson, the ideas and actions, as well as careers, is the the job, all the parties denied a quid pro quo former Starr law partner and a funder of the case of author and legal commentator Ann arrangement, and records show Scaife Federalist Society. An informational tip to Coulter. Coulter attended Cornell Uni- funded the university well Starr’s office regarding the versity, where she launched the conserva- before Starr was offered Paula Jones case should tive Cornell Review, part of the conservative the post. Starr first have been reported as well. Collegiate Network funded by Scaife. She accepted, then declined That incident involved two trained at the National Journalism Center, the post at Pepperdine, attorneys, Jerome Marcus run by conservative columnist M. Stanton although the school said and Paul Rosenzweig, who Evans, whose lectures are sometimes spon- the offer was still open. had been in law school sored by the Young America’s Foundation. Scaife’s prior funding of together. The Center claims no partisan bias but its the position certainly At the center of this net- lecturers and postings are skewed to the made Starr’s original accep- work is The Federalist Soci- right. The center receives funding from tance improper given ety, libertarian attorneys, the conservative Olin Foundation. While Scaife’s ongoing campaign and attorneys with Kirk- at the University of Michigan law school, against Clinton who was land & Ellis. Starr is a Coulter founded the local chapter of the being investigated by Starr. founding funder of the Federalist Society. After Republicans cap- Other substantial con- Federalist Society’s James tured the majority of Congressional seats in flicts of interest issues were raised in the Madison Club, consisting of those who the 1994 elections, Coulter joined the staff media about Starr’s appointment and con- donate $1,000 or more. Others on the ros- of Sen. Spencer Abraham, (R-MI), a Fed- duct, including questions about his con- ter include Alfred Regnery, ultra-conserv- eralist Society activist. She then became a tinued representation of the tobacco ative activists Richard and Betsy DeVos and legal commentator for MSNBC. industry. According to columnist Frank Donald and Barbara Hodel, C. Boyden Coulter’s book, High Crimes and Mis- Greve, there was an informal network of lib- Gray, William Bradford Reynolds, and demeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton, was ertarian attorneys that aided investigations Theodore Olson. According to The New published by Regnery, in which Scaife is a of Clinton, “including Richard Porter, a York Times: major investor. The Regnery parent com- partner in Starr’s Chicago law firm, Kirk- Marcus recruited others to assist his pany is Phillips/Eagle, which also pub- land & Ellis; Theodore Olson, a former Starr efforts, including several friends from lishes Human Events. Coulter went to work partner and lawyer for the Clinton-bashing the University of Chicago Law for the Scaife-funded Center for Individ- monthly magazine The American Spectator; School. One of those who was ual Rights, then became a legal affairs writer and Jerome Marcus, a Philadelphia sexual approached, Paul Rosenzweig, briefly for Human Events, which had previously run harassment law specialist.” Says Greve: considered doing work for Jones in a favorable review of her book. Coulter also Even Starr, it turns out, served as 1994, according to billing records played matchmaker, helping Paula Jones an unpaid counsel to Jones’ lawyers and interviews, but decided not to. In find lawyers and suggesting that attorney in 1994 before he was appointed November 1997, Rosenzweig joined Jim Moody help Linda Tripp with her legal independent counsel. Because of Starr’s office, where he and Marcus problems. Starr’s discussions with Jones lawyer had several telephone conversations Another conservative network, the Coun- Gilbert Davis, Starr “never should about the Jones case. cil for National Policy, also played a role in have been appointed” special coun- It was Rosenzweig who fielded a developing Republican impeachment strategy. sel, [according to] Rep. Barney Frank, “heads-up” phone call from Marcus D-Mass., a member of the Judiciary on Jan. 8, 1998, that first tipped off Apocalyptic Frames, Committee. Starr’s office about Monica Lewinsky Millennial Glasses Starr’s law firm contacted the Indepen- and Linda Tripp. The tip was not he Jeremiah Project is not connected to dent Women’s Forum (IWF) to see if they mentioned in the 445-page Starr TJeremiah films, although both organi- would sign on a proposed legal brief oppos- report, even though the information zations oppose Clinton. Various Jeremiah, ing President Clinton’s claim of immunity revived a moribund Whitewater inves- Joseph, and Joshua projects now populate the in Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit. tigation that would not have pro- Internet. The Jeremiah Project website Those discussions should have been dis- duced, it now seems, an impeachment includes a section on Clinton’s “High Crimes closed. The Scaife-funded IWF grew out of referral to Congress. and Misdemeanors,” which lists many links the informal “Women for Clarence Another example of how collegial net- to discussions of alleged criminal behavior by

