The working relationship between Olbermann and this left-wing pressure group not only puts in question the "independence" of MSNBC in the Imus matter but the ability of Olbermann and his producers to come up with original and fresh material. Of course, NBC News correspondent Dennis Murphy didn't mention any of this in his "inside story" about Imus's downfall. What a convenient and interesting omission.

Brock's 2002 book, Blinded by the Right, is quite extraordinary in that it begins with a prologue admitting that the author was responsible for telling "lies" and ruining reputations. Assuming some parts of the book are true, at least those concerning Brock personally, it describes a young man struggling with an immoral lifestyle. Writing about college, for example, he says, "With some hesitation, during my freshman year, I went on uneasy dates and had hurried sexual encounters with other guys in neighboring dorms." Later, he writes that he would go "out to bars looking for one-night hookups with some frequency, always by myself, very late at night, with few knowing, and no one caring, who I was."

Today, out of the closet and a certified "progressive" activist with money from the Clinton machine, George Soros, and other big-name liberals, some people know who Brock is because his group has emerged as the moral arbiter, along with Al Sharpton, of what should or should not be said on the airwaves. It would be laughable were it not so serious for the future of freedom of speech and broadcasting in this country.

In fact, some of the Media Matters complaints about the media are comical. It once urged people to protest when Bill O'Reilly of Fox News reportedly said that he wished that Hurricane Katrina had flooded the United Nations building in New York "and I wouldn't have rescued them." This joke was denounced as "hate speech" by Brock, who said that the comment "does not belong on America's airwaves" and is "wrong and un-American." Media Matters called attention to a letter from Tim Wirth, head of the Ted Turner-financed U.N. Foundation, who called for a "public apology" from O'Reilly.

But if the problem was merely that Media Matters simply had no sense of humor, the organization itself could be dismissed with a laugh. Instead, however, it has a big problem with truth-telling and follows in Brock's footsteps by trying to ruin people and reputations.

My only encounter with Brock came when he was a conservative and wanted help with an article he was writing about the left-wing Christic Institute. I had researched the organization extensively and had debated its leader on C-SPAN. I provided much of my research to Brock, who came into my office on the condition that he credit me in his piece. He did not. I learned then that he could not be trusted.

Years later, when he became an ex-conservative, his Media Matters group published an item falsely implying that I had fabricated a letter from the Afghan Ambassador. You can read about this case here and here. The Brock group rushed into print with this defamatory item without checking the facts beforehand. Then it refused to retract or apologize after being caught. Like Brock, the organization can't be trusted to say or do what is right.

In the same vein, the organization tries to mislead and confuse people about its connection to George Soros, the left-wing billionaire convicted of inside trading in France, and who finances the ACLU, the Drug Policy Alliance, and other such groups. Although Media Matters receives funding from the so-called Democracy Alliance, which is funded by George Soros, it falsely claims that it has "never received funding" from him. It had previously denied receiving funding "directly" from him. The group defends Soros, describing him merely as a "progressive philanthropist," about as frequently as it defends Hillary.

The funding of Media Matters through the Democracy Alliance adds another layer of media protection for the controversial billionaire, as AIM has documented in a special report on how he has put millions of dollars into "investigative reporting" and news organizations. Such payments guarantee that the news groups won't target Soros for scrutiny.

Prominent members of the Democracy Alliance, in addition to Soros, include insurance magnate Peter Lewis, another supporter of drug legalization who was arrested in New Zealand several years ago after customs officers found marijuana in his luggage. The Democracy Alliance was started by Rob Stein, a former Clinton official.

Demonstrating the sensitivity of receiving money from Soros, Media Matters admits receiving money from "donors" to the Democracy Alliance but claims, in the face of the evidence about how the organization is run, that it doesn't take any money from Soros himself. This is an untenable and false position to assert, as published reports about the organization in the Washington Post and even The Nation magazine have never indicated that Soros money has been segregated so as not to go to certain groups like Media Matters.

The connections of Media Matters to the Democratic Party are also substantial, suggesting that the organization functions largely as a Democratic Party front. The group's "senior adviser," Dennis Yedwab, served as the director of strategic resources at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and research director at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Other staffers have come from the Al Gore campaign, the Clinton-Gore 1996 Committee, the ACLU, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, and the Soros-funded Center for American Progress (which also gave Media Matters some office space when it was being formed). John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, served as chief of staff to President Clinton from October 1998 until January 2001.

Katie Barge, the former director of research for Media Matters, became research director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), only to resign under fire when she was alleged to have participated in an effort to fraudulently obtain a credit report on Maryland's Republican Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who was running for the U.S. Senate. Her subordinate at the DSCC, Lauren B. Weiner, was charged with a crime in the case but there was no explanation of why Barge was not. Barge is now a spokesperson for a left-wing Christian group opposed to the Iraq war and director of communications strategy for a religious-left organization known as Faith in Public Life. Her official bio carefully omits any mention of her role in the scandal involving Steele's credit report.

