« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

The World According to David Brock

David Brock says he got famous for calling Anita Hill “a slut.”

That is his own description of how he became famous.

Compounding the irony, David Brock says Rush Limbaugh made him famous. That’s right folks, the head of Media Matters For America, on a personal quest to destroy Rush Limbaugh after spectacularly failing to do the same to Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Anita Hill, and more, actually said, “Limbaugh was making me famous for calling Anita Hill a slut.”

If you haven’t paid attention these past few months, from the Daily Caller investigation into David Brock to David Brock trying to get Rush off the air, David Brock really thinks the world revolves around David Brock. And David Brock tries to set up as much spin as he can to try to make you think the world revolves around David Brock.

In fact, the reality is David Brock has a self-inflated sense of self-worth. He surrounds himself with bodyguards convinced someone somewhere wants to do him harm while he maligns the reputations of others, dabbled in illegal drugs, seemingly suffers from some level of instability, and felt obligated to pay his ex-boyfriend $850,000.00 to keep the ex-boyfriend quiet about Media Matters.

It’s no wonder, with all the stories pouring out about how pathetic David Brock actually is, that David Brock is trying to divert attention to Rush Limbaugh. But you know what? Not only is the effort against Limbaugh failing, it is failing badly.

Consequently, Brock is shifting gears — bragging about the money he is raising, which he actually isn’t, and trying to take credit for Cumulus Media potentially replacing the Rush Limbaugh Show with the Mike Huckabee Show, which so far hasn’t panned out.

First, let’s look at the failing Limbaugh campaign.

David Brock wants you to know he can take out Rush Limbaugh. His effort has been so effective Rush Limbaugh’s ratings are up pretty significantly.

But it is not just that. As I told you would happen, new advertisers are filling the void left by other advertisers fleeing. The hit to Rush’s bottom line really never happened. Not only that, the much ballyhooed memo from Cumulus directing stations to move barter advertisers around Limbaugh’s show has been recinded.

On Monday, the 600 or so radio stations that air Limbaugh’s program were told by his syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks, to resume running “barter” ads during his program. Stations are required to run these ads in exchange for paying discounted fees to Premiere to air Limbaugh’s show. Premiere, which is owned by radio giant Clear Channel Communications, had suspended the “barter” requirement for two weeks in a move widely seen as a way to give advertisers a chance to lie low while Limbaugh was in the news.

So what is Media Matters left to do? Try to take credit for Mike Huckabee’s show potentially replacing Limbaugh. Follow along here.

There is no doubt Media Matters and MoveOn.org are working together on this project. The Washington Post notes that MoveOn.org wants Rush off 180 stations. Media Matters is running an ad campaign in seven markets to aid in that effort.

What they are not pointing out is that Cumulus Media expects to have Mike Huckabee in 140 markets with an initial launch of 50 markets. As I reported last week, Media Matters is running anti-Rush ads on several Cumulus stations that are thought likely to replace Rush Limbaugh with Mike Hucakbee if only to save the stations money. Huckabee, a Cumulus property and a new show, would be vastly cheaper than Rush Limbaugh.

When Huckabee’s show expands and Cumuls begins the replacement process, MoveOn.org and Media Matters will undoubtedly take credit for something they had absolutely nothing to do with. It is typical David Brock.

But wait . . . there’s more.

It’s not just the craptacular effort to get Rush off the air, David Brock wants you to think he is a fundraising machine. According to the New York Times, he raised $23 million for his various projects in 2010. New York Magazine says the same. He wants to be the guy who takes down Fox, the guy who takes down Rush, and be forgotten as the guy who never took down the Clintons, Anita Hill, or really anyone else.

There’s just one problem.

According to the Media Matters for America (MMFA) and related Media Matters Action Network (MMAN) 2010 990′s, their 2010 fundraising was about $14.6 million. The 501(c)3 raised $13.2 million and the 501(c)4 raised $1.4 million. That leaves them almost $9 million short of the $23 million David Brock bragged about (assuming they raised nothing after Brock claimed $23 million in the November 2010 New York Times article).

David Brock also has “Equality Matters”, but that seems to be a project within MMAN, which did not launch until December 2010, and the Progressive Talent Initiative, but that is also a project within Media Matters, not a separate group. And then there’s American Bridge….but that raised $0 in 2010.