THE PUBLIC EYE 19 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

President Clinton.” One sublink had a vari- In fact, this is so common that it is spiracist website called Exegesis runs the ant on the Clinton body count, the “Clin- often referred to as “Arkancide” or following lists: ton Casualties:” “Arkansas Suicide.” A “Casualty” is defined as anyone The worldview expressed by the Jeremiah Reliable US News Sources: threatened with harm or actually Project is common in this sector of the far The Washington Times, WorldNetDaily, harmed because of their knowledge Christian Right that overlaps with the NewsMax, C-SPAN, Christian Science Mon- of and/or involvement in one or more patriot movement. There is also a focus on itor, National Review, The Drudge Report, of the Clinton Scandals. apocalyptic themes of moral decay and sin: World Magazine, Conservative News Service. The following is a partial list of a For the first time in our history the large number of persons leadership of this great Liberal/Socialist US Media who are presumed to be country willfully and The New York Times, The Washington Post, “Casualties” of the vari- philosophically turned The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Time, The ous Clinton scandals. away from the covenan- Boston Globe, US News and World Report, President Clinton has tal vision and biblical MSNBC, CNN. told political supporters principles of our On his website, apocalyptic televange- in Arkansas he will Founders. On January list Texe Marrs adds the bitter herb of anti- devote a lot of time going 20, 1993, our new Pres- Semitism in “The Esther Option,” an April after detractors who pur- ident, joined by many 1998 article with the subtitle: “The Untold sued him on Whitewater in the land, formally Story Of The Secret War For Global and other ethical ques- “broke” the covenant of Supremacy Between Two Rival Jewish Fac- tions. (USA Today, our Fathers when he and tions.” A longer audiotape provides the November 8, 1996). It is the affirming electorate full story “For Your Gift of $10.” The a partial list because new demonstrated allegiance teasers read: additions are added regularly and the to his “new covenant” and began pro- Discover why the future of America full extent of being associated with Bill moting as “constitutional” those and the world may now rest on the Clinton is not completely known. things which God condemns. shoulders of a giggly, immoral, 24 year The accounting of these mysteri- For the first time in American his- old, Jewish woman named Monica ous deaths began in 1994 when in a tory we have a president that has Lewinsky—a woman acclaimed by letter to congressional leaders, former openly endorsed the killing of babies, many religious Jews as their new Rep. William Dannemeyer listed 24 openly encourages homosexuality as “Queen Esther.” [Originally in all caps.] people with some connection to Clin- a lifestyle, and encourages the pagan Has Vice President Al Gore been ton who had died “under other than worship of Mother Earth…. chosen by…the right-wing Jewish natural circumstances” and called for This nation has forsaken God faction to replace Clinton as President hearings on the matter. Dannemeyer’s and as a result we can see in our fam- of the United States? If and when list of “suspicious deaths” was largely ilies, our schools, the inner-cities, Gore does take office, will the new taken from one compiled by Linda our government, indeed in all areas President prove more loyal to their Thompson, an Indianapolis lawyer, of our lives, the removal of God’s cause? Will a prophetic chain of events containing the names of 34 people she blessing. then lead to the appearance of the believed died suspiciously and who The crime in our streets, the antichrist in a rebuilt, great Jewish had ties to the Clinton family. [Ed. poverty in the inner-cities, the war temple in Jerusalem? Note: Thompson was an early Mili- zones in our homes and the violence Buy the tape. Stay tuned. The millen- tia leader.] of our children will not end until we nium is near. Some of the “Casualties” were understand the days we are living. openly murdered, but many were Contrary to liberal propaganda, we Aftermath and Future Shock killed in such a way so that their don’t have an economic problem, he acquittal of Clinton in the Senate was deaths could be ruled accidents or we have a problem of our spirit. We Tmet with stunned disbelief within the suicides. This was especially true if they have willfully and systematically hard right. “The failure to remove Clinton died in Arkansas where the medical rejected God and as a result, we are was a devastating blow, especially for the examiners routinely rule apparent now beginning to experience the Christian Right,” says PRA director Jean murders as either accidents or sui- fruit of that sin. Hardisty. “People need to understand the cides when it suits political purposes. A similar right-wing Christian con- depth of disappointment.” The ultra-con-

