Hillary gets presses humming

[ckramer]

Call it the prevailing sport of choice for book publishers as they begin rolling out a string of new titles and reissues that take on Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. politics and a favorite among speculators for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

First off the blocks will be The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President by Edward Klein (Sentinel, $24.95).

The book is being held under tight wraps until the on-sale date next week, but an excerpt in July's Vanity Fair as well as online discussion are giving readers a taste of what could be a nasty brouhaha.

A description of the book, released by Sentinel, the conservative imprint of the Penguin publishing group, makes it pretty clear where Klein, author of the best-selling The Kennedy Curse and Farewell, Jackie, is headed.

link

[tk2kewl]

1. Bill get hummer

old news

[dad]

18. -

If she had just given Bill a hummer, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the past 5 years!

[lancdem]

33. Yes, let's blame his wife

:eyes:

[uppityperson]

2. Now THAT headline couldn't have been written by mistake.n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

6. No kidding!

Just like selection of the haggardly photo of Hillary to accompany the article. I hope she sues Klein.

How about about called "The Truth about W. What he did. When he did it. How far he went to get the White House?"

It's really a shame they can't write an honest compelling critique of her as a bad politician. They're still relying on the personal life rumor mongering mood.

[TroglodyteScholar]

48. Well..

Just like selection of the haggardly photo of Hillary to accompany the article. I hope she sues Klein.

Even at her worst, she looks better than some of those (doctored?) photos of Kerry that the wingnuts were pulling up last year...

Still not sure how I feel about Hillary as a politician, but I think the age on her face actually makes her look more distinguished, sympathetic, and human...

I really don't want her to be our nominee, but I wouldn't have the first regret about voting for her. I think she probably is much smarter and more capable than some Dems give her credit for. And I REALLY love how obviously anxious she makes the far right. It'd kind of nice to watch them squirm.

[ElectroPrincess]

3. Oh for Heaven's sake! Not this hyped-up leftover BS again?

[jobycom]

7. Oh yeah. The 2008 election began November 3, 2004.

And Hillary is the one the Republicans are most terrified of. So they will attack her until 2008. Although they are also hoping to derail her in New York in 2006.

The good news is maybe people will get tired of it and it will backfire. Surely one day the American people will get tired of the lies.

I liked Tucker Carlson's comment (yeah, that hurt to say) at the end: these books won't sell because people who hate Hillary won't bother buying them. He forgot to add that those people can't read, anyway. It sounded like Tucker himself may be tired of the game, and wary of what these neocons say.

[oldtime dfl_er]

9. I'm pretty shocked that you were able to actually watch Tuckie

I can't stomach watching him.

http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/662042

[jobycom]

13. I've never seen him, that I know of

I may have seen him during election coverage sometime. That's the only time I watch tv news.

I was commenting on his statements at the end of the article, and on bits and pieces I've read along the way. And on his Talk Magazine interview of W in 2000, where W mocked Karla Faye Tucker.

[liberal N proud]

4. You know you are powerful when they are making up stuff

2+ years before you would even mention running for an office.
Are the repukes really that scared of this woman?

[firefox]

5. Now she is doing the thumb thing. -nt

[central scrutinizer]

8. soon to be followed by

Hillary: "Communist or Merely Socialist"

Hillary: "Is She a Godless Dyke or Strident Harpy."

Hillary: "Just How much does she hate America and how far will she go to make abortion mandatory."

[fob]

10. My favorite is the old freeper disconnect special,

Hillary: "How a Lesbian First Lady Killed her Male Lover, Vince Foster"

Heeellllooooooo

[johnfunk]

11. ROTFLMAO, fob! That's a title...

... worthy of Gary "Unlimited Ass-Cyst" Aldrich!

[daleo]

16. Interestingly, Pickles really did kill her ex-boyfriend.

"Some people say" it was an accident.

[fob]

20. Yeah but she was just a drug dealer (Dime-Bag Laura) back then

not some durn Lesbian so there's no need to cover that story.

:eyes:

[SoCalDem]

12. Ya know?? Hillary was an ok first lady and is an ok senator, BUT

I cannot see her becoming president.. I just don't see it. Her presidential aspirations could just be the final nail in the democratic party's coffin.

For whatever reason, she has become radioactive, and she is not as fleet-footed as her husband.