In the 990s, a Democratic fundraising shop, Bonner Group, is credited with all, or almost all, fundraising for Media Matters. Isn’t David Brock supposed to be some kind of “legendary” fundraiser? Just get a load of the self-indulgent quotes from Jason Zengerle’s New York Magazine article.

“With doors opened, Brock got busy with what has emerged as perhaps his greatest talent: persuading rich liberals to give him their money.”

“Brock’s fund-raising prowess is the stuff of legend—and some mystery—on the left. He explains it as simply a question of having the right attitude.”

“But Brock’s greatest fund-­raising tool is his personal story…”

“Brock received the news of Beck’s departure just as he was about to walk into a meeting with potential donors at a hedge fund in midtown.”

“In an interview with the New York Times, he boasted of his fund-raising record with Media Matters and predicted even greater success for American Bridge…”

Of course all this bragging may get David Brock and Media Matters into trouble.

Consider these similarly self-indulgent quotes from a New York Times profile of David Brock.

“Certain to set off debate, however, is that Mr. Brock appears to be positioning his new organization so that fund-raising consultants can raise money for Democratic-oriented media efforts not just through American Bridge but also via one of the nonprofit organizations Mr. Brock currently runs, Media Matters Action Network, which does not disclose its donors.”

“The action network, which tracks conservative politicians and advocacy organizations, is organized as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group and is set to take on an expanded role in the 2012 elections, including potentially running television ads, according to an internal draft concept paper about American Bridge’s and Media Matter Action Network’s plans obtained by The New York Times.”

Based on the second quote, shouldn’t every candidate Media Matters supports have to answer to Alan Dershowitz over Media Matters’ well documented anti-semetism?

Adding those quotes to what the Daily Caller and others have turned up, won’t the IRS be interested into Media Matters’ tax status?

Between David Brock hyping his own importance and his fundraising numbers with nothing to really show for either, surely Democratic donors who’ve been far more willing to hold their action groups accountable than the right will start questioning him. And surely the IRS will too.

COMMENTS

  • realfactchecker

    Good luck replacing Rush with Mr (I’m a Conservative, too!) Smarmy.
    I’d give it six months outside of AR and maybe Branson, MO.

    In the last Republican Presidential primaries of 2008, when asked how he could call himself a Conservative against his dismal record of multiple tax increases (OK “fees”) while governor of AR, Mr Smarmy looked into the camera with those big cocker spaniel eyes and answered, “We gave people hope.”

    Oh, puh-lease, I think we’ve all had enough of the “hope” offered by politicians.

    I’m already dreading the 2016 election cycle headlining a “new” Huckabee campaign. Buy your tissues now before Obama bans those, too.

  • http://UnitedConservativesofVirginia Cargosquid

    Who is David Brock again?

    I know what Media Matters is and why its a joke. But, somehow, his name never, ever surfaces.

    Envy is a hard task master. Poor David…..

  • Viet71

    They see him as way too conservative.

  • uncmike

    This is the first I’ve heard about Huckabee’s talk show since I have never bothered to watch him on FOX–I can’t abide the guy’s phony persona. He may be cheaper than Rush for stations, but I can’t imagine they’d be getting value for money by removing Limbaugh and replacing him with the Huckster. Media Matters and MoveOn are joined at the hip. Both think they’re far more effective than the actual record proves, as this post points out.

  • josephine

    It’s funny, I’ve been watching the “friends” on facebook while watching on 24/7 everyday. They grow by about 2000 friends a day.
    On twitter, his followers increased (both handles) to 300,000 from about 150,000 in one week.
    MMatters may be a thorn in his side, but he has about 23,000,000 listeners on a regular basis, and we are not fools. The harder they push, the mightier we become. We were intelligent just to start with, and now we are EIB educated and all of us know how to discern the truth from lies. He is our voice. Truth and goodness always wins in the end, if we are steadfast.
    Huckabee has always reminded me of one of those medicine men that went around the country selling potions that cure all. He has never appealed to me. He actually gives me the creeps.
    The people that are participating in the terroristic tactics against Rush’s sponsors are about 2000 in number. I rely on God. He has had this planned for Rush and all the rest of us since the beginning of time. We are being given a chance to show our stuff in the most glorious way. Rush is our voice in many ways, and yet not our idol. He speaks the truth always, he never exaggerates, and he’s something around 99.6 correct in his deductions.
    God has given us a chance to be his soldiers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other religious groups are uniting in our battle against Evil. Obama is evil. He has hate in his heart and he is being used by the evil forces in an attempt to draw us in. He only attracts the weak and the ignorant. Deacon Medine said it all when he described Evil the other day at our hometown rally, he said, Evil is beautiful, desirable, something you want, something you feel you have to have. But remember, whenever you open the door to something you desire, it is inevitable that something you don’t want, and never suspected will slip in too.
    We must be bold, we must be steadfast, and we must trust in God. He is leading us through this.He has love for all of us. He chose Rush at conception to lead us through this.

