The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy
Review by Ryan Zempel
Townhall.com
Dec 5, 2005
In 2004, the Democratic Party nominated John Kerry for president of the United States.
An undeniable liberal.
A Northeastern elitist.
One of those creatures rarely elected to the presidency—a United States Senator.
And, quite frankly, a fairly incompetent candidate.
As should have been expected, Mr. Kerry lost. But only barely.
How did such a miserable candidate come so close to the presidency? There were many factors involved, but one of the most important was his campaign apparatus.
No, not that campaign apparatus. His official campaign organization was only as good as its candidate.
It was his unofficial campaign apparatus that brought him so close to the presidency.
In The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, Byron York sets forth in considerable detail a record of the organizations and individuals that so nearly led to a Kerry administration. Taking a look behind the scenes, York details not only the actions of these individuals and organizations, but the interactions between them.
The players (who weren't playing games) included the likes of:
- MoveOn.org. Perhaps the most well-known organization in the Kerry camp, MoveOn.org started with a petition during the Clinton impeachment ("The Congress must immediately censure President Clinton and Move On to pressing issues facing the country.") and was rejuvenated by 9/11 ("We the undersigned support justice, not escalating violence, which would only play into the terrorists' hands."). MoveOn.org convinced itself it was winning over other Americans, when in fact it simply succeeded in coalescing the already converted.
- George Soros. The money man of the group, Soros (net worth: $7 billion) gave tens of millions to America Coming Together and other 527 groups, and convinced his wealthy friends to do the same. In a classic case of "my motives are good so it's okay," Soros went so far in violating the spirit of the campaign finance reforms he had previously advocated that his former allies at the Center for Public Integrity ceased to accept donations from him.
- America Coming Together. As a 527 (the biggest of those opposing Bush), America Coming Together could collect unlimited donations, but could not "coordinate" with the Kerry campaign of the Democratic Party. York leaves little doubt that they crossed this (admittedly fuzzy) line. ACT harnessed technology to increase the effectiveness of old-fashioned knocking on doors and won Soros' support with a PowerPoint presentation created by none other than Karl Rove. The PowerPoint detailed the GOP's strategy for voter turnout and was made "unintentionally available" to Democrats.
- Michael Moore. Vying with Soros for the role of most influential individual (apart from the candidates themselves) in the election, Moore fell victim to the same mistake as MoveOn.org—he felt (or simply proclaimed) he was converting new people to anti-Bushism, when he was in fact simply preaching to the choir. While Moore claims that Fahrenheit 9/11 played well in the red states, York shows that to be false, revealing that the movie overperformed in the bluest areas of blue states (and in Canada) while underperforming in both red and swing states.
- Air America. The Left's response to Rush Limbaugh and other conservative radio hosts, Air America was created to fill a hypothetical void. It turned out that the audience was hypothetical, too. Even in the blue areas, and even though what it wanted to do was preach to the choir, Air America never managed to sustain a great level of success.
- Center for American Progress. Reportedly created as a progressive version of The Heritage Foundation and other conservative think tanks, the Center for American Progress sprang into existence with an affiliated C-4 (political lobbying organization), something that The Heritage Foundation and most other think tanks do not have. In addition, while other think tanks produce policy research grounded in a well-defined philosophy, CAP had no underlying philosophy (they actually ran focus groups to try to discover one) and their primary product was talking points (I'll leave it to others to suggest that the Left's ideas fall apart under the microscope of research).
In addition to detailing these organizations and people, York also describes Robert Greenwald's documentary efforts (Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and others) and the Left's belief that the Right wants to create a theocracy.
Despite the flaws, blind spots, and overreaching of all involved, they created an incredible political network in a very short time (most of them came into existence or became heavyweights after the 2002 election).
Despite their best efforts, however, the Kerry candidacy went down to defeat.
Going into the 2008 election, however, the Democratic candidate will not face an incumbent and will undoubtedly have the (now refined) tactics of those organizations and individuals at her disposal.
Imagine what they could accomplish with the benefit of hindsight and a competent candidate.
Ryan Zempel is the News & Politics Editor of Townhall.com.
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