The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tri

by Byron York

Book Overview

"We ARE building a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy." With those words, the influential left-wing blogger Daily Kos confirmed the argument of National Review 's Byron York in this fascinating and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400082382
• ISBN13: 9781400082384
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Crown Forum
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

What's behind the desperate struggle to defeat ourselves in Iraq.

Byron York is one of my favorite writers because he reports. No diatribes. No insults. No hysterics. He just reports facts and when he gives his opinions, they are never overstated. There is no name-calling (The title is a quote from the liberal activists who are the subject of the book.) and no conclusions without supporting facts. In fact, York respects his readers enough to let them draw their own conclusions most of the time. If you think that the campaign reform laws took money out of politics, you really need to read this book. Unfortunately, most of what they did was take political parties out of politics and make them more politically beholden to groups who now control most of the money spent in campaigns and can therefore dictate the policies of the parties, who have heretofore made their own policies and run on them. Having positions and platforms imposed by big money donors was supposed to be why campaign finance reform was needed, but expecting politicians to support such laws without a loophole in reserve shows incredible naivete. The loophole the Democrats were counting on may end up turning into a sinkhole that consumes them or imprisons them for years to come. I have found plenty of authors and radio and TV hosts all across the political spectrum who will shout accusations, hurl epithets and insults and state opinions as facts, but it is a rare one who can simply report details in as clear and cogent a manner as Mr. York. I wish all political books were as well written and reasonable as this one.

Well Researched & Informative

I'm someone who is fascinated by the human capacity for nonrational thinking, mob behavior, self-delusion, and the success of well-engineered social movements. If you are a student of human behavior, particularly of how social movements are packaged and sold, and how ideologies can spread like diseases through a population, you'll find this book insightful and illuminating. The title of the book is more provocative than the material inside, which is well-researched and not particularly inflammatory (except to the most thin-skinned among us). The book chronicles how the American Left is re-making itself to become competitive in today's highly communicated and regulated political world. It could be viewed as diagnostic and prescriptive for both Left and Right, in the great competition for hearts and minds that defines modern American politics. My favorite chapter was the one the author almost left out: "From Fringe to Mainstream." This chapter captures how unimportant and irrelevant actual evidence is in demonizing one's political enemies, showing how accusations are virtually as good as evidence when denigrating the other side. "If it might possibly be true, then it most probably is true," seems to be the creedo of the modern viralized ideologue. Also fascinating is how humans feel they can plumb their opponent's inner psychology--in the absence of any formal training--discovering that the opposition is perpetually driven by sickness and evil impulse, while the motives of "my side" are pure and honest and moral. This book is certain to increase the cynicism of all readers, whether from Left or Right. And that's not a bad thing. Our republic depends upon our citizens' ability to recognize and resist emotional manipulation, which this book chronicles in fascinating and informed detail.

Terrific read

This book is a fascinating look behind the scenes look at the Democratic Party's efforts to unseat President Bush in the 2004 election. But, the slightly hysterical title aside, the book is as objective as one could hope. It discusses how the Democratics, frustrated with being out of power in Congress, the White House, their anger at the Clinton impeachment and the 2000 election results attempted to regroup. Using a copy of Karl Rove's "get out the vote" plan they attempted to regroup and energize the American voter to their way of thinking. What they came up with was the Moveon.Org internet site, 527's (several of which, the author argues, ignored campaign finance laws), the movie Fahrenheit 9/11, Liberal talk radio and think tanks. What I found especially interesting was the author's contention that when all was said and done the people behind it all were talking to the choir and made little impact on anyone outside their "loop". For example, the hype (and the box office) indicated that Fahrenheit 9/11 was a phenomenal success and it was expected to go a long way to defeat President Bush. But by breaking down the by region box office York is able to show that the film was really only popular in the areas (and with audiences) that weren't going to go for the President anyway. It made no impact in the swing states. During the election Moveon.org was so popular that they people behind it thought they were touching the average American. It turns out they weren't and were, in fact, only talking with other similar minded people. (Interesting, this same "talking for the average American" is something Richard Poe talks about in his book "Hillary's Secret War: The Clinton Conspiracy to Muzzle Internet Journalists". I wondered as I read this if both sides are wrong and they are both talking to their respective choirs. But I digress). The think tanks started were very limited in scope (seemingly dedicated to only defeating the President instead of developing new strategies that aren't necessarily tied to any particular political party -as the more successful Conservative think tanks have done and what the Democratics were trying to duplicate). While they raised unprecedented sums of money in a losing effort, they've changed the way they're looking at political campaigns and will attempt to strengthen and sharpen these new tools for future elections. Republicans should be prepared.