Brent Bozell, Hate-Consumed Ideologue

The "balanced" and "responsible" MRC chief sneers a goodbye to Clinton at a bile-filled banquet.

By Terry Krepel
Posted 1/22/2001

Sure, we know L. Brent Bozell is a liar. We know he's a plagarizer. We know he's an insult hurler and conservative suck-up. But it's always a little stunning to observe just how deep a person's hatred runs.

A Jan. 18 Associated Press story tells us all anyone needs to know about Brent Bozell. It seems he, under the banner of his Media Research Center, organized a $125-a-plate dinner that evening for the purpose of gathering his conservative buddies to hurl a little more abuse at the Clintons before they left office. The night's slogan: "Here Lies (over and over) the Clinton Administration."

Bozell served as the master of insults -- er, "master of condolences," as his CNSNews.com reported the event. "It's our way of celebrating the fumigation of Washington," he is quoted as saying.

He certainly was not concerned about disobeying George W. Bush's call to unity and civility or avoiding the politics of personal destruction: "We have two days before we have to become compassionate."

Bozell offered a mock invocation, a takeoff on the Lord's Prayer. One line: "Her socialist agenda got runneth over."

And he's not bothered that Hillary Clinton was elected as a New York senator because she will serve as a useful bogeyman. "We need fund-raising fodder," Bozell is quoted as saying. "They left her behind for us."

About 500 conservatives attended the affair, including the Rev. Jerry Falwell (who, like Bozell, is on record as a liar), congressman Bob Barr, former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, entertainer Pat Boone and alleged literary agent Lucianne Goldberg. Robert Bork was there, too; "I've never seen a back I've found more attractive," he is quoted as saying, confirming that keeping him off the Supreme Court was the correct decision.

The CNSNews.com version on the event, as befits Bozell's house organ, was scanty on details and how vicious the insults were, while fawning over their boss: "A bagpiper played Amazing Grace as Bozell, flanked by standing candelabras and arrangements of funeral flowers, began to eulogize the Clinton era. Beside him was an enlarged photo of the president surrounded by a mourning wreath."

The article does capture one example of the evening's tone, quoting writer Christopher Buckley taking note of the tractor-trailers required to move the Clinton's possessions out of the White House: "I'm sure they'll find an appropriate trailer park."

There's not a word in either article about where the proceeds of the banquet (500 guests x $125 a ticket = $62,500) went. CNSNews.com, in fact, doesn't mention the price at all; if the money went to a charitable cause, certainly Bozell would be making sure everyone was aware of that fact.

Ultimately, this event says much more about its creator than its target. Bozell and his MRC promise "political balance and responsibility," but offer only bias and insults. His CNSNews.com generates the same slanted news he purports to deplore. His so-called "mountain of evidence" of "liberal bias" is mostly anecdotal, lacking in context or genuine analysis. He is an ideologue who cares only for his point of view and thinks he knows better how to do a journalist's job than the journalists doing them.

In short, exactly the kind of man who would make people pay $125 to hear him insult a president. And get 500 of his fellow ideologues to pony up.