NYT: Biography of Senator Clinton Has a Few Unexpected Critics

[Newsjock]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/politics/24biography.html

A fast-selling, unflattering biography of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is drawing fire from some prominent conservative commentators, including Peggy Noonan and Bill O'Reilly, surprising both the author and the head of the conservative book imprint that published it.

Edward Klein, the author of "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President," and Adrian Zackheim, publisher of Sentinel, the imprint of Penguin Group USA that released the book this week, said in separate interviews yesterday that they were bewildered that some of the harshest criticisms of the book have appeared in the news outlets that they expected to be more friendly, including The New York Post, Fox News Channel and the opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal.

... Conservative commentators have not been much more generous. Writing in The New York Post this week, John Podhoretz said the book "is one of the most sordid volumes I've ever waded through." Mr. O'Reilly, the Fox News television host, said he would not invite Mr. Klein on his show because of the book's "personal attacks" on Mrs. Clinton, the same reason that he said he gave for not inviting Kitty Kelley on the air after her gossipy book "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty" was published last year. Two other Fox shows had booked Mr. Klein as a guest, but this week they cancelled his appearances.

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[peacetalksforall]

1. Remember this one...Sentinel of the Penguin Group....from their

website:

Sentinel was established in 2003 as a dedicated conservative imprint within Penguin Group (USA) Inc. It has a mandate to publish a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and international relations. The name Sentinel symbolizes a tough-minded defense of America's fundamental values and national interests.
Sentinel's debut season, in Fall 2004, features five titles. Starting in 2005, the imprint will publish approximately 10 to 15 new books per year, in both hardcover and trade paperback.

Sentinel's first list includes:


A Matter of Character: Inside the White House of George W. Bush by Ronald Kessler (August 2004)

Holy War On the Home Front: The Secret Islamic Terror Network in the United States by Harvey Kushner with Bart Davis (October 2004)

Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Wonder Drugs, and Other Parent Substitutes by Mary Eberstadt (November 2004)

A Patriot's History of The United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen (November 2004)

Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim To Help (and the Rest of Us) by Mona Charen (December 2004)


Yes...know them by their written words.

[TroglodyteScholar]

2. The commentators being surpised by its harshness...

...is not any kind of denunciation of the book. It's advertising. The target market for this kind of sleaze consists of people who EAT THIS STUFF UP. The trashier, the better. WOW, if Bill O'Reilly thought it was harsh, we're going to love it!

This is like music critics saying the latest hit trance album is "too tripped out." On its face, it seems like criticism...but in reality, it's promotion directed at the very people who wouldn't purchase the product unless it wasn't waaaay over the top.

Just my take...

[still_one]

6. you are absolutely right

[gratuitous]

3. Interesting subtext of the Times report

They're basically saying that the right wing echo chamber is . . . a right wing echo chamber, except in this one instance where the content is particularly egregious. So, okay, we have the limit to how low they'll stoop: Spurious allegations that Bill Clinton is a drug-using mass murderer, right as rain; spurious allegations that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian and that her daughter was conceived in rape, we have finally moved beyond the pale.

Thanks for clearing that up, New York Times.

[Toots]

5. It is nothing more than a publicity stunt

If people like O'Reilly and Noonan say the book is to harsh, If those people of all people say it is too harsh it must be a real hum dinger and we better buy it to see what the ruckus is all about. that is how they plan on selling this piece of garbage. Garbage selling garbage by saying it is even more garbage than we are.

[Skwmom]

4. Maybe they don't want her nomination derailed.

Watch them change their tune after she's the nominee.

[phylla]

7. i totally agree

The winger pundits have never shown this side before.

It is a total trick.

They have never cared whether previous winger-loving publications were factually corrrect...the more ridiculous and obscene they were, the more they hawked 'em.

There is ALWAYS a underlying motive with these total sell-outs. Anything for their side...anything.