THE PUBLIC EYE 20 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye servative magazine The Weekly Standard attitudes demanded by Political Cor- and roundtable essays appearing in the devoted an entire issue to a symposium on rectness, they have seceded. They evangelical media. Weyrich clarified his the acquittal, with 22 articles from rightist have separated themselves from pub- meaning in several printed responses where luminaries such as Elliott Abrams, Jeffrey Bell, lic schools and have created new insti- he said he never meant to suggest giving up. Peter Collier, James Dobson, Charles tutions, new schools, in their homes. In the influential evangelical magazine Krauthammer, Charles Murray, Norman I think that we have to look at a World he wrote: Podhoretz, Tod Lindberg, and Dennis Prager. whole series of possibilities for bypass- …when critics say in supposed Human Events, which in November ing the institutions that are con- response to me that “before striking 1998 had decried Henry Hyde for under- trolled by the enemy. If we expend our our colors in the culture wars, Chris- mining the hearings, now lionized him energies on fighting on the “turf” tians should at least put up a fight,” with a full front page mostly filled with a they already control, we will proba- I am puzzled. Of course they should. flattering drawing of his face, and the bly not accomplish what we hope, and That is exactly what I am urging banner headline with giant type: “Henry we may spend ourselves to the point them to do. The question is not Hyde, Hero.” “Culture War Personified” of exhaustion. whether we should fight, but how. read the subhead in a section on Clinton …in essence, I said that we need as part of a band of “perverse rebels” from to change our strategy. Instead of the 1960s crop of “self-indulgent…baby For Christian Right relying on politics to retake the cul- boom liberals.” turally and morally decadent insti- For Christian Right strategist Paul strategist Paul Weyrich, tutions of contemporary America, I Weyrich, the failure of the impeachment said that we should separate from drive prompted an exasperated admission the failure of the those institutions and build our own. of defeat. In late 1997 Weyrich had been Weyrich is proposing a separatist strat- squeezed out of the NET television network impeachment drive egy as a way to build enclaves with parallel he had founded, apparently for his divisive institutions such as “schools, media, enter- behavior in attacking GOP pragmatists. prompted an exasperated tainment, universities” from which to con- Weyrich, dubbed by the New Republic the tinue the culture wars—essentially “creating “Robespierre of the Right,” is known for his admission of defeat. a new society within the ruins of the old.” doctrinaire views. Now, in a widely-circu- The evangelical right is discussing sev- lated and debated letter, Weyrich promoted eral strategies. At the 1998 Christian Coali- a separatist post-impeachment strategy: This view is not, in fact, new. In 1996, tion “Road to Victory” conference, the I believe that we probably have militant Protestants and Catholics unhappy workshop on education included two pan- lost the culture war. That doesn’t mean with the pragmatism of the Christian Coali- elists Marty Angell and Marshall Fritz who the war is not going to continue, and tion began to question the legitimacy of elec- argued in favor of expanding separate, par- that it isn’t going to be fought on toral politics, the judiciary, and the allel Christian school systems. Fritz blasted other fronts. But in terms of society government itself. These groups began to the idea of state-funded public schools. in general, we have lost. This is why, push openly theocratic arguments. A pre- Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson wrote a book, even when we win in politics, our dominantly Catholic movement emerged Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right victories fail to translate into the kind from this sector to suggest civil disobedience Save America?, suggesting that evangeli- of policies we believe are important. against abortion is mandated by the primacy cals had compromised their piety by push- Therefore, what seems to me a of natural law over the constitutional sep- ing too far into electoral politics. legitimate strategy for us to follow is aration of powers which allowed the judi- Separatists, purists, and pragmatic polit- to look at ways to separate ourselves ciary to protect abortion rights. An example ical players in the Christian Right have in from the institutions that have been of this theocratic movement is the period- the past and will in the future agree on what captured by the ideology of Political ical Culture Wars with its motto: “No social needs to be done and be able to form coali- Correctness, or by other enemies of progress outside the moral order.” tions and work jointly in what Sara Dia- our traditional culture. Christian Right ideologues such as James mond calls “projects,” which are less formal What I mean by separation is, for Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, than coalitions. The justification for pur- example, what the homeschoolers and Carmen Pate, president of Concerned suing the emerging agendas will most likely have done. Faced with public school Women for America, rejected Weyrich’s be phrased cleverly in secular language to systems that no longer educate but call. A debate quickly emerged among mask the underlying theocratic agenda. instead “condition” students with the Christian Right leaders with comments Among possible campaigns:

