If this helps defeat enough of the current Republican crop of thieves, perverts, nutballs and miscreants, I may have to forgive Mr. Brock for his sins against Anita Hill. From the NYTimes, “Trailing G.O.P. With Cameras, Seeking Gaffes“:
AMHERST, N.H. — Aaron Fielding quietly stalks his prey — Republicans — with his video camera, patiently waiting for a political moment worthy of YouTube.
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At 27, he is a full-time “tracker” for American Bridge 21st Century, a new Democratic organization that aims to record every handshake, every utterance by Republican candidates in 2011 and 2012, looking for gotcha moments that could derail political ambitions or provide fodder for television advertisements by liberal groups next year.
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The organization has hired a dozen professional trackers like Mr. Fielding, outfitted them with the latest high-tech cameras and computers and positioned them in key states where Republican candidates are busy chattering away to voters. If all works as planned, incriminating moments captured by American Bridge will quickly become part of the political bloodstream.
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Combined with a team of 20 researchers in a Washington “war room” that has a large rack of computer servers, the effort is part of a push by Democratic groups to bolster their opposition research. Republicans also have trackers, but so far have not assembled the kind of centralized video archive of political caught-on-tape moments that their rivals envision.[…] __
American Bridge is the creation of David Brock, the founder of Media Matters for America, which critiques conservative media outlets, particularly Fox News. Once a leader of right-wing attacks on Mr. Clinton, Mr. Brock is a liberal convert, now seeking ways to have a bigger impact.[…] __
By tapping into his network of Media Matters donors, American Bridge officials say they have raised several million dollars and hope to bring in $15 million to make the group part of a new liberal infrastructure that will last far beyond the 2012 cycle.
I’m sure all the right-minded Centrist goo-goos will hastily draw the skirts of their togas aside from the contamination of such low political activism, and David Brooks will press the back of his lily-white hand to his brow as he laments the coarsening of our political discourse on the Sunday talking-heads shows. But here in the real world we’re stuck combatting an opposition that bases half of its electoral strategy on lying, denying, and fakery — we need to start documenting Republican dishonesty in formats where their perfidity can be explained, with short words and vivid pictures, within the severely limited attention span of the average low-information voter.
Taking the Battle to the Enemy’s TerritoryPost + Comments (104)