Scaife's hilarious family life

[Jason McCullough]

Oh dear (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101643_pf.html).


Seriously, get in the car and read this story later, because when you're done reading, you'll wish you'd left 10 minutes ago. There are towns with better vistas, sure, and there are getaways with more sunshine. But only Pittsburgh is the scene of the fabulously tawdry and surpassingly vicious spectacle that is the divorce of Richard Mellon Scaife.

Remember him? The cantankerous, reclusive 75-year-old billionaire who's spent a sizable chunk of his inherited fortune bankrolling conservative causes and trying to kneecap Democrats? He's best known for funding efforts to smear then-President Bill Clinton (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Bill+Clinton?tid=informline), but more quietly he's given in excess of $300 million to right-leaning activists, watchdogs and think tanks. Atop his list of favorite donees: the family-values-focused Heritage Foundation (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Heritage+Foundation?tid=informline), which has published papers with titles such as "Restoring a Culture of Marriage."

The culture of his own marriage is apparently past restoring. With the legal fight still in the weigh-in phase, the story of Scaife v. Scaife already includes a dog-snatching, an assault, a night in jail and that divorce court perennial, allegations of adultery.

Favorite bit, which Paul Krugman used as the title of his blog today:

"Defendant has and continues to unlawfully hold in his possession six pairs of asparagus tongs manufactured by Mappin & Webb, Birmingham, 1926 weighing 10 ounces total," reads one of dozens of paragraphs. "The last-known location for these items was at 'Vallamont,' 132 Pheasant Circle, Ligonier, Pa. 15658. The estimated cost for these items is $1,800."

[Nick Walter]

This article is cracking me up. I really find it very hard to have a lot of sympathy for someone with a $45 million annual trust fund income just for breathing. His wife could take every penny he currently has off of him in the divorce proceedings and he'd still be left to live better than I probably ever will.

[jeffd]

It's an amusing article, but the real good stuff is the network of donors that back all of the conservative think tanks. There are quite a few of these institutions, and they all have the same small group of backers. It's kind of amazing really; there's really nothing like it on the left.

[JeffL]

It's an amusing article, but the real good stuff is the network of donors that back all of the conservative think tanks. There are quite a few of these institutions, and they all have the same small group of backers. It's kind of amazing really; there's really nothing like it on the left.

I wouldn't go quite that far - George Soros does a pretty effective job with some of the groups he funds, as one example. I don't know the numbers, to compare if the ratio is 7/3, say, and I'd imagine it may be difficult to actually pin some of them down (for example, in Soros' case, at one point Media Matters denied any funding trail to him, but later declared that they do indeed receive funding from him - I'm not sure why they would deny it in the first place, there's nothing wrong with it.)

[Jason McCullough]

Soros only got started a couple years ago, and doesn't really compare in scale yet. The rich guys on the right have been dumping money in for about 30 years now, and a lot more.

[jeffd]

What Jason said. The left is starting to play catchup, but they're just barely starting. The right wing "intellectual" machine has been in place for a good three decades now.

The short version is back in the seventies or thereabouts most reputable colleges/institutions/etc weren't releasing research that supported right wing viewpoints. So they created a bunch.

[wahoo]

It's an amusing article, but the real good stuff is the network of donors that back all of the conservative think tanks. There are quite a few of these institutions, and they all have the same small group of backers. It's kind of amazing really; there's really nothing like it on the left.


You must be joking. Ford Foundation alone pays out more than Scaife, Coors and others on the right.

Left-wing think tanks have gotten most of their funding from foundations that have existed for many years. (Ford, MacArthur, Casey, Pew). Funding to left-wing institutions dwarfs that of conservative groups.

[Aeon221]

You must be joking. Ford Foundation alone pays out more than Scaife, Coors and others on the right.

Left-wing think tanks have gotten most of their funding from foundations that have existed for many years. (Ford, MacArthur, Casey, Pew). Funding to left-wing institutions dwarfs that of conservative groups.

NPR: evil liberal think tank!

[JeffL]

I'm guessing that this also is like media bias - people will consider many of the organizations with whom they agree as "mainstream" rather than left or right oriented.

[Andrew Mayer]

Left-wing think tanks have gotten most of their funding from foundations that have existed for many years. (Ford, MacArthur, Casey, Pew). Funding to left-wing institutions dwarfs that of conservative groups.

Nice trick, replacing the specific with a generalization in the same sentence!

[Lum]

I'm guessing that this also is like media bias - people will consider many of the organizations with whom they agree as "mainstream" rather than left or right oriented.

