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Christopher Ruddy

Christopher Ruddy, the most energetic of the journalists claiming vast Clinton conspiracies, left the New York Post after his early 1994 stories on the death of Vincent Foster were heavily criticized in other media outlets. Hired by The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Ruddy was assigned by publisher Scaife to pursue stories about Clinton.⁶⁰ Scaife learned of Ruddy through the Western Journalism Center, a Scaife grantee, which had placed ads consisting of republished Ruddy articles on Foster.⁶¹

Some of the most interesting information on Ruddy comes from his ally, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. While praising Ruddy in his book, Evans-Pritchard details how Ruddy was an activist in a nationwide right-wing network:

He waged war on the airwaves, broadcasting night after night across the country on the radio talk circuit where he soon became a folk hero. He gave speeches, endlessly. He lobbied on Capitol Hill. He lobbied at the Christian Roundtable meetings in Tennessee. He lobbied wherever people would listen. He built alliances: with Reed Irvine's Accuracy in Media in Washington; with Jim Davidson's Strategic Investment, with the Western Journalism Center in California; with Jeremiah Films (which made the Clinton Chronicles). He signed up with Richard Scaife, writing about the Foster case for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It was a modest little brigade. But it was enough for insurgent warfare.⁶²

Evans-Pritchard also discusses the crucial role played by the Internet: "What was bothering the White House most about the Internet was the enormous amplification it gives to newsletters like Strategic Investment," or articles by Evans-Pritchard or Ruddy. According to Evans-Pritchard:

In the 1980s our stories would not have gained any traction. Now they are "posted" within hours of publication, and are then perused by the producers of radio talk shows, who surf the Net in search of avant-guarde material. A good scoop may be picked up....[and] read on the air by G. Gordon Liddy, Paul Harvey, or Chuck Harder. It might be featured by Blanquita Column, or by Rush Limbaugh, with his 20 million "ditto heads."⁶³

Ruddy has become a commodity. The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation by Christopher Ruddy, was published by the mainstream Free Press in 1996. Ruddy even started a monthly newsletter, Vortex, and solicited subscriptions in a letter headed "Investigative reporter Chris Ruddy, the man who blew the whistle on the Clinton cover up of Vincent Foster's death has an urgent message for you."⁶⁴ The message was simple:

Our country is in crisis...Monica Lewinsky and her mother...could be murdered if details of her relationship with Clinton ever got out....This man and his wife have abused the power and trust of their office.... Slick Willie earned his nickname because his lack of integrity governed his actions as a family man, lawyer, and politician.

In his style of demonizing rhetoric, Ruddy goes on: "Clinton is the quintessential slippery lawyer. Just as a weasel sucks the blood from its prey, so Clinton sucks the ordinary meaning out of words to deceive others...Clinton is a filthy-minded, self-centered man who fits the criteria of a sociopath...." Ruddy reveals that "In recently released grand jury testimony, Linda Tripp, who worked as Foster's secretary, said she knew of one Clinton `body count' list of some 40 people who have died suspiciously." Vortex, claims Ruddy, will bring you the truth, "Stories too hot for the Clinton-compliant, Establishment media to handle."

But wait! Subscribers to Vortex get "FREE BONUSES" including a new video, "The Death of Ron Brown," with vivid death-scene photos suggesting a bullet hole in the brain. With the warning, "THIS FREE TAPE IS GRAPHIC," the video suggests Brown may have been murdered, a theory covered in Ruddy's own "special report on the Ron Brown case...a $15 value." Ruddy also sells a report on the TWA Flight 800 explosion "cover-up" by a former naval officer, and an audiotape interview by Ruddy of Larry Nichols, a former aide to Governor Clinton.

In addition to Vortex, Ruddy started an Internet news site at <www.NewsMax.com>. Its breathless, near hysterical tone is common to the genre. And don't think the failure of the impeachment drive has stopped the Vortex. A March 5, 1999 ad in Human Events announces that Vortex, "America's most controversial Journal," now features "special reports by Chris Ruddy, Carl Limbacher, Jr., Jeffrey Nyquist and many others."⁶⁵

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