Correct the Record, a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, released a new attack ad highlighting sexist comments made by Donald Trump. The PAC also plans to spend $1 million on its "Barrier Breakers" program to counter negative social media posts about Clinton. The PAC is headed by David Brock, who was once a harsh critic of the Clintons but has since become one of Clinton's most ardent supporters. Brock uses his experience in opposition research and attack ads to benefit Clinton's campaign through Correct the Record.

1. Clinton PAC hits Trump on sexism in ad, deploys $1M online army
Source: http://www.examiner.com/article/clinton­pac­hits­trump­on­sexism­ad­deploys­1m­online­army?cid=db_articles
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Clinton PAC hits Trump on sexism in ad, deploys $1M online army
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May 12, 2016
3:02 AM MST
With Donald Trump now free to run roughshod over an uncontested primary field, his unlikely ascent to the GOP nomination is as
tangible as ever. While Democratic front­runner Hillary Clinton is being taken to the championship rounds by Bernie Sanders ­­who
won WV on Tuesday­­ , her large delegate lead has pivoted her campaign’s focus to the general election.
On Monday, Clinton super­PAC Correct the Record released a new attack ad on the presumptive Republican nominee, showing
interview clips of him making statements about women that could be considered ­­­ less than flattering. “She came to my wedding.
She ate like a pig.” Trump relays in the video’s opening, speaking of his longtime rival Rosie O’Donnell. When talking about Kim
Kardashian, Donald combines his loves of pageant judging and rhetorical questions, positing; “Does she have a good body? No.
Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely!”. Trump continues on to exact magically high beauty standards on Heidi Klum, disappointedly
dubbing her “sadly...no longer a ten”.
Trump made a preemptive defensive stand against the ad during his rally in Spokane, WA on Saturday, hinting that he knew Clinton's
team was going to release old interviews of him with Howard Stern. His contention was that these interviews were before he decided
to be a public servant and shouldn’t receive the same scrutiny as those of a lifelong politician. Other Trump surrogates have argued ­­
with a straight face­­ that his derision of opponent’s physical appearance extend equally to his male counterparts ­­i.e. “Little Marco”,
“Disgusting Eating Kasich”­­. While that line may have marginal merit against the argument of a double standard, many voters
animosity towards attacking personal appearance in general, and the overall tenor of his campaign, will likely not be assuaged by
such a defense.
The spot closely mirrors an ad put out a month ago in which women read on­record statements made by Trump: “Women... You
have to treat them like s­­t”, among them. The ad , titled “Quotes” was not from Clinton’s Correct the Record PAC, but from the
“#NeverTrump” Our Principles PAC, a group formed by wealthy Republican establishment members. Interestingly, this mutual disdain
for the GOP front­runner has effectively formed a tacit alliance between these Democratic and Republican establishment members,
certainly in terms of anti­Trump ad production
Correct the Record was formed a year ago this May as “a strategic research and rapid response team designed to defend
Hillary Clinton from baseless attacks”. This PAC is unique in that it pushes Federal Election Committee standards by coordinating
directly with the Clinton campaign proper. It was first reported by The Washington Post that Correct the Record employs a
loophole in a 2006 FEC rule ­­ before the emergence of YouTube­­ that exempts “free online content” from normal regulations. Later,
Correct the Record clarified to the paper that “they are not relying on the individual internet exemption, but rather a related exemption
in the definition of coordinated communications.”. OK! Sounds cool! Basically... They are claiming that as a “digital­only arm of the
campaign” they can openly communicate and accept funds with transparency that no other PAC ever has.
Correct the Record is headed by infamous political operator David Brock, whose transition to become Hillary Clinton’s most ardent
defender is every bit as odd as you would expect in this bizarre election cycle. In fact, Brock was a staunch and savage enemy of the
Clinton’s during their rise to national prominence. As a reporter for American Spectator in the 90’s, Brock spearheaded the
Donald Trump attack ad by Correct the Record
Correct the Record Super PAC, YouTube
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Clinton’s during their rise to national prominence. As a reporter for American Spectator in the 90’s, Brock spearheaded the
“Troopergate scandel”, in which Bill Clinton was alleged to have used his Gubernatorial powers to arrange affairs utilizing Arkansas
State Police officers. Brock was also part of the “Arkansas Project” which was committed to defaming the Clinton’s.
