Shortly after the publication of Media Matters for America's August 2 item documenting “doctored quotes, shoddy scholarship, factual errors, and baseless insinuations on matters both small and large” in David Horowitz and Richard Poe's latest book, The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Sixties Radicals Have Seized Control of the Democratic Party (Nelson Current, August 2006), both Horowitz and Poe promised “full-blown,” and “point-by-point” refutations of Media Matters. Since that time, Horowitz has appeared in the media to promote the book, and both authors have posted blog entries on the book, Media Matters, the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary, and other topics. However, their promised rebuttals are nowhere to be found.

Since August 4, when Horowitz promised his “full-blown” response to Media Matters, he has appeared on the August 8 broadcast of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show, the August 8 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, and the August 9 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends. On Fox & Friends, co-host E.D. Hill read to Horowitz a portion of Media Matters August 2 item on The Shadow Party, presenting Horowitz with an opportunity to address any of the points made by Media Matters -- thereby fulfilling at least a small portion of his promise. Instead, Horowitz simply dismissed Media Matters' research, and claimed that Media Matters “object[ed] to the fact that we report that Soros, when he lived in Nazi-occupied Hungary, went around with a Nazi official confiscating Jewish property even though he's Jewish.” In fact, Media Matters “object[ed]” to Horowitz and Poe slandering Soros as having assimilated to Nazism as a teenager -- echoing the anti-Semitic rantings of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche, and similar anti-Soros comments by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley.

In an August 9 update to his August 2 ShadowParty.com entry promising that “an exhaustive, point-by-point refutation” is “in the works,” Poe responded to Media Matters' original query as to why the “refutation” was taking so long:

What's taking so long is that we are preparing an effective rebuttal -- that is, a rebuttal which is concise, well-crafted, copiously documented and intellectually honest -- rather than one which is verbose, rambling, confusing, digressive, sloppily composed and filled with cheap sophistry, as was Media Matters' original Bill of Particulars. Let me assure our friends at Media Matters that, when they finally receive our rebuttal, they will regret having asked for it.

Poe has had the time to post numerous other entries on ShadowParty.com since August 2, many of which have been reproduced on his other weblogs, Poe.com and Scribe and Scroll. In an August 4 entry, Poe attacked Media Matters' “crude but flamboyant hatchet job,” but did not provide the promised “exhaustive” rebuttal.

Horowitz seems to have found the time to respond to Media Matters in a different context. On the August 1 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Horowitz claimed that anger over actor Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic comments following a drunk-driving arrest was “all about politics” and that “a lot of the people who are jumping all over Mel Gibson see him as some kind of a conservative or as a Christian. There's a lot of hatred of Christians in this country.” Media Matters documented his comments, providing a verbatim transcript and video. Nonetheless, Horowitz responded to Media Matters in an August 4 entry on his FrontPageMag.com blog, falsely accusing Media Matters of engaging in “crass doctoring of conservative statements.”

Perhaps Horowitz and Poe can respond to this: During his August 8 appearance on The Sean Hannity Show, Horowitz claimed that Soros and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) “are very close,” and stated affirmatively that Soros “offered her a job at one point”:

HOROWITZ: Soros and Hillary are very close and have been; he offered her a job at one point. But -- when people get fooled because, you know, she'll make a motion, as she did, support for the war. Of course, the minute the crunch comes, now she's attacking [Defense Secretary Donald H.] Rumsfeld.

In The Shadow Party, however, he and Poe speculated that Soros may have offered her a job, and admitted to not knowing whether or not this was true. From page 55 of The Shadow Party:

Neither Hillary nor Soros has seen fit to write about each other in their books, and the Washington press corps, for the most part, has avoided any mention of their long and ever-deepening friendship.

One exception to this rule was a Newsweek report of 11 May 1998, which hinted that Soros may have offered Hillary a job with his foundation network. “Friends daydream about her [Hillary] becoming head of UNICEF, or even UN secretary-general. More likely: some sort of global foundation, aided by friends such as financier George Soros or World Bank president James Wolfensohn,” wrote Howard Fineman. Why did Fineman consider it “more likely” that Hillary might take a job with Soros than with the United Nations? Perhaps he was just guessing. Then again, Fineman appears to have had access to unusually good sources for his story. He shared a byline on the article with reporter Matthew Cooper, who is married to Mandy Grunwald, a close Hillary advisor and personal friend.