THE PUBLIC EYE 21 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

highest levels… Weyrich is proposing a separatist strategy as a way • … and YES to determining how much damage the Clinton/Gore to build enclaves with parallel institutions such as cozy relationship with the Red Chi- nese may have caused our nation’s “schools, media, entertainment, universities” from security. In this context, Pat Buchanan sounds which to continue the culture wars—essentially restrained. If moderate Republicans take control, then a third-party candidate could “creating a new society within the ruins of the old.” emerge in the 2000 presidential election, but historically such candidacies have little hope for success. The bungling of the impeachment by the House managers has • Attach “rider” amendments that biggest voting bloc? Moderate Republi- given breathing room to moderate Repub- restrict abortion and gay rights to cans respond by noting that while hard-line licans, who now will emerge looking like lib- pending legislation. conservative Republicans took over the erals simply because they aren’t the purist • Reduce federal funding for public House in 1994, Republicans then lost seats wing of the Christian Right. Contrary to education while encouraging private in 1996 and 1998. They say it’s time for a Weyrich’s assertions, the right has won so and home schooling. Push for return to moderation. much that the Christian Right purists only vouchers and charter schools. The rhetoric of some hard right Repub- look extreme because they are pushing for • Reduce federal spending on educa- lican Presidential hopefuls, however, com- the last, most zealous pieces, of their theo- tion research and model curricula, bines Christian Right moral absolutes with cratic agenda. especially programs promoting mul- patriot movement xenophobia and suspi- ticulturalism and gay tolerance. cion of collectivism. New Hampshire Sen- Winding up for Chinagate • Abolish the National Endowment ator Bob Smith, speaking at the Christian ithout sex scandals, the right will use for the Arts because it promotes Coalition’s Road to Victory conference, Wold and new scapegoats and hot blasphemy and pornography. sounded like he was addressing a meeting button issues that are demonizing and divi- • Continue to undermine multicul- of the armed militia movement. Even Dan sive. Abortion is key for some on the Chris- turalism and affirmative action, Quayle hits patriot and Christian Right hot tian Right, as is homosexual rights, but an masking the underlying racism buttons. In an exploratory “Campaign for emerging issue with broader appeal is Chi- through re-framing of rhetoric. America” direct mail solicitation contain- nagate. Some conservative critics of this “domes- ing a “National Referendum on Security Chinagate is the name given to allega- tic moralism,” such as Andrew Sullivan, and Sovereignty,” Quayle sketched out his tions that communist Chinese agents warn that failure to move away from puri- game plan: funded the Clinton campaign, and in tanical campaigns against abortion and • NO to the surrender of our sover- return, Clinton and Gore are selling out US homosexuality and back to bedrock eco- eignty to the U.N.; interests to China through special treat- nomic issues will destroy the conservative • YES to the vital Strategic Defense ment in foreign and domestic policy mat- revival. He blames Religious Right ideo- Initiative (SDI); ters, and even in allowing spies to obtain logues William Kristol, Richard John • NO to further military disarma- classified technology. This is a hyperbolic Neuhaus, and Robert Bork for leading the ment; conspiracist interpretation of what appear “neoreligious revival” toward abandoning • YES to keeping America’s Armed to be actual fundraising abuses and mis- “the secular underpinnings of the Ameri- Forces the world’s strongest; handling of classified material. These alle- can constitutional experiment,” and replac- • NO to women in combat and gations have been circulating for years, well ing it with “a radically theocratic avowed homosexuals in uniform; before the Cox report on Chinese spying was reinterpretation of the Constitution itself.” • YES to more intelligence agents in issued in May 1999. It is entirely possible that the right wing enemy lands; The themes of the Chinagate charges of the Republican Party has overreached and • NO to further “U.N. peacekeeping” track back to the Old Right “China Lobby” hurt its credibility through zeal and divi- operations that influenced foreign policy following siveness. But how can the Republican Party • … and YES to a full-scale investi- WWII. Interest in this topic has heightened successfully retain political power by cast- gation into Red China’s possible with reports that Chinese government ing adrift the Christian Right, its single infiltration of our government at the agents may have obtained nuclear secrets

THE PUBLIC EYE 22 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye from a government laboratory. Chinagate and William C. Triplett II both have served ident. Public opinion polls, however, do not is likely to tar Al Gore in the upcoming Pres- as staff on Republican congressional com- always reflect electoral power. idential election race, no matter which mittees, showing how deep into the main- The Christian Right scored several suc- Republican faction’s nominee runs. Four stream political system these ideas have cesses. Starting with a relatively tiny core questions concerning Chinagate from an penetrated. In mid-March 1999, there group of national strategists and local American Conservative Union survey let- were over 50 customer reviews of the book activists, it mobilized an anti-Clinton coali- ter, distributed at the 1998 Christian Coali- on the Amazon.com website. The vast tion that included Republican Party prag- tion conference, provide a summary of the matists, theocratic purists, and hard right allegations and illustrate how direct mail conspiracy theorists. Jointly, they tied up the fundraising surveys both educate and build The bungling of the political process for over a year while con- a constituency: tinuing to push their legislative agenda at Before you received this letter, did impeachment by the the national and state level. Contrary to con- you know that, at about the same time ventional wisdom, this coalition convinced China was funneling millions of dol- House managers has given a majority of Americans that Clinton should lars into the 1996 Clinton-Gore re- resign, be removed, or be censured. While election effort, Clinton permitted breathing room to moderate the failure to remove Clinton from office Communist China to acquire sophis- was a setback, the Christian Right contin- ticated American missile guidance Republicans, who now ues to exert tremendous influence on the system and nuclear technology which political and social system. has allowed China to modernize its will emerge looking like Paul Weyrich is correct when he says that nuclear arsenal? the culture war will continue. But because In general, what’s your reaction to liberals simply because he senses that in the long run the right can- the news that Chinese nuclear missiles not win, it is no wonder he is bitter. It will are now targeted at American cities, they aren’t the purist wing take at least a decade, perhaps even more, towns and homes—missiles which to restore the rights and liberties lost dur- have been made more accurate by of the Christian Right. ing the twenty-year culture war and its highly-sophisticated American guid- drive for patriarchal monoculturalism and ance system and satellite technology economic Darwinism. But there is an open- provided to China by Bill Clinton? ing created by the failed impeachment Before you received this letter, did majority were laudatory. The conspiracist drive, and we must take advantage of it. you know that, at about the same time rumor mill on the right is already using the China was funneling millions of dol- same paradigm it used in the impeach- Chip Berlet is Senior Analyst at Political lars into the 1996 Clinton-Gore re- ment drive to seed stories into the main- Research Associates. election effort, Clinton agreed to stream media. lease a shipyard in Long Beach, Cal- Author’s Note: This article is based on original file research using pri- ifornia to the Communist Chinese Conclusion mary documents from conservative and hard right military and gave China an “anchor lthough the sectors reviewed above are groups, found in the libraries of Political Research port” to the strategically crucial Aquite diverse in both ideology and meth- Associates, People for the American Way, and Ameri- Panama Canal? ods, they all agreed that Clinton had to go and cans United for Separation of Church and State. This was supplemented with extensive online research and In your opinion, how serious is the they reinforced each other in attacking him. reading of secondary sources. “Chinagate” scandal—in which Clin- Together they made a formidable machine Although it confirms much of the analysis (and the ton may have gravely jeopardized that was able to keep the attack in the lime- list of those influential in the anti-Clinton network) con- tained in the 1995 White House memo “Communi- American national Security in light. It is a case study of how a small minor- cation Stream of Conspiracy Commerce,” there was a exchange for illegal campaign con- ity can exert influence far beyond its number conscious decision not to rely on that memo for docu- tributions? if it’s organized and its factions collaborate. mentation or conclusions. Portions of this article are adapted from the book Christian Right columnist Cal Thomas Activists in the Christian Right represent Right-Wing Populism in America, by Chip Berlet and anticipated this theme in his syndicated only a small percentage of the population, Matthew N. Lyons. Some sections appeared previously Human Events column in November 1998. but they are a much larger segment of those as “Who’s Mediating the Storm? Right–Wing Alterna- Most of the column was a positive review citizens who actually vote, and are a highly tive Information Networks,” in Linda Kintz and Julia Lesage, eds., Culture, Media, and the Religious Right of a new book, The Year of the Rat: How Bill significant portion of Republican Party (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998). Clinton Compromised U.S. Security for Chi- voters. It is true that most citizens still sup- nese Cash. Authors Edward Timperlake ported Clinton’s job performance as pres-