  • romeg

    keeping a preset on my radio for the Cumulus station in Macon, GA is to listen to Rush.

    Personally, I like Mike Huckabee But he isn’t the voice of conservatism in this country. He spent the last half of his Presidential bid sidling up to John McCain, apparently running for VP. Besides, Rush is a lot more fun.

    If Cumulus has the temerity to replace Rush with Mike, I’ll start listening to Talk of the Nation on NPR, which occupies the same time slot. At least I’ll know what I’m getting rather than some mislabeled, inferior substitute for conservative POV.

  • funwithknives

    I’ll go rent ” This Is Spinal Tap” Theres Three of ‘em……

  • macbookben

    n/t

  • chief1356

    Agree 100% with realfactchecker

  • Seedyrom

    who have been institutionalized for mental breakdown.

  • Seedyrom

    media matters KooK appearances. They know these KooKs lie and they know MM isn’t providing interesting content. While some media on the right say MM writes scripts for MSNBC, somehow I think that hype is coming from MM KooKs to make people think they are that big. MSNBC has enough loons and KooKs of their own, no need to spike the lies with crap from the mental ward KooKs at MM.

  • zollistar

    As soon as the bruhaha started, New York/New Jersey lawyer Eric Dixon took out a 30-second spot to show support for Rush.

    Result?

    LOTS of people contacted Dixon after hearing the commercial — and it was only a 30 second spot. He drew more likeminded clients thanks to running a spot on Rush’s show.

    This experience underscore the reason advertisers are unlikely to abandon Rush in…a rush. ;-)

    Here’s Dixon’s website: www.ericdixonlaw.com/

  • timchgo9

    started here in Chicago on WLS.

    I have always loved his tone, his intelligence and his humor. He is however, human, given to the temptations, mistakes, and foibles the rest of us are.

    He’s an intelligent guy, has a great talk show, and is the “voice of conservatism”. However, can we dispense with the Rush cum Moses leading the people out of the desert, Savior of the country bit?

    The above comment was more than a bit much.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    with both hands tied behind his back than Huck will ever have. While I may not always agree with Rush, imagine what the conservative movement would be without him. He is directly responsible for many converts, not to mention being a thorn in the side of Feminazis, PMSNBC, and a host of other libs.

  • gsatt

    I literally just googled him.

  • ihateliberals

    doing a Google and Wiki look up discovered why and that would be because he is a fake. In an attempt to salvage a bad book deal he compromised everything he had stood for. Now like any good little liberal he blames the conservatives for his down fall when in reality it is his own short comings he is trying to cover up what a looser.

  • lapert

    The way you describe loser liberals is exactly what you do on behalf of Newt and Santorum when you blame Rove, or the media, or the establishment for their own short comings as candidates.

    Hmm, I think you really are a liberal.

  • swordofzorro

    First and foremost, David Brock is NOT famous. He wishes it were so….he hopes it would happen…but alas, he’s only a legend in his own mind. Take away the dollars from George Soros and Mr. Brock would have a difficult time finding employment in the real world as an ad writer for Jiffy Lube which would be more his style anyway. As for Rush Limbaugh, Mr. Brock could only wish for that kind of loyal following. Alas, it won’t be something he’ll ever experience other than in his dreams. That, it seems, is where David Brock becomes a force to be reckoned with. There and only there.

  • Dave_A

    Willie Horton didn’t shoot a bunch of cops in a coffee shop… And he was enough to sink Dukakis….

    Huckster is supposed to be a part of the ‘tough on crime Party’, and… Oops, game over…