Free For All - The Free Liberal Blog: Eric Dondero and The Free Liberal

August 2008

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Eric Dondero, commenting on Steve Gordon's recent post about Nancy Pelosi, objects to being attacked daily by this publication and points out that he was once an editor here. Let me try to clarify some of his remarks.

He writes:

Free Liberal published two of my articles back in 2003: The Rise of Arnold Schwarzenegger and on Gene Simmons of KISS being a Libertarian.
Funny, the "Editors" if you can call them that, at the Free Liberal rag, forget to mention that little fact when they're attacking me on a daily basis.

Yes, The Free Liberal did publish his articles and they both were big favorites in print and online. We thank Eric for his contribution and we are pleased he wrote for us. Although I consider that my relationship with Eric broke down over our disagreements on the Iraq war, in no way has this publication engaged in daily attacks on him. Eric, if you believe this to be the case, please show me the links to pages on our site. Everything we have written is still accessible. I believe that at most there has been an occasional blog entry which mentions his name.

Further, he claims:

Now, that I'm criticizing Paul you all change your tune. Now it's bash Dondero. Call Dondero every name in the book. Blacklist him. Bash him mercilessly.

The Free Liberal has always had a policy of allowing different writers to take opposing positions. To clarify, The Free Liberal does NOT endorse Congressman Ron Paul, although several of our bloggers are very positive on him. We welcome criticisms of Dr. Paul, as well as any other material which appears on our site. In fact, I have defended Mr. Giuliani in the past, whom Eric Dondero supports.

While I personally think Steve's post needlessly dragged Eric into a comparison with Nancy Pelosi, as Nancy Pelosi is a big story and Eric Dondero is not (outside of the libertarian movement), Eric has made a name for himself in going after those he disagrees with. I would argue that he has done so in a rather obnoxious manner and has earned a great deal of rancor from other libertarians. This is unfortunate, because Eric does have some very good points and he often provides valuable news through his Mainstream Libertarians website. But, being controversial and aggressive is certainly inviting retaliation from those he attacks.

He also claims:

Well, well, well. I went into my garage this morning, and found an old issue of The Free Liberal from 2003.
Not only did they have my articles, they listed me as a "Senior Editor." Funny, I don't remember agreeing to that. Oh well.

This piqued my interest, as the only people who have ever been "Senior Editors" are Carl Milsted, Michael Ostrolenk, Paul Gessing, and Bob Capozzi (before he took over as Editor in Chief). Carl Milsted and I dug into his old copies of TFL to verify/falsify Eric's claim. We found that he was listed as "Contributing Editor" which is a title we gave to any author who wrote articles that were exclusively for our use. Senior Editor is a title we reserved for those who made major contributions to the publication ideologically as well as operationally (writing, editing, funding, etc.) Eric Dondero did not play this role in The Free Liberal.

I hope that Eric can look past some of our differences and see the positive areas in which we could work together. That would be far better than see ourselves as dangerous adversaries. What a waste of everybody's time that would be.

Kevin D. Rollins
Publisher, The Free Liberal

Comments

Don't pay any attention to the Dondero, he is trying to leech off of Dr. Paul's success.

Posted by: Dondero's Mustache | December 13, 2007 03:34 PM

Dondero pretends to be Libertarian. Donderos choices for Candidates proves the point..

Posted by: bkusz | December 13, 2007 04:19 PM

There may have been a time when Dondro advocated libertarian candidates. There may even have been a time when he was once a libertarian himself. Sadly this is not that time.

Posted by: Jason | December 13, 2007 04:29 PM

Why is anybody talking about Dondero. He is a nobody, scum, and fits right in with Guiliani's campaign. He is right where he belongs.

And like Guiliani, nobody is paying any attention to him.

Posted by: Scott M. | December 13, 2007 05:37 PM

Why is anybody talking about Dondero? He is a nobody, scum, and fits right in with Guiliani's campaign. He is right where he belongs.

Posted by: Scott M. | December 13, 2007 05:38 PM

The Ron Paul Army will never forget the disrespect Dondero has had for Dr Paul and the Constitution. Dondero wishes he was important enough to being attacked daily by anyone - he's not.

Eric's been bought by special interest - and they should demand a refund.

All Ron Paul supporters should donate to Dr Paul's congressional campaign every time you hear are see the name Eric Dondero.

www.ronpaulforcongress.com

Posted by: Ron Paul Army | December 13, 2007 07:17 PM

How incredibly ironic. Kevin Rollins writes a piece on how Eric Dondero is not attacked at Free Liberal, and in the Comments section, 4 straight posts of vitriolic hatred expressed to me.

What was that you were saying Kevin about "burying the hatchet" and "moving forward not as advesaries, but working together."

Call off your attack dogs, and maybe I'll reconsider.

(And yes, I stand corrected on the Senior Editor vs. Contributing Editor deal.)

Posted by: Eric Dondero | December 13, 2007 09:30 PM

Mr. Dondero,
I believe the expression is "you made your bed, now sleep in it." After everything you've done and said against Ron Paul (dare I say, expressions of vitriolic hatred?), why should it surprise you that his supporters are upset at you? I actually think the comments above are pretty tame - you must have very thin skin. Complaining about the "attack dogs" (which is a silly thing to say, as Rollins obviously has no control over what people post here) only confirms the perception of you as a weak-minded loser. Go find something productive to do with your time.

Posted by: AC Green | December 14, 2007 01:01 AM

Great article! I'm a Ron Paul supporter and just want to let Eric know that it's pretty disguisting what he's trying to do to Dr. Paul.

Eric, I never heard of you prior to Ron Paul and I never will after either. Go back to your new found friends at RedState.com. Pathetic.

BTW- I wish The Free Liberal would support Dr. Paul. :)

Posted by: Robert Johnson | December 14, 2007 04:57 AM

oops..I meant endorse Dr. Paul..

Posted by: Robert Johnson | December 14, 2007 05:00 AM