"Angels" in America.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)

I generally do not give political interviews to either left- or right-wing media. But a few weeks ago I agreed to speak to Byron York regarding my involvement in a new talk-radio network ("Liberal Radio and Its Dark Angel: Meet the Amazing Sheldon Drobny," Oct. 27). While I typically do not agree with NATIONAL REVIEW's positions, I recognize that it is a respected conservative publication. So I agreed to give York the interview.

York accurately described me as a venture capitalist and philanthropist, but I should add that I also enjoy researching "lost history." If you read my MakeThemAccountable.com articles objectively, you'll find that I have investigated under-covered points in 20th-century history. In so doing, I have criticized both Democratic and Republican presidents. I criticized Wilson for sending troops to attack the Soviet Union in 1918. I also criticized both the (first) Bush and Clinton administrations for missing an opportunity to positively change formerly Soviet countries after the USSR's collapse.

But despite my body of evenhanded historical analysis, York zeroed in on just one article he found objectionable. In "The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy," I asserted that most Americans have been shielded, by the fascist censorship of our press, from the knowledge that President George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, funded Nazi rearmament. The article was meant to give a perspective on what "fascism" and "corporatism" mean in the context of modern economics and politics. The piece was posted on a website that surely has little influence on this country's political discourse: It was hardly intended to be an earth-shattering article.

What's more, its claims are valid. In fact, York asked me if I believed the Prescott Bush story, and I told him to Google "Bush Nazi" himself. My own attempt yielded over 400,000 hits, including recent articles by credible sources like the AP and the New Hampshire Gazette. Despite York's assertions to the contrary, I seek neither to smear, nor to be in the "limelight." ...