As we point out in our special report, "Left-wing Censorship Campaign Targets Conservative Media," Media Matters appears to be playing the same role as Group Research, Inc., the Democratic Party front that was used to help the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations target conservative radio broadcasters using the Fairness Doctrine in the 1960s. But Media Matters has scored a major success in the Imus case even without the Fairness Doctrine.

As the Media Matters/Olbermann attack on Tumulty suggests, the Imus affair is all about politics and protecting Hillary. Imus, who endorsed and opposed candidates for office, including the presidency, was considered very influential. That is why so many politicians went on his show. He was beginning to emerge as a major thorn in the side of Hillary, just as her competition with Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination was heating up.

While Imus had allowed Obama to come on his show, he had steadfastly refused to permit Senator Clinton to appear. Imus had been on the outs with the Clintons for many years, with some of the hostility stemming from his performance at the Radio/TV Correspondents Association Annual Dinner in 1996. Among other things, Imus had made fun of the former president's womanizing.

Before he was fired by NBC News and CBS last week, one of Imus's sidekicks regularly imitated Bill Clinton on the air, reminding people of how this potential First Husband had become a first-class national embarrassment and disgrace when he was having sexual relations with a former White House intern and lied about it. It was one of the truly funny bits on the show.

If you think the Hillary connection to the Imus firing is a stretch, consider the fact that David Brock wrote a sympathetic book about Hillary during the time of his transition from closeted homosexual to ex-conservative.

As Reed Irvine and I noted in an article back in 2002, "Brock got a million-dollar advance for a book on Hillary Clinton, but while writing it, he underwent a transformation. Instead of an exposé, the book was so soft on Hillary that it bombed. In two Esquire articles, Brock repudiated his Clinton muckraking and apologized to the president. His flip-flop appears to have been related to the close relationship that Brock, a closeted homosexual, established with Hillary's openly gay press secretary, Neel Lattimore." The Advocate, a homosexual magazine, had described Lattimore as one of Hillary's "closest confidants" during her White House years.

This is the same Neel Latimore, according to the September 7, 2006, article by Glenn Thrush of Newsday, who would become "special projects director" for Media Matters.

Thrush also reported that "Kelly Craighead, one of the Clinton's closest friends, served as one of Brock's top advisers during Media Matters' formation in 2004. She was paid as part of a $202,781 contract with the consulting company of her husband, Erick Mullen, tax records obtained by Newsday show." Craighead had served as assistant to President Clinton and director of the advance team for then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. It is reported that when Craighead married political consultant Erick Mullen, a former aide to Senator Charles Schumer, in 2001, Hillary Clinton performed the civil ceremony. Mullen was an informal senior advisor to Mrs. Clinton's run for the Senate in 2000.

More recently, Lattimore has emerged as an official spokesman for the Children's Defense Fund, headed by longtime Hillary friend Marian Wright Edelman. Hillary had served on the Board of Editors of Yale Law Review and Social Action and had interned with Edelman. After graduating from Yale, Hillary served as an adviser to the Children's Defense Fund and then as its chairperson from 1986 to 1992.

It is significant that, at this week's National Action Network Convention, hosted by Al Sharpton, the Friday "Women's Luncheon" will be featuring Senator Clinton and Marian Wright Edelman.

For her part, Mrs. Clinton had denounced Imus's Rutgers comments as "bigotry and coarse sexism," adding, "I've never wanted to go on his show and I certainly don't ever intend to go on his show, and I felt that way before his latest outrageous, hateful, hurtful comments."

For his part, Obama denounced Imus and called for his firing. He had to do this, considering the pressure on Imus being exerted by Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. But Obama may have lost a valuable ally. Imus had supported John Kerry for president in 2004 and regularly denounced Bush Administration officials as "war criminals" for their conduct of the Iraq War. His views on Iraq were in tune with those of Obama and, despite his long-time backing for Republican Senator John McCain, Imus may have been laying the groundwork for supporting Obama, at least in the Democratic presidential primaries, in 2008.

Perhaps that is the main reason why, after years of insulting scores of people, with the quiet acquiescence of so many in the liberal media, the latest insult was seized upon and proved to be his undoing. In terms of who benefits politically from Imus going off the air, Hillary Clinton emerges above all others, even above Sharpton and Jackson.

Media Matters, which openly supports the return of the so-called Fairness Doctrine in order to muzzle conservatives, will now move on to its next target. One thing is certain: it will be a political opponent of Senator Clinton.

This is cache, read story here