David Brock: “Bats**t Crazy”

I am starting to like Neera Tanden. She is President of the Center for American Progress, a left-wing think tank that coordinates closely with the Democratic Party. Until he left to run Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, John Podesta ran CAP, so he is her former boss. From the Podesta emails that have been dumped by Wikileaks, it is obvious that Tanden and Podesta are good friends who write one another candidly. The most revealing of the Wikileaks/Podesta emails are generally the ones between Podesta and Tanden, with no copies to anyone else.

So Neera Tanden let us know what she thinks of the appalling David Brock:

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Tanden echoes my own opinion of Brock, although I would add that craziness isn’t his worst fault. I think this is the New York Times article Tanden refers to. It is about the battle between Clinton and Obama forces for control of the Democratic Party:

Lingering tensions between Hillary Rodham Clinton’s loyalists and the strategists who helped President Obama defeat her in 2008 have erupted into an intense public struggle over who will wield money and clout in her emerging 2016 presidential campaign.

At issue is controlling access to the deep-pocketed donors whose support is critical to sustain the outside organizations that are paving the way for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. It is a competition that has been exacerbated, many Clinton supporters said, by Mrs. Clinton’s reluctance to formally enter the race and establish a campaign organization with clear lines of authority.

The dispute broke into the open on Monday after David Brock, a Clinton ally, accused Priorities USA Action — a pro-Clinton “super PAC” whose co-chairman is Jim Messina, Mr. Obama’s 2012 campaign manager — of planting negative stories about the fund-raising practices of Mr. Brock’s organizations. Mr. Brock resigned from the super PAC’s board in protest.

It’s a nice reminder that many Democrats share our opinions of them. Referring to David Brock:

“He is a cancer,” said Mr. Morgan, who is close to Mr. Messina.

A judicious assessment. On the other hand, from one of Brock’s allies:

Susie Tompkins Buell, a friend of Mrs. Clinton’s and a donor from San Francisco who is close to Mr. Brock, said he “is an incredibly important part of the Democratic Party” whose work “protects us from the onslaught and destruction of the Republican attack machine.”

Right.

Ms. Buell added: “Certain people are trying to destroy David through off-the-record conversations with reporters. They are spineless and devious.”

The dispute recalls John Lennon’s words: You may say I’m bats**t crazy, but I’m not the only one.

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