Her 'message' is muddled, and for every one person who loves her, there are as many or more who loathe her. I don't understand why they do, they just DO.

To continually 'push' candidates who cannot win (especially in the Diebold era) is just plain shortsighted.

Whoever emerges as our candidate MUST have an energy about them, and must have a CLEAN and CLEAR message....and they MUST have an untarnished reputation.

When that person steps up, we must be ready to promote them with a zeal equal to the rightwingers', or we will done.

[Erika]

17. I am not a Clinton fan but she can be elected

I have a GOP lady friend who admires her extremely and has committed to voting for her.

[OKNancy]

23. Me too, it's scary in a way

Several Republican clients of mine say they would vote for her.

My opinion of the book: It will backfire in a way they never expect.
It will get lukewarm Dems to back her and it will disgust a good portion of the swing voters.

[bling bling]

19. I'll support Hillary if she runs.

And I've always been a supporter of hers. But also a large part of me agrees with you. I agree about the energy factor and the untarnished reputation issue, especially.

I'm not sure how excited I feel about revisiting Whitewater and Monica and the accusations that Hillary only stayed married to Bill through all that to further her political agenda.

I know it will be bad because not only will she be attacked from the wingnuts but many Dems hate her too. I see attacks on her all the time right here on DU. Sometimes it makes me feel like supporting her even more, but mostly it just makes me feel frustrated and unexcited about the whole Presidency thing for her. It sucks the energy out of me.

[lancdem]

35. Being "clean" means nothing

No matter who our nominee is, the Repukes will smear him or her. Look what they did to Gore and Kerry, who supposedly didn't have "baggage." Polarizing people do win, BTW.

[LibDemAlways]

38. I agree.

Hillary is poison. There's no way she could cobble together an electoral victory.

We need a candidate who can build up so big a lead that the pre-election polls show a Dem landslide - 20 or more points - something that no amount of Diebolding can overcome. Hillary is not that person.

[donheld]

14. Another grand attempt at assassinating Hillary

They don't have to shoot her, just kill her reputation.

[LibDemAlways]

45. That is the standard BFEE reichwing MO.

Attack, vilify, and destroy the character of your opponent. They even eat their own - witness McCain in 2000.

[Zerex71]

15. Heh...they're sick and desperate people all over again.

I'd like to see the MSM protect her the way they've been protecting Chimpeachment all these years.

[consuming]

21. Nail him I say

[Imagevision]

22. Dems could have Jesus Christ himself running> they'd have a book

come out nailing him to the cross all over again!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. There seems to be a lot of material on JC, don't you think? Didn't he....

...consort with prostitutes, claim to heal people, claim to raise the dead, argued with church elders, and tried to keep honest capitalists from exchanging currency?

That's worth at least a 500 page critical documentary, don't you think?

[Nihil]

42. Yeah but ...

... consider your sources? Do you really want to put your credibility
on the line by quoting a bunch of 3rd Century tabloid sub-editors?

:-)

[The Sushi Bandit]

25. Conservatives Promote Anti-Hillary Book

http://isp.netscape.com/lcisp/home/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1404&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050620%2F1430357140.htm&sc=1404&floc=isp-20&related=off&from=ent

<edit: this is from Netscape's entertainment section>

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Conservative groups are promoting a Hillary Rodham Clinton biography that hits bookstores Tuesday as a work so damning it could destroy any possible bid for the presidency in 2008.

The 305-page book, ``The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President,'' by Edward Klein, portrays the New York senator as a ruthless and ambitious woman who would stop at nothing to protect her husband's presidency and promote a Clinton II administration headed by her.

[donco6]

26. So, the first test of Hillary's mettle.

How will she approach "Swift Boat Redux"?

[lancdem]

28. Much better than Kerry's campaign did

you can count on that.

[donco6]

29. I hope so.

I'm not sold on Hillary yet. A lot will depend on how she handles this one. 'Cuz you know, it's only going to get worse.

[lancdem]

32. Yes, it will

[wakeme2008]

27. I saw a tabloid with that headline in the store

today.

Wonder how many lies per page it has?

[lancdem]

31. At least one per page, I'm guessing

It's so bad some even conservatives think it's disgusting. http://www.mediamatters.org

[creeksneakers2]

30. I'd love to see her take these people on directly

Ignoring them doesn't work.

