London Guardian: A Slur and an Outrage...Bernstein Book on Hillary

[SaveElmer]

The reporter who blew open Watergate is part of a misogynist conspiracy against Hillary Clinton

Zoe Williams
Wednesday May 2, 2007
The Guardian

Carl Bernstein is dishing the dirt in his forthcoming unauthorised biography, entitled A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bernstein is now known as "the one played by Dustin Hoffman" in the Watergate film. He is a seminal investigative journalist, and claims to have the unexpurgated truth, culled from 200 sources - one of which, wince-inducingly, is Clinton's closest confidante, Diane Blair. Or rather not the woman herself; she (and now you can wince) died of lung cancer seven years ago. Bernstein has filleted her papers and personal effects, which are being sorted for the University of Arkansas library. He stops short of calling Clinton a liar, apparently, but suggests that she played fast and loose with the truth. Well come on then, how would the truth look if she'd played slower and tighter?

The gobbet that's meant to stir us up and keep us going until publication next month is this: contrary to what she's said, she did know about Bill and his affair with Gennifer Flowers. Or at least, she probably knew. This is according to an uncredited writer who has followed her career closely. "She always knew about her. Anyone who has approached the subject of Hillary Clinton with a clear eye will run across many examples of stories that are not true."

This is so far beyond the old "does it matter what they do in the bedroom?" debate. It's outrageous even to suggest that her husband's sex life is salient to her career in the first place, let alone that she should be held accountable for it. The whole book, ranging across "everything" from Clinton's "complex relationship with her disciplinarian father" to "her courtship with Bill Clinton and the amazing dynamic of their marriage, during the most trying of circumstances", is a slur on Hillary Clinton, refracting her through the prism of the men around her to a nexus of feminine roles: daughter, wife, blah.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2070270,00.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. He's had more 'female trouble' than most men....nt

[ElizabethDC]

2. I find it really interesting that the book seems to be getting more attention in the British press

than it's getting over here.

[SaveElmer]

3. I'm guessing this thread won't be met with the same glee...

As this one was eh?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3243862&mesg_id=3243862

[Clarkie1]

4. Bernstein has proven his journalistic mettle. Who is this Zoe Williams that is slurring him?

nt

[SaveElmer]

7. Exactly how is she slurring him...

She isn't questioning the accuracy of his book, she is questioning the focus, the apparent attempt to inflate the importance of trivial matters, and the fact that Bernstein is apparently judging Hillary on the behavior of men in her life...something a male candidate would never be subjected too...

[Clarkie1]

18. Sounds like a lot whining to me. nt

[asjr]

5. Carl must be running short of funds.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

24. Yep, his colleague is a rich, "respected" neocon lapdog.

And he's stuck doing an Entertainment Tonight-style bio, instead of something hard hitting about,say, Katrina, Election Fraud (2000, 2002 or 2004), USA Firings, Gitmo, rendering of prisoners, detention centers in our country, the unregulated banking, food and pharmaceutical industries, our crumbling infrastructure, the real costs of the Iraq occupation as well as the real
reasons our troops are there, Blackwater, Halliburton, the source of the anthrax attacks in September 2001, the inconsistencies in the government's narrative about September 11....

But, a book about Senator Clinton's career, that's the ticket, Carl. :eyes: MKJ

[Spinzonner]

6. Perhaps Nora Ephron should do a review of the book

[Alamom]

8. Great article. The last 3 paragraphs are so true...........

The greatest outrage is that the next accusation will be that she isn't a "heavyweight". Misogynist opinion sees no contradiction in reducing any given woman to a series of soap opera and/or biological roles - and then, using this as "evidence", levelling at her the charge that she isn't serious-minded!

The same has happened to Ségolène Royal, the socialist contender for the French presidency, who has found even members of her own party incapable of comprehending how someone can both be a mother and understand foreign policy. Oh, that we had time to caper through the various German responses to Angela Merkel's childlessness.

In the UK, our tabloids are still capable of this sort of thing, but in Westminster, in soi-disant quality journalism and publishing, it would be laughed off the page. At the risk of unseemly nationalism, it's worth remembering how far we've come.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2070270,00.html

[Me.]

9. There Has Been A Lot Of Hinting That Bill Is Still Catting Around Lately

Whiffs of it on talk shows, in the NY Times, perhaps in this book. She isn't responsible for what he does but you can bet if there is the least bit of truth to it the republicans will swiftboat her with it if she gets the nomination. It will become an issue. Just saying.

[SaveElmer]

10. And we know that talk shows...

And newspapers are above reporting falsehoods for circulation and ratings right? :sarcasm:

However, I have no doubt that every sleazy rumor will get bandied about here with glee...

[Me.]

11. Swiftboating Has Nothing To Do With Truth

as the job done on Kerry didn't. But people who are desperate to keep the WH will do anything and be as vicious as they feel necessary. Bernstein has credibility as an author, she needs to watch her back. It's already starting.

[SaveElmer]

12. And as you point out...it makes no difference who the Democrat is...

Of all the candidates, I trust Hillary to deal effectively with this kind of sleaze more than any of the others...she has been dealing with it successfully for 16 years...