Much like the schadenfreude openly expressed over the breakup of Scaife's marraige, while the seperation-in-all-but-name of the Clintons is considered beyond the pale of discussion.

[Nick Walter]

Much like the schadenfreude openly expressed over the breakup of Scaife's marraige, while the seperation-in-all-but-name of the Clintons is considered beyond the pale of discussion.

The two aren't at all comparable, unless Scaife is running for office and I missed it?

[wahoo]

" Nice trick, replacing the specific with a generalization in the same sentence!"

Just pointing out that there is an extremely well funded network to support left leaning institutions like Brookings, Urban, CBPP, CTJ, CAP & EPI just to name a few. The left did not need big funders like Scaife b/c of the available $$$ from the large foundations. This model broke down as the left decided to invest more in an activist lobbying think-tank combo like CAP and thus Soros and his network was born.

[bigdruid]

Let me know when the Clintons start funding hate groups under the aegis of "family values", and then I'll join you in dancing on the grave of their marriage.

Were you just trolling, or do you really not see why Scaife is different than Clinton? It's the same reason why we start threads when Yet Another Republican Congressman is outed, but you don't see any threads about "Democrat Barney Frank - *still gay*!" - hypocrisy is always delicious forum fodder.

[Jason McCullough]

It's pretty amusing that Ford, MacArthur, Casey, and Pew are considered "liberal" by the right. Trust me, as a liberal I sure as hell don't think they are - they're centrist as all get out. Or possibly "power-serving", especially if you include Rand.

They don't have a specific ideological agenda as much as a nebulous "effectiveness" focus You rarely hear about them suppressing individual studies, hiring crackpots of either the left or right wings, or providing an endless slush pile of ideological appointees for Presidents. Cato is in another business entirely, and the left had nothing like that until recently.

And yes, Scaife's marriage collapasing is funny considering what he got up to in the 1990s.

[Aeon221]

" Nice trick, replacing the specific with a generalization in the same sentence!"

Just pointing out that there is an extremely well funded network to support left leaning institutions like Brookings, Urban, CBPP, CTJ, CAP & EPI just to name a few. The left did not need big funders like Scaife b/c of the available $$$ from the large foundations. This model broke down as the left decided to invest more in an activist lobbying think-tank combo like CAP and thus Soros and his network was born.

$$$: $tealing $oul$ in the U$A.

b/c: Breaking up alphabet love!

[jeffd]

What McCullough said. Brookings is most certainly not liberal, not in the sense that AEI, Heritage, Cato, etc are conservative.

[Lum]

Let me know when the Clintons start funding hate groups under the aegis of "family values", and then I'll join you in dancing on the grave of their marriage.

Were you just trolling, or do you really not see why Scaife is different than Clinton? It's the same reason why we start threads when Yet Another Republican Congressman is outed, but you don't see any threads about "Democrat Barney Frank - *still gay*!" - hypocrisy is always delicious forum fodder.

So, you're comfortable with deriding people based solely on their political views (if you disagree with them), got it. But when the converse is true, oh the moaning and rending of garments!

Hypocrisy - not just for the right any more.

[Unicorn McGriddle]

Let me put this in Godwin terms so it'll feel familiar.

Situation A. Anne Frank owns a menorah. This is to be expected. She's Jewish and she doesn't consider that to be wrong. Why not have a menorah? You kind of need one if you're going to celebrate Hanukkah.

Situation B. Adolf Hitler owns a menorah. What's going on there? Hitler says Jews are destroying the country! How come he's got a menorah? What kind of guy does the things Hitler does when he owns a menorah himself?

[Aeon221]

Let me put this in Godwin terms so it'll feel familiar.

Situation A. Anne Frank owns a menorah. This is to be expected. She's Jewish and she doesn't consider that to be wrong. Why not have a menorah? You kind of need one if you're going to celebrate Hanukkah.

Situation B. Adolf Hitler owns a menorah. What's going on there? Hitler says Jews are destroying the country! How come he's got a menorah? What kind of guy does the things Hitler does when he owns a menorah himself?

Hmm... but Hitler is in favor of family values, so I'm going to let him slide. That Anne Frank girl is just a perverted lesbian hiding from the law!

[MrLipid]

Situation B. Adolf Hitler owns a menorah.

Adolf Hitler was Jewish? Wow. That changes everything.

[Soapyfrog]

but you don't see any threads about "Democrat Barney Frank - *still gay*!"
If he went straight the Republicans would have a field day!