_______________ THE SALON CONSPIRACY BY DAVID HOROWITZ (04/20/98)

David Horowitz, in his latest column, writes, "We would all do well to take a deep breath and think twice before we rush precipitously to judgment about conspirators and conspiracies." It is really too bad he does not take his own advice, as a brief perusal of his present and past columns attests. Indeed, Mr. Horowitz continues to display the wonderful Stalinist tendency I observed growing up (yes, I am what is fondly known as a "red diaper baby") to denounce viciously a perceived fault in others while shamelessly practicing the same tactics he decries. Witness, for example, his attack on David Brock in Salon, in which he criticizes Mr. Brock for migrating from right to left politically, while simultaneously congratulating himself for taking the opposite journey. Mr. Horowitz would have us believe his was an evolution of character and virtue, while we are to construe Mr. Brock's conversion as self-serving opportunism. Sidney Blumenthal, of course, receives Mr. Horowitz's most vitriolic opprobrium for his continued loyalty to political views that Mr. Horowitz once shared but now despises, and for his loyalty to the president he serves. Evidently, the only thing worse than converting from conservative to liberal is to have stayed a liberal to begin with. Mr. Horowitz still doesn't get it. He pays lip service to diversity of opinion, but shows no tolerance for it, either in his writings or in his actions. His swing from one end of the political spectrum to the other has taught him nothing, except that ad hominem attacks may be wielded equally by those from the left or the right. After all his peregrinations, he has ended where he began. Not much of a result for all that effort. -- Ann Davidson Philadelphia David Horowitz wouldn't know a conflict of interest if it sat on him. A decade ago a disturbed, and probably stoned, young David Kennedy confided in Horowitz. Instead of realizing that David was not in any condition to talk on the record to anyone, Horowitz took every word down, many of them wrong, and made it the centerpiece of a vicious book about the younger Kennedy generation. In doing his book, he lied and misled me and dozens of others. Horowitz took this information, embellished it and, despite pleas that it would destroy many people, Horowitz sold the piece to Playboy magazine. Horrified at what Playboy published, David Kennedy killed himself shortly afterwards. The only interest Horowitz recognizes is his own. Have you no shame? -- Blake Fleetwood I have been reading your online magazine for some time. Camille Paglia is one of my favorite feminists. Were it not for Paglia, I would not have even ventured into Salon. Now that I am here, I want you to know that this 40-year-old female -- a feminist and Democrat -- also likes David Horowitz! Are you shocked? You shouldn't be. There are plenty of liberal women -- and men -- who are becoming increasingly suspicious of the Clinton administration and its creepy treatment of women and men who dare to criticize their methods. I think the Hale stories are fishy, but not in the way Mr. Waas (and Mr. Blumenthal) would like the public to think. As for the "evil," "sinister," fill in the blank with whatever grand conspiracy word is appropriate for the moment according to the White House Spin Mr. Richard Scaife -- give me a break! There are plenty of left-wing philanthropists and foundations that fund the causes I espouse. Does that make me a member of the "vast left-wing conspiracy"? I guess so. Ain't nothing illegal about it. I knew someone in San Francisco who used to work for a P.I. whose job it was to look up dirt on Clinton's many conquests so they would shut up. This same person said they were also out to get Jerry Brown -- and were having a hard time finding juicy stuff. I just about fell out of my chair when Dick Morris (a former Clinton insider) was on a show saying that the Clinton campaign blackmailed women into signing affidavits saying they never had sex with dear old Billy. (Elizabeth Gracen, anyone?) Why don't you have some reporters look into them apples? -- S.J. Llywellynne SALON | April 23, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| SALON EDITORIAL BY DAVID TALBOT (04/17/98)

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