THE PUBLIC EYE 23 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

Book Review

New Right, New Racism: Race and Reac- denounce racism and all three analyze the that many of the stereotypes applied to tion in the United States and Britain, Amy past several decades to discern the tasks Africans, and used to justify their enslave- Ansell (New York University Press: New remaining to be done. Unfortunately, ment, had first been used against another York, 1997) 351 pp, ISBN: 0-8147-0656-8. none are attuned to matters outside the European group of people. Thus, the parameters of Black and white. The resul- common-sense argument about ‘natural’ Race, Class and Struggle: Essays on tant lack of attention to the ways Latin responses, fears, antagonisms, and the Racism and Inequality in Britain, the U.S. American, Asian, Eastern European and like of members of one racial group to and Western Europe, Louis Kushnick Middle Eastern peoples play into race pol- members of another racial group do not (Rivers Oram Press: London, 1998) 262 pp, itics limits the books’ usefulness and leaves accurately explain the process through ISBN: 1-85489-097-2. many questions begging. which racism is constructed. Race is a Still, all three provide a useful window social construct—not a biological one— The Ordeal of Integration: Progress and into ongoing racial pathology. Louis and how people are defined is the result Resentment in America’s ‘Racial’ Crisis, Kushnick’s Race, Class of the interplay of struc- Orlando Patterson (Civitas/Counterpoint: and Struggle attempts to tures, interests and ide- Washington, DC, 1997) 233 pp, ISBN: 1- put racism into a histor- ology.” 887178-61-9. ical context. An Ameri- How these variables can by birth, Kushnick interact makes for fasci- has, since 1964, taught nating reading, and hen Reverend Martin Luther King sociology at England’s Kushnick argues—in the WJr. stood up and told the world that University of Manches- nine previously pub- he dreamed of a day when people would ter. A vice-chair of the lished essays that com- be judged by their character instead of the Institute of Race Rela- prise his book—that color of their skin, he inspired hope in tions and a long-time racism and increasing people across the globe. The dream of a anti-racist activist and racial tensions in the US, colorblind society ignited passions and theorist in that country, Britain, and the rest of spurred creative approaches to eradicating he believes that racism is Europe, serve to keep racism; affirmative action, race-based set- a central component in low and middle-income asides, and multicultural education pro- creating and maintaining people from organizing grams have been developed to fulfill hierarchial and unequal to better their class posi- King’s legacy. class-based societies. tions. He hones in on In the 35 years since King’s bold asser- One of Kushnick’s most interesting particular struggles to make his points: the tion of idealism, a great deal has changed. chapters involves 19th century British l968 school decentralization battle between In the US Blacks no longer ride in the mistreatment of the Irish as a separate, a largely white Board of Education and par- back of the bus or drink from separate exploitable “race.” This ethnic minority is ents of color in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville water fountains. Overt discrimination is popularly depicted as dirty, idle and licen- section of Brooklyn; the US civil rights barred and neither employers nor land- tious, and Kushnick demonstrates how it movement; state responses to urban rebel- lords can advertise for “whites only.” Yet is presented as inferior and thus justifiably lions in both the US and England; recent racism persists in new and often insidi- dominated. “Secondary moral character- cutbacks in Britain’s National Health Ser- ous ways, not just in the US but through- istics, in physiognomy and skin colour vice and their disproportionate impact out Europe. were not, and are not, necessary for the on Black communities; and English attacks Three new books assess this “new” construction and reproduction of racism. on newly-arrived immigrants, among racism and look at the ways race and class The construction of the ‘Irish’ as a distinct them. are used to incite divisions between dif- racial group did not require the Irish to be Throughout, his thesis that white ferent strata of the population. All three a different colour. It is interesting to note supremacy undermines working-class sol-