[LibDemAlways]

44. The Vanity Fair excerpt has already been out

for several weeks. She seems to be in John Kerry "Swift Boat Liars - I'm not going to dignify this with a response" mode. Look how effective that strategy was and where it got JK. The only way to fight these bastards is by matching them blow for blow. Nothing else works.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

34. Yawn. More?

Trashing Hillary is already a cottage industry.

[NewJeffCT]

36. the excerpts were already debunked by Media Matters

I hope the debunking gets at least some coverage.

[realFedUp]

37. Vanity Fair July 05 issue

This is a great issue except for Edward Klein's
excerpt from his pulp fiction. Sue 'em Hillary.

[LibDemAlways]

39. Why did VF chose to publish that

crap? The month before they did a sympathetic non-expose on Gannon, no digging at all to get at how and why this guy gained almost daily WH access.

Why the reichwing tilt?

[realFedUp]

40. Hope some editor reads this.....

Smears and Lies: Klein on Clinton

Smears and Lies: Klein on Clinton
by Maura Moynihan

http://www.observer.com/pages/generic.asp

It is sorry proof of the national decline of standards and the perversion of priorities that Senator Hillary Clinton isn’t getting coverage in Vanity Fair magazine—a New York–based publication—for her work in the U.S. Senate. Rather, the magazine’s editors have decided that it is more newsworthy and relevant to excerpt a tawdry new book that hits a new low in Hillary-bashing.

Ed Klein, author of the book in question, The Truth About Hillary, alleges that New York’s late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan "despised" Mrs. Clinton, that he once hid in a cloakroom to terminate a conversation with her. Nonsense. I think I know Senator Moynihan better than Mr. Klein, because he was my father. Mr. Klein also claims firsthand knowledge of a meeting between my parents and Mrs. Clinton that took place in their apartment in Washington. It was during this meeting that Mrs. Clinton, then the nation’s First Lady, discussed the idea of running for the seat my father was about to vacate.

Mr. Klein puts quotes around statements that were never uttered. I can confirm this because the only other persons present during this meeting were myself and our Tibetan cook, who speaks about 10 words of English. Mr. Klein has now gone on the record to say that he spent "several hours interviewing Mrs. Moynihan." Puzzling indeed, in that Mrs. Moynihan—my mother—hasn’t seen Mr. Klein in over 20 years. I’d like to see the transcripts or hear the tapes of his on-the-record talks with Mrs. Moynihan. And it would have been difficult for him to interview Senator Moynihan, because he’s dead.

Mr. Klein has an established record of slandering Democrats and using dead people as sources: Remember his book about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette—New Yorkers and private citizens—also excerpted in Vanity Fair? If Mrs. Clinton were merely a movie star, one could shrug off the Klein book as tabloid trash, but she is the junior Senator from New York and former First Lady of the United States of America. So when national publications offer legitimacy to smear artists who attack our elected officials, the consequences are real, as it further degrades the profession of journalism and injures our public servants and the institutions they serve.

continued

[LibDemAlways]

41. I have a feeling Ms. Moynihan

may have fired off a LTTE of VF. Will be interested to see if it appears next month.

I'm glad someone on the inside of this story is speaking out. Hillary seems to be ignoring it, and I'm not sure that's the best strategy.

[realFedUp]

43. I'd get my lawyer on this

We can all boycott Penguin, but I would
personally make these guys pay. And shame on
the VF which I do subscribe to for printing
this shit.

[OKNancy]

46. I encourage readers to click the Observer link

and read the whole thing. A very strong debunking on this one subject ( the relationship between Senator Moynihan and Mrs. Clinton)

Thanks for posting this article realFedup!

[VegasWolf]

47. Hillary is "most polarizing figure", I thought Bush is, maybe the Republic

now agree that Bush is a total joke.

[CWebster]

49. If only she was worth defending.

[CTyankee]

50. I'm wondering if the tide is slowly turning

on Hillary, in her favor. I was very surprised that her poll numbers on her possible run for the presidency in 08 were so high. There may have been a "tipping point" that we all missed and we are stuck in the old demonizing of Hillary. Just maybe, the rw has worn out its schtick and its welcome with the American public.