Conspiracy Nutz

[babylonsister]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/conspiracy-nutz-by-digby-man-is-it-ever.html

Conspiracy Nutz

by digby


Man, is it ever rich to see M. Emmett Tyrell ("Bobby" to the insiders) chattering with Tweety about the kooky conspiracy nuts on the right. I don't know if Matthews is brain damaged or what, but my God:

Like many political magazines of differing ideologies, in the 1980s and 1990s the conservative American Spectator received donations from like-minded benefactors who supported its mission. One of the Spectator's larger donors over the years was Richard Mellon Scaife, a businessman who directed a number of foundations funded with his family's wealth, through which he could support his causes. At first, donations from Scaife to the Spectator were unrestricted, but later, Scaife wanted to direct some of the spending for stories investigating the Clintons.

According to R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., editor in chief of the Spectator, the idea for investigating the Clintons was born on a fishing trip on the Chesapeake Bay in the fall of 1993. David Brock, who reported many of the Clinton scandals, described himself as a Republican "hitman" who "soon became a lead figure in the drive to" get Clinton. Writing for the American Spectator, he brought the stories of alleged sexual misbehavior by Bill and Hillary Clinton into the public notice in late 1993.<3> The Pacific Research Institute funded further attempts to discredit the Clintons. The "Arkansas Project" name that later became famous was conceived as a joke; the actual name within the Spectator and between the Spectator and Scaife foundations was the "Editorial Improvement Project."

The Washington Post noted David Brock was "summoned" to a meeting with Rex Armistead in Miami, Florida at an airport hotel. Armistead laid out an elaborate "Vince Foster murder scenario", Brock said – a scenario that he found implausible."<4><5> David Brock, then of the American Spectator (and previously of the Heritage Foundation), explained Armistead was paid $350,000 to work with Arkansas Project reporters by the American Spectator.<6> Brock further noted Armistead was a "leader of white resistance to the civil rights movement" as he was working as a police officer.<7> Both Brock and Armistead were reporters who were funded by Scaife to investigate issues ranging from drug smuggling to Foster to discredit Clinton with the Arkansas Project.<8>

It's impossible for me to believe that Matthews doesn't know he's dealing with one of the primary conspiracy kooks of the 1990s. He must. But there they sat, talking trash about the Birthers and the UFO people and the rest like Tyrell is a normal person.

Of course, Matthews himself is one to talk. He was one of the prime movers of the bogus Clinton scandals himself, frequently having Kathleen Willey and Gennifer Flowers on to share their sexual fantasies (and give him a thrill up his leg.)So, he may not realize that "Bobby" is a nutball. After all, when it came to those nutty conspiracy theories, Matthews was a true believer himself.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Thanks for posting this. R.E. Tyrrell is batshit crazy. And so's Matthews.

They're easier to avoid when they're bunched. Get Buchanan on too.

[theothersnippywshrub]

3. Tyrrell certainly is bat shit crazy, but he also is a mainstream republican. n/t

[blm]

2. Clinton wasn't the drugsmuggler, Poppy Bush was/is. Clinton was Gov. I-see-nothing Schultz.

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