THE PUBLIC EYE 24 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye idarity is hammered home. A chapter enti- ical settlement in each country (that is, Court in March 1996, the lawsuit assessed tled “The Political Economy of White New Deal/Great Society liberalism in the the University of Texas’ two-track admis- Racism in Great Britain” is particularly United States and social democracy in sions policy. Put in place to increase diver- instructive. Noting that Britain first Britain). Both projects signified a radical sity within the UT law school, the practice acquired a small Black population during departure...in the sense that they chal- had dramatically upped the number of World War I, he writes that Black work- lenged in principle many of the core African American and Latino/a students. ers have for 75 years been lured to Eng- assumptions that had governed the poli- In deciding in favor of the white applicants land to meet the “motherland’s” need for tics and ideologies for who challenged the low-cost labor. This need was especially the past half century. admissions policy, the glaring after World War II, he continues. These assumptions Court stated that “to “There was a high demand to rebuild the include, most impor- strive for the goal of economy, to staff the public service, and tantly, government racial diversity in an to cheapen indigenous labour. The British commitment to full entering class is no more state responded...by allowing over 350,000 employment, welfare rational on its own Europeans into Britain under a variety of state support, equality terms than would be programmes. Since this move was insuf- of opportunity (partic- choices based upon the ficient to meet labour requirements, ularly for women and physical size or blood Britain then turned to the colonies which people of color) and neo- type of the applicants.” had a surplus of labour, and Blacks were Keynesian economic This decision, Ansell recruited into British industries as cheap management. In their writes, “is a victory for labour.” place a new philosophy New Rightists who But Blacks provided more than inex- of social conservatism have long argued that pensive labor; they provided a target for a was articulated at the rewards and punish- disenfranchised white population fed up very (right of) center of ments should be meted with insufficient affordable housing, lousy political debate.” out only in cases of schools, low wages and health care short- How these changes direct and intentional ages. Fueled by the rhetoric of a racist were “sold” to the public is astounding. discrimination, and that justifications leadership—most recently Margaret Using Martin Luther King’s concept of related to past or societal discrimination Thatcher and John Major in England, colorblind acceptance, the US right has are too amorphous to determine either Ronald Reagan and George Bush in the argued that affirmative action, equal effect or antidote.” Several other law- US—the rank-and-file has readily sub- employment guidelines, and race-based suits—as well as anti-affirmative action scribed to ideologies that scapegoat Blacks set-asides are unfair because they pay voter referenda such as the California Civil and other people of color. undue attention to race. Judging “people Rights Initiative approved in 1996—have as people,” of course, sounds ideal, and has had similar outcomes. my Elizabeth Ansell’s New Right, New led to a firestorm of discussion about In England the new racism has largely ARacism looks at the ways right-wing “reverse discrimination,” “special privi- devoted itself to arguing for increased politicians and organizations in both coun- leges” and the “dumbing down of society.” immigration controls and the disciplining tries have used race to defeat a liberal agenda Add racially-charged issues like crime, of migrants and their dependents already and have contributed to the scapegoating law and order, welfare spending, immi- living within British borders. “Within a that Kushnick so ably describes. Although gration and parental choice in public edu- year of being elected, the Thatcher admin- some sections of the book use extremely aca- cation and you have a recipe for explosion. istration introduced new restrictive immi- demic language—Ansell currently teaches Overt discrimination—official prohibi- gration rules,” Ansell writes. “Strict sociology at Bard College in upstate New tions on Black/white interactions—seem limitations were imposed upon the entry York but has spent considerable time in passé. As such, the new racism eschews the of parents, grandparents and children England—making the book somewhat inac- sanctioning of separate racial spheres, under the age of 18, and the right of cessible, her research into the ways racial pos- avoids terms like nigger and spic, and women to bring in foreign-born hus- turing has changed in the last few decades depicts itself as open-minded and fair. Is bands/fiancés was removed. In l981 the is incisive and important. it “our” fault if “they” simply don’t make British Nationality Act was passed into law, “The elections of Ronald Reagan and the grade? abolishing the automatic conferral of Margaret Thatcher to office represented a Take the case of Cheryl Hopwood vs. The British citizenship on those born in break from the prevailing post-war polit- State of Texas. Decided by the Supreme Britain.”

