Eric Boehlert is a left-wing journalist who currently writes for the blog Daily Kos. Before that, he wrote for Salon, Rolling Stone, and Billboard.

Previously, he was a fellow at the left-of-center media criticism outlet Media Matters founded by Clinton-family aligned Democratic operative David Brock. He also wrote for Shareblue, another outlet owned by Brock.

Boehlert has been criticized as a partisan hack who makes biased interpretations of facts in order to score political points. ¹

Early Life

Boehlert was born on December 6, 1965 in Utica, New York. He would later move to Gilford, Connecticut. He would later attend and graduate from the University of Massachusetts. He spend his time studying Arabic at the university. ²

After college, he joined Billboard magazine where he worked for three years. Then he went to Rolling Stone where he became a staff reporter for four years. Then he moved over to Salon magazine where he wrote for five years. ³

Media Matters

In 2006, he joined the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America. Boehlert developed a reputation as someone who wrote left-progressive spin. In 2009, Boehlert wrote a blog post in which he claimed the Color of Change organization was a grassroots organization; in fact, Color of Change was founded by Van Jones, a member of the Obama administration. ⁴

Boehlert aggressively defended the left-wing community organizing group ACORN when it came under investigation for alleged violations of federal law. Conservative activist James O’Keefe recorded videos in which he represented himself as a pimp and was accompanied by another activist who represented herself as a prostitute; O’Keefe would ask ACORN employees advice on how to set up a brothel, and ACORN employees provided the advice. ⁵

At the time, Boehlert called the story “marginal” and claimed the videos were not really journalism. ⁶ A conservative blogger offered him $100 if Boehlert would even admit or deny that O’Keefe posed as a pimp. ⁷ Eventually, ACORN was forced to dissolve as a result of the scandal.

In 2011, Boehlert came under fire for accusing conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh of lying about the unemployment rate then-President Barack Obama inherited. National Review later fact-checked Limbaugh’s statement and found that it was defensible. ⁸

Later Work

Boehlert later moved to David Brock’s Shareblue. While there, he was accused of spinning facts for partisan Democratic purposes. Boehlert accused President Donald Trump in 2017 of hosting the National Rifle Association on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting. RedState’s Carl Arbogast revealed that Trump did not “host the NRA” on that day. Instead, NRA head Wayne LaPierre had attended a Christmas party at the White House that day. ⁹

1. Arbogast, Carl. 2017. “David Brock’s Site, Shareblue Claims White House ‘Hosted The NRA’ On Anniversary Of Sandy Hook: It’s A Lie”. Redstate. https://www.redstate.com/arbogast/2017/12/16/david-brock-run-shareblue-claims-white-house-hosted-the-nra-on-anniversary-of-sandy-hook-lie/.
2. Rothstein, Betsy. 2011. “The Fishbowldc Interview With Media Matters’ Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert”. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/digital/the-fishbowldc-interview-with-media-matters-eric-boehlert/.
3. Rothstein, Betsy. 2011. “The Fishbowldc Interview With Media Matters’ Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert”. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/digital/the-fishbowldc-interview-with-media-matters-eric-boehlert/.
4. Vadum, Matthew. 2009. “Media Matters Lies Again”. Capital Research Center.  https://capitalresearch.org/article/media-matters-lies-again/.
5. Vadum, Matthew. 2009. “New Philly ACORN Video Proves Liberal Smear Merchants ‘Media Matters For America’ Will Slime Anyone Who Takes On ACORN”. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/new-philly-acorn-video-proves-liberal-smear-merchants-media-matters-for-america-will-slime-anyone-who-takes-on-acorn/.
6. Vadum, Matthew. 2009. “New Philly ACORN Video Proves Liberal Smear Merchants ‘Media Matters For America’ Will Slime Anyone Who Takes On ACORN”. Capital Research Center. https://capitalresearch.org/article/new-philly-acorn-video-proves-liberal-smear-merchants-media-matters-for-america-will-slime-anyone-who-takes-on-acorn/.
7. “My $100 Offer To Eric Boehlert Of Media Matters”. 2010. Patterico’s Pontificiations. http://patterico.com/2010/02/25/my-100-offer-to-eric-boehlert-of-media-matters/.
8. Pollowitz, Greg. 2011. “Media Matters Falsely Calls Rush Limbaugh A Liar”. National Review. https://www.nationalreview.com/media-blog/media-matters-falsely-calls-rush-limbaugh-liar-greg-pollowitz/.
9.   Arbogast, Carl. 2017. “David Brock’s Site, Shareblue Claims White House ‘Hosted The NRA’ On Anniversary Of Sandy Hook: It’s A Lie”. Redstate. https://www.redstate.com/arbogast/2017/12/16/david-brock-run-shareblue-claims-white-house-hosted-the-nra-on-anniversary-of-sandy-hook-lie/.