Unfortunately Kerry did not until it was too late

[Tellurian]

13. So, get an advance copy or a copy of the manuscript before it's published..

and get out in front of it...

I can't figure out how he can come up with 640 pages of drivel.

[SaveElmer]

14. Well one of two things...

Either it is drivel...

Or the media, as it is wont to do, is sensationalizing a trivial part of an otherwise balanced book...

In either case, DU as usual, goes off the deep end before gleaning all the facts...think Obama Madrassa story, Hillary middle name story etc...

[Me.]

15. Sadly Kerry Trusted The Advice Of Shrum

who told hin he should act above it and not respond. I don't know, given Ohio, if Kerry actually lost, but by not fighting either, they took/stole the day.

[Tellurian]

20. Watched the movie "So Goes The Nation" tonight..

a must rent for anyone interested in how campaigns are run..
A revealing political documentary providing an inside view to the Kerry/Bush campaigns.

*****

I can honestly say, Hillary's campaign is being run like a well oiled machine,
positioning herself well to take on the Republican Hate machine.

Bernstein's new book may be part of a Republican pre-emptive strike to wound her campaign.

[Tellurian]

17. Unless..

<<Clinton's closest confidante, Diane Blair. Bernstein has filleted her papers and personal effects, which are being sorted for the University of Arkansas library.>>

Bernsteins pov is taken through the writings of this Diane Blair as told to her by Hillary when she suspected Bill was having an affair. IOW... Hillary's private thoughts as retold in Blairs papers and expanded upon by Bernstein. Really a shabby invasion of privacy for no other reason than to create tumult.

Gotta get an advance copy at any cost.

I have this vision of gathering a gang of women in business attire and buying 1000 copies of Bernstein's book, sweeping them up into a a huge Bon-Fire pile in downtown NY for a regular old book-burning. That should send him a message of what we think of his politically expedient exploitive book. (I'll spring for a case of marshmallows!)

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

28. Book burning,huh? I don't recall EVER seeing this tactic advanced on DU, even when

we've been discussing the drivel that O'Liely has been putting out over the years. MKJ

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

25. Well, good thing you got the rumor out here on the internets. You did your job.

Welcome. :hi: MKJ

[ShortnFiery]

26. Yes, IF there is ...

"the least bit of truth" to those rumors, the republican noise machine and their lap-dog USA M$M outlets will bring it out, with video shots *the day after* HRC snags the nomination. :(

[mnhtnbb]

29. IMO, Bill and Hillary made a deal after Monica. She'd stick with him

if he stuck with her for her ambitions. My guess is that the deal required
more discretion on Bill's part in the future.

[illinoisprogressive]

16. No one knows for sure what is in it. I do have to say this, however,

as a woman I am very offended by those who think if you don't support hillary you hate women. I am a woman and I feel this is such a load of crap.
How do you explain the support and love for nancy pelosi. Even the wingers would support Condi.
So, why stoop to this argument whenever someone says something negative about Hillary or doesn't support her.
You don't see people running around whenever a negative article, post or someone does not support Obama stooping to the race card.
As a woman I feel so offended that Hillary and her supporters trot out this straw man rather than the fact that she wants to run for the big job she has to go through whatever the men are put through and take it like a man.
Maybe people just don't like her because her personality is that way. She is just not likable. whether she is a man or woman she is just not likable.

[Tellurian]

19. Ah, initial reactions to things don't count..

Kneejerk reactions like that I put down to initially thinking out loud. Everything remains to be seen. And we won't know that until someone gets a glimpse of the book... I'm more curious as to why Bernstein thought the timely release of this book is a good thing and why we need to read it.. Karma can sometimes be a bitch. If his book doesn't strike the right cord. It could summarily end his career.

[emilyg]

21. I support and love Mrs. Clinton

[snot]

22. I'm not rooting for her for Pres., and

sure, other people's sex lives are totally interesting; but people's sex lives (provided they consist of genuinely consensual activities among adults) are irrelevant to fitness for office -- let alone that this isn't even Hillary's sex life, it's her husband's. I can't imagine how someone who exploits this sh*t can live with themselves.

I personally can't blame anyone (Hillary) for any white lies told for purposes of damage control about something she can't control and that's no one else's business anyway.

It's a real irony that Hillary's career path may be rockier because of her husband's foibles -- yet she probably wouldn't be where she is without him. I do NOT mean that as dishing Hillary; I mean it as a regrettable fact of our current reality: that discrimination against women is still so strong and pervasive that at least half of the women who have attained prominence in business or public life (setting aside actresses & the like who attain prominence based on sex appeal or the like) have done so at least partly through husbands/sig. others.

Live by the sword, die by the sword; live by the husband, die by the husband.

[orleans]

23. why does carl hate women? n/t

[wyldwolf]

27. Isn't this just the Edward Klein book from a few years back? With a new cover and "by" line?

..you remember, the book Al Franken and Joe Conason picked apart on Air America? Some content, new author.

[GeorgeGist]

30. Zoe believes she's psychic ...

The greatest outrage is that the next accusation will be that she isn't a "heavyweight". Misogynist opinion sees no contradiction in reducing any given woman to a series of soap opera and/or biological roles - and then, using this as "evidence", levelling at her the charge that she isn't serious-minded!