{"id":64677,"date":"2017-01-28T13:58:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-28T17:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=64677"},"modified":"2017-01-28T13:59:47","modified_gmt":"2017-01-28T17:59:47","slug":"pizzagate-david-brock-becomes-a-democrat-persona-non-grata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=64677","title":{"rendered":"PIZZAGATE<\/i> David Brock Becomes A Democrat Persona Non Grata"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GASOLINE FIGHT<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

Dems to David Brock: Stop Helping, You Are Killing Us<\/h1>\n

Democrats know they need someone to lead them out of the wilderness. But, they say, that someone is not David Brock.<\/h3>\n

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DANNY JOHNSTON\/AP<\/p><\/div>\n

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ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
\nThe Daily Beast<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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As David Brock<\/a> attempts to position himself as a leader in rebuilding a demoralized<\/a> Democratic Party in the age of Trump<\/a>, many leading Democratic organizers and operatives are wishing the man would simply disappear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Many in the party\u2014Clinton loyalists, Obama veterans, and Bernie supporters alike\u2014talk about the man not as a sought-after ally in the fight against Trumpism, but as a nuisance and a hanger-on, overseeing a colossal waste of cash. And former employees say that he has hurt the cause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the weeks since Donald Trump<\/a> pulled off a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton<\/a>, party stalwarts have scrambled to identify key figures for a robust revitalization in a post-Obama era.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brock, founder of the media watchdog Media Matters for America and liberal super PACs American Bridge and Correct the Record<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0has volunteered himself to lead the reconstruction<\/a>, vowing to \u201ckick Donald Trump\u2019s ass<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During Trump\u2019s inauguration weekend, Brock held a conference for activists, politicians, and donors at a resort<\/a> in South Florida to pitch his grand vision. All but one of the candidates currently running to chair the Democratic National Committee attended, conspicuously missing the Women\u2019s March<\/a> on Washington on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, many Democratic grassroots activists and campaign alums have been giving his proposed plans some stern side-eye.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHis ability to produce wins for Democrats is nonexistent,\u201d Jeff Weaver, former campaign manager for Bernie Sanders\u2019s 2016 presidential run, told The Daily Beast. \u201cHe does not have the kind of understanding of what kind of coalition you have to bring together to win national races\u2014that\u2019s his fundamental problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During the 2016 election, Brock and his network positioned themselves as prominent allies to the Clinton campaign, generating opposition research, stunts, and ads against Trump, and supporting<\/a> Clinton in the primary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brock bragged early last year that his team had assembled a mountain of damning oppo that could<\/a> \u201cknock Trump Tower down to the sub-basement.\u201d But Trump Tower still stands, and Brock\u2019s groups failed to help Clinton to victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brock, for his part, is unfazed by the criticisms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPeople are free to question my motives, but it should be pretty clear by now that the groups that I\u2019ve created are committed to a more progressive America,\u201d Brock told The Daily Beast in a phone interview on Wednesday. \u201cI\u2019m interested in building third-party organizational capacity to resist and oppose Donald Trump. I think that should be everybody\u2019s goal on the left, to destroy Donald Trump, not to destroy each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s clear why Brock has acquired a long list of enemies on the more progressive corners of his own party. Brock\u2019s political evolution is well-known<\/a>: the former anti-Clinton right-winger who starting in the late 1990s transformed into a relentlessly pro-Clinton Democratic operative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the friction between Brock and Democrats is not merely limited to its more progressive faction\u2014many alumni of Obama\u2019s campaigns and White House, as well as Hillary Clinton\u2019s failed 2016 run, say they want Brock to stay far away from the Democrats\u2019 future plans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think David Brock has been helpful to the party to date, and I don\u2019t think he will be a big part of its future,\u201d a former senior Clinton campaign official told The Daily Beast. \u201cAnd it\u2019s surprising that many other people don\u2019t see it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another senior 2016 Clinton aide, who asked not to be named because the ex-staffer did \u201cnot want to deal with Brock\u2019s bullshit,\u201d described Brock and his organizations in 2016 as \u201cuseless\u2014you might as well have thrown those [tens of] millions of dollars down a well, and then set the well on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Two sources told The Daily Beast that in the last couple of months Brock and his team reached out to former Clinton campaign officials, including ex-national press secretary Brian Fallon, to join Brock\u2019s new anti-Trump \u201cwar room.