http://www.pensitoreview.com/2006/09/09/the-path-to-scaife/

Sep. 9, 2006

The Path to Scaife

By Jon Ponder


The VRC Lives, and All Paths in It Lead Back Mr. Scaife

Max Blumenthal's expose at HuffPo on the rightwing cabal behind ABC's
controversial miniseries, "The Path to 9/11," is a must-read.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/discover-the-secret-right_b_29015.html

According to Blumenthal, the show's producer, director and writer are
part of a conservative insurgency within Hollywood.

They have connections to David Horowitz, the often-disgraced rightwing
media critic who is based in Los Angeles.

The connection into the conservative power grid that may be the most
interesting, however, is the production's ties to Richard Mellon
Scaife:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/discover-the-secret-right_b_29015.html


Since the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1992, Horowitz has labored
to create a network of politically active conservatives in Hollywood.

His Hollywood nest centers around his Wednesday Morning Club, a weekly
meet-and-greet session for Left Coast conservatives that has been
graced with speeches by the likes of Newt Gingrich, Victor Davis
Hanson and Christopher Hitchens.

The group's headquarters are at the offices of Horowitz's Center for
the Study of Popular Culture, a "think tank" bankrolled for years with
millions by right-wing sugardaddies like eccentric far right
billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.

(Scaife financed the Arkansas Project, a $2.3 million dirty tricks
operation that included paying sources for negative stories about Bill
Clinton that turned out to be false.)


Secretive people usually have something to hide, and "secretive" is
among the first words that come to mind regarding Mr. Scaife, who is
an heir to the Mellon fortune and lives in Pittsburgh where he
publishes a daily newspaper known for its rightwing slant.

(The other word most-often associated with him is "eccentric.")

If you are among the millions whose eyes have been opened over the
past six years to the true depravity of Republican malfeasance, you
probably won't be surprised to learn that the skullduggery didn't
start at George W. Bush's inauguration.

Not hardly.

In fact, the current Bush-Rove reign of political terror has its roots
in the early days of the Clinton presidency, and from the start one of
its major sponsors has been Mr. Scaife.

While Scaife openly funds numerous conservative organizations like
Horowitz' Center for the Study of the Popular Culture -- including the
Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institution and the Cato Institute --
there is one rightwing effort he has never fully 'fessed up to
funding.

Code-named the "Arkansas Project," it was a vicious campaign of
personal destruction against the Clintons that was launched in 1993
and was funded by Scaife.

(It was the Arkansas Project that Hillary Clinton once referred to as
a "vast rightwing conspiracy.")

The case could be made that the Arkansas Project paved the way for the
Bush presidency.

Spurious accusations about the Clintons brought forth by the project's
operatives led to years of useless investigations by Congress and the
special counsel, Ken Starr and ended with President Clinton's
impeachment.

Issues arising from the impeachment -- particularly the Monica
Lewinsky matter -- hobbled Al Gore's campaign in 2000.

Had the impeachment not been an issue, Gore would have beaten Bush
handily, even with the drain of liberal votes by Ralph Nader.

Paula Jones' sexual harrassment charge against the president was
central to the impeachment.

But Jones' case against Clinton was weak and was only kept alive
through various appeals by funding from Scaife and others.

So now we know that Scaife is still at it -- and that he still has a
bug up his ***** about the Clintons.

But here's the thing:

If Scaife, Horowitz and the producer, director and writer of "The Path
to 9/11" are right about President Clinton, why do they always lie
about things he has and has not done.

They lied about him repeatedly in the 1990s -- from Whitewater to
Travelgate, Troopergate, the Rose law firm billing records, Vince
Foster's suicide and the rest were all faked up scandals -- and
they're lying about him now in "The Path to 9/11."

Update: As our friends at BuzzFlash pointed out, the production
reportedly cost $40 million but, according to Fox News (no less), "the
series -- is to be aired without commercials as a public service."

So who is picking up the tab? (It sure ain't George Soros.)

Read more:

- The best book on this subject is "The Hunting of the President," by
Joe Conanson and Gene Lyons.

- Arkansas Project http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Project

- Richard Mellon Scaife
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=434&name=Richard-Mellon-Scaife

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One can smell Scaife's stinking ***** all over this Disney/ABC Rightard
***** film.

Harry