THE PUBLIC EYE 25 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

As in the US, British leaders “sold” in assessing contemporary racism he pre- dividing line is worth serious consider- their ideas to the public via racially-loaded sents the growing Black middle class to ation, for if he is right, his argument goes language. Media reports have exacerbated prove his assertion that racial prejudice in a long way in explaining the growing tensions by concentrating on what Ansell the US is waning. Still, Patterson knows African American right wing. In addi- calls “two new folk devils:” the bogus asy- that racism is alive and well, and he lam- tion, his conclusion that affirmative lum seeker and the illegal immigrant. basts our government’s lackadaisical atti- action is still needed but should be grad- Both groups were presented as eager to tude about the rampant poverty and ually phased out over the next 15 to 20 milk a generous system and live a life of imprisonment of much of the Afro-Amer- years in favor of a class-based system to criminal marginality. Unsubstantiated ican community. Although some of his close what he calls the “obscene growth theories about the inability of newcomers optimism seems overstated, he adds a bit in income disparity in the nation” is to live with “dual loyalties” have further of caution to the left’s tendency to ascribe compelling. fanned the flames and have led to esca- a universal patina of doom and gloom to Patterson touches on dozens of topics: lating anti-immigrant violence. So too, all social analysis. genetic determinism, angry white men, notions about preserving “our British way Nonetheless, many of his arguments teen pregnancy, the fallacy of an American of life,” a never-defined phrase, have reaf- need to be tempered. meritocracy, school firmed a rigid hierarchy that places white, For example, Patterson desegregation, theories native born-Britishers on top as a matter writes that in 1995, “the of personal/ moral of assumed right. upper 2/5 of Afro- responsibility, and the Ansell captures the momentum of American households role of religion, among right-wing upsurge with verve and intel- had a mean income of them. His words are ligence, but she leaves one area com- over $36,000. The sure to rankle those on pletely unexplained: the burgeoning fourth quantile of the left, right and center movement of Black conservatives in the households had an aver- of political thought; US. Why are some African American age income of $36,710, nonetheless, his views scholars using their talents to fight against while the highest fifth provide incendiary fod- affirmative action and civil rights pro- earned a mean income der to fuel debate. In tections? Why is the language of “special of $76,915...If we use a addition, his optimism privilege” gaining an audience among mean income of is contagious. people of color? $35,000 as the cut-off “Desegregation point for middle class meant partial access to hile Harvard sociology professor status, then 36 percent the far superior facilities WOrlando Patterson does not attempt of Afro-American fam- and opportunities pre- a direct explanation of this phenomenon, ilies may be considered viously open only to he moves the discussion of racism and middle class.” Sounds good, right? That is, Euro-Americans; hence it entailed a great racial justice in America onto a terrain that until you realize that there is no mention improvement in the conditions and dig- may inadvertently posit some clues. The of household size. One person can live nity of Afro-Americans. As individuals in Ordeal of Integration opens with a provoca- quite comfortably on $35,000, but a fam- both groups meet more and more, the tive statement: “Afro-Americans are not a ily of four? possibility of conflict is bound to ‘race’ in any meaningful sense, but an aggre- So what are we to make of race? How increase,” Patterson reminds us. “If the gate of 33 million people...that is better does it relate to class? And what of the integration of two groups legally and described as an ethnic group if one must thorny problem of African American socially separated for more than 350 years speak of the entire collectivity...Afro-Amer- conservatives? Patterson concludes that does not produce friction, it is the surest icans are not Africans; they are among the “if two nations are emerging in America, sign that no meaningful change has taken most American of Americans, and the [as political theorists like Andrew Hacker place.” Is conflict desirable? It’s hard to tell, emphasis on their Africanness is both phys- have argued] they are the haves and the but it is clear that it is only by engaging ically inappropriate and culturally mis- have-nots, a divide that cuts right across in honest interactions that people will ever leading.” The book utilizes the terms ‘race.’ Indeed, there is actually greater get past the issue of race. Toward that end, Afro-American and Euro-American to iden- inequality, including asset inequality, let the sparring begin. tify the groups he writes about. among Afro-Americans than between Patterson does not attempt to hide Afro-Americans and Euro-Americans.” Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based either his class or intellectual privilege, yet His focus on class as the more significant writer and teacher.