<\/u><\/a>\u201d All, however, declined the offer simply because \u201cno one wants anything to do with him,\u201d one source recalled. (Fallon did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brock and his teams also became staunch allies of the Obama reelection campaign and the Obama White House. Brock would throw lavish parties<\/a> where Team Obama figures would make appearances and liberally sip the champagne\u2014still, it wasn\u2019t hard to find former White House dwellers who questioned Brock\u2019s usefulness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI met with him a couple times\u2014he\u2019s fucking weird,\u201d a former Obama administration official, who also requested anonymity, told The Daily Beast. \u201cI felt like I was meeting Mugatu<\/a> from Zoolander\u2026<\/i> I don\u2019t know what the fuck [Brock\u2019s network] did besides raise a ton of money, and I don\u2019t think the after-action report on 2016 says we need more David Brock. Probably the opposite is true.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tommy Vietor, a veteran of the 2008 Obama campaign who later served as a National Security Council spokesman, on the other hand took a more generous approach to Brock\u2019s Media Matters, noting that it was \u201ca very smart and well-executed idea,\u201d but conceded that Brock himself \u201chasn\u2019t proved his expertise in campaigning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When confronted with the criticism, Brock points to American Bridge\u2019s track record with helping Priorities USA and Obama allies define and defeat Mitt Romney during the 2012 race, or the group\u2019s work on the Todd Akin \u201clegitimate rape\u201d controversy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe organizations I created were supposed to be there for the long haul and outlast a Hillary Clinton presidency,\u201d Brock said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not about me and it\u2019s not about her\u2026 And I believe American Bridge accomplished its mission 100 percent in defining Trump negatively\u2026 [It\u2019s part of the reason] why Trump took office as the most unpopular president in the history of polling\u2026 [But] nobody\u2019s perfect, and that includes us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When asked why he thinks so many alumni of Team Hillary are furious with him, he responded that he\u2019s \u201cbeen one of the few Democrats out there who had regular interaction with the Clinton campaign who\u2019s been willing to be critical of it on the record, and I\u2019m sure that has made some people unhappy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But outside allies aren\u2019t the only ones voicing concerns over Brock\u2019s approach; the rough sentiments are shared among some of the people who have worked directly for Brock and his liberal network.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHe has a tendency to overstate his level of impact and importance,\u201d a former operative of one of Brock\u2019s organizations said. \u201cThere is a sense [in Brock\u2019s own groups] that he cares less about progressive policies and moving the ball forward, and is actually more focused on stroking his ego.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another Democratic operative close to the Brock empire told The Daily Beast that the experience working with him only deepened suspicions that Brock cared more about himself than the liberal base or the party at large.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cSomewhere along the way, it became instead of putting the mission of American Bridge [or Media Matters] first, it became about putting him<\/i> first, growing his power in the party\u2014his<\/i> popularity,\u201d the operative said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question that his groups were the least effective of 2016. If anything they did harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The staffer concluded: \u201cI have never worked somewhere with so much unlimited resources [where] I don\u2019t think they\u2019re used efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Several members of the Brock empire painfully recall what they viewed as self-aggrandizing, exuberant episodes involving their boss. One such memory took place at a Christmas party in 2015 at the Comet Ping Pong pizza joint (of \u201c#Pizzagate<\/a>\u201d infamy) in Washington, D.C. There, staffers recall, Brock at one point climbed atop the restaurant\u2019s bar to deliver a fired-up speech. As Brock approached the finale of his remarks, the DJ started blasting Queen\u2019s stadium-rock anthem, \u201cWe Are The Champions<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As Brock\u2019s acolytes in the crowd looked on and cheered wildly, various staffers began glancing at one another, raising eyebrows and chuckling about yet another moment that read to them as their fearless leader caring only about perceived power and popularity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Still, Brock is not without his allies on the left, or center-left. James Carville, a longtime friend and ally of the Clintons who has worked<\/a> for Brock\u2019s operation, is skeptical that anti-Brock operatives know any better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAre they calling for purges?\u201d Carville rhetorically asked The Daily Beast. \u201cDavid has a really good relationship with a lot of donors and people who can help the party. If I were them, I would be thinking of ways I could work with David Brock, as opposed to having a tribunal determining the extent of party purity. I don\u2019t think we need to walk around with ideological chastity belts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the end, Brock says that he and his toughest critics are going to just have to agree to disagree on this one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThere an old culture around the Democratic Party where you stick your head out and lead, and people try to cut it off,\u201d Brock said. \u201cI came into organizing in progressive politics 14 years ago with a lot of baggage from the right wing and, understandably, there was skepticism. I overcame that over time with hard work and performing well, and earning people\u2019s trust. There\u2019s no other way to do it\u2026I\u2019m going to continue earning the trust as I go.\u201d<\/p>\n

___
\nhttp:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2017\/01\/26\/dems-to-david-brock-stop-helping-you-are-killing-us.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GASOLINE FIGHT Dems to David Brock: Stop Helping, You Are Killing Us Democrats know they need someone to lead them out of the wilderness. But, they say, that someone is not David Brock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}