Having garnered a reputation as a “right­wing road warrior” through his slams on the Clinton’s and from his book The Real Anita
Hill ­­ in which he called the Clarence Thomas harassment accuser “slutty, and a bit nutty”­­, he was advanced by The Free Press to
write a book on Hillary Clinton. The Seduction of Hillary Clinton was not received well by his conservative colleagues because it’s
tone was sympathetic to the, then, First Lady; not the slam­piece they expected. Feeling shunned by his contemporaries, this was the
beginning of a polar shift in his political identity.
In 1997 Brock published a piece in Esquire titled "Confessions of a Right­Wing Hit Man”, in which he detailed how journalism
standards were eschewed in favor of sensationalism during his time reporting for American Spectator. His chips were placed full­tilt to
the left when, in 2002, Brock wrote Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex­Conservative. The book was, in essence, an
elaborate apology to the Clinton’s, in which he described himself in prior years as being “a witting cog in the Republican sleaze
machine,”and “a whore for money”. Bill Clinton praised the book and was keen to publicize how one of his most famous detractors
admitted to falsely manifesting a Clinton scandal.
Brock continued on his newly liberal crusade by forming the progressive watch­dog group Media Matters for America which declared
“war on Fox News”. He then founded the American Bridge 21st Century Super Pac, to help fund Democratic candidates. In the
interim, Brock was fully embraced by Hillary Clinton and formed the Correct the Record PAC to compile opposition data and produce
attack media.
While the Clinton’s , formerly his harshest targets, consider him fully atoned, many have long doubted his change of heart is truly
righteous. “Residual unease among some liberal operatives that Brock’s conversion story fits into a pattern of opportunism and self­
promotion rather than ideological transformation.”, said The Guardian in 2014. Regardless of speculative, spiritual appellations,
Brock is certainly still using his established skill­set of OPO research and take­down pieces.
Correct the Record was initially critical of Bernie Sanders; one time spreading a rumor that Sanders was going to bus in out­of­state
students to caucus for him in Iowa, a notion sanders called a lie perpetuated by David Brock. The PAC also spread a video inferring
tenuous links between Sanders and Hugo Chavez, as well as speeches from a socialist British MP. Sanders’ camp was swift to use
this affront to galvanize his grass­roots supporters and flipped the attack into $1.2 million in donations over the subsequent 48
hours. “The lesson is probably that Sen. Sanders is not the easiest person to necessarily find fault with.”, said Brock to Mic.com.
”He certainly made lemonade out of this lemon. It was very interesting to watch.”.
Now Hillary Clinton’s camp, perpetually warmed by the security blanket of their SEC delegate dominance, is confident turning their
sights on the general election. The aforementioned Trump piece was an opening salvo. But, as The Los Angeles Times reported
on Monday, digital ads are just one facet of the battle plan.
“Barrier Breakers 2016” is a social media campaign of Correct the Record which vowed to spend upwards of one million dollars to
combat negative posts about Hillary Clinton on Facebook and Twitter. While the campaign is aimed at Donald Trump supporters now,
the initiative was formed to fight Bernie Sanders’ massive online presence. Their mission statement on their website begins as such:
"Anonymous online attacks, from both sides of the political spectrum, have sought to spread lies and misleading narratives about
Secretary Hillary Clinton. Hillary’s supporters are more enthusiastic than Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters, yet oftentimes are
discouraged from engaging online and are “often afraid to voice their thoughts” because of the fear of online harassment."
This opening statement is interesting in how it, as a matter­of­fact, states that Sanders’ supporters are less enthusiastic than
Clinton's. While this type of presumption is certainly par for the course on the political links, it may affirm the belief of some Correct
the Record critics regarding their approach ­­Ed. Note: Three golf metaphors in that sentence­­. In employing ­­in the sense of paying­
­ political operatives to in essence, artificially replicate grass­roots support, it could cause more harm than good, especially when
micro­targeted to such a media savvy demographic.
The opening statement of this new PAC campaign might have intended to seek a salve against the abrasiveness of Sanders' online
multitudes. Warring with Trump’s army at that scale will require armor. Certainly a case of having your work cut out for you. David
Brock has been working at this for a while.
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John­Paul Padovano
NY Online Media Examiner
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