THE PUBLIC EYE 26 SPRING 1999 The Public Eye

friendly filters,” AFA also formed its own ser- RECLAIMING CHRIST Eyes vice provider “to insure that those who want FOR ABC RIGHT to visit our web site can do so without fear Coral Ridge Ministries (CRM) is trying to of being censored by CyberPatrol or any buy time on network television. In a March other blocking service,” notes a direct mail 1999 fundraising appeal, CRM leader D. appeal. “The radical homosexual groups James Kennedy wrote, “As I informed you FAMILY FRIENDLY want to censor our voice because they fear recently, ABC-TV has decided to cancel ADVERTISERS your AFA!” ‘Good Morning America’ on Sundays. Sta- The Forum for Responsible Advertisers, a tions will have to air another program in its coalition of major corporations, including HELEN’S LIST place—and by God’s grace, in many cities it Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Rep. Helen Chenowith, an ultra conservative can be ours!” Kennedy notes, “We have Coca-Cola, Sears Roebuck, and Ford, is Idaho Republican, is forming a political action already signed contracts with some of these considering using their marketing muscle to committee: HELEN’s List, which stands for ABC stations and are negotiating with oth- take “sleaze out of television.” According to “Help Elect Leaders Every November.” ers across the country for this strategic time a notice in Washington Watch, a publication Chenowith’s PAC will support candidates slot—8-9 a.m. in most parts of the country— of the Family Research Council, the Forum with views similar to Chenowith’s. Chenowith’s on Sundays!” Based on CRM estimates, this is still in its formative stages and is being coor- rhetoric has included many of the themes of new time slot will provide an opportunity to dinated by Andrea Alstrup, head of adver- the patriot and militia movement. reach an additional 3 million people with tising at Johnson & Johnson. The Family CRM’s program, the Coral Ridge Hour. Research Council is helping the effort by pro- FOCUS ON YOUTH viding information on “companies who sup- Focus on the Family has been sponsoring a RIGHT-WING MEDIA port or undermine the family” on the “Family, series of ex-gay conferences on “Homosexu- The Virginia-based Media Research Center Friends and Foes” section of the FRC web- ality and Youth.” The ex-gay movement is an has launched a project called the Conserva- site, www.frc.org. international network that claims gay men and tive Communications Center (CCC). A lesbians can be “converted” to heterosexual- June 1999 fundraising appeal announcing the RIGHT ONLINE ity through submission to Jesus Christ, or project, called CCC “the first ever creation CyberPatrol, an Internet filtering software through secular “reparative therapy.” of a marketing and public relations ‘war which blocks objectionable material on the FOF’s homosexuality and youth confer- room.’ It is designed provide (sic) all grass- Internet is blocking the American Family ences have been held in Columbus, Ohio and roots conservative organizations with the Association (AFA) website. “They are cen- Memphis, Tennessee. In a letter promoting the knowledge, tools, and expertise they need to soring your AFA because of our stand on Memphis conference, John Paulk—currently get their message past the filter of the left-wing homosexuality,” notes a direct mail appeal by a Homosexuality and Gender Specialist for media directly to the American people.” the AFA. The message CyberPatrol users read Focus on the Family and a conference orga- when they try to reach AFA is: “www.afa.net nizer—notes that the conference is designed is blocked by your site administrator because for pastors, youth workers, parents, public it falls into the following CyberNOT cate- school administrators and health teachers. EyeLASHES gories: Racist/Ethnic Intolerance.” “As you may know,” writes Paulk, “in more and So AFA took cyberspace into its own more public schools, homosexuality is por- hands. AFA is offering its own Internet trayed as simply one among many ‘lifestyle … It’s precisely access through American Family Online choices.’ However, there is another side of the “ (AFO), the Christian alternative to Amer- story which we would like you to hear about— because guns can be ica Online. AFO “offers protection from namely the fact that there are many destruc- used to kill people Internet pornography that even your 13- tive activities associated with homosexuality, year-old computer genius can’t overide,” and that there is help available for those who that we love them. notes an ad for the service provider. “The wish to escape it.” —Ann Coulter writing about the high ”school blocking filter is on our server, not on your Future conferences are scheduled for shootings in Littleton, Colorado in Human computer. And no one can bypass our block- Wheaton, IL on August 14 and Sacramento, Events, May 7, 1999, p.6. ing filter.” But besides offering “family CA on November 6.

THE PUBLIC EYE 27 SPRING 1999 TheThe PublicPublic EyeEye

Public education, a cornerstone of democracy as we know it, is under siege from the political right. PRA’s new Activist Resource Kit on Public Education is a primer and resource guide for advocates and defenders of public education. It will give you the real story behind right-wing “reforms”, help you challenge inaccurate and misleading claims about public education, and connect you with allies who share your commitment to quality public education for all. The kit provides an overview of the right’s attack on public education and analyzes right-wing positions—and a progres- sive response—on five key issues:

Vouchers Charter schools YOUR GUIDE TO Public school privatization Bilingual education Defending Parental rights

Cost (includes shipping and handling): Organizations $40, Individuals $30, Low-Income $20. Public Allow 2-3 weeks for delivery weeks (rush orders are $5 extra.) Education Discount rates are available on bulk orders. To order, please send a check to PRA at: 120 Beacon Street, Suite 202, Somerville, MA 02143 or call (617) 661-9313

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PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER THE PUBLIC EYE 28 SPRING 1999