NPR: Love and Hate for the New Books about Hillary Clinton

Love and Hate for the New Books about Hillary Clinton

This just in ... Hillary Clinton had problems with her husband's affairs and wants to be president.

Wait a minute, I'm suddenly flashing back to the '90s ... I can hear "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Bill's saying he didn't have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I'm wearing a fanny pack. "Frasier" is on TV ... Whoa, that was weird.

Anyway, two new books about Hillary Clinton that talk about her marriage and presidential ambitions are hitting the shelves: "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Carl Bernstein and "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. After reading the story about them in today's Washington Post, I really did have a feeling of "been there, done that."

The blogosphere has its own opinions, of course. The anti-Clinton site "The Hillary Project" quickly linked to the Post story. Patterico's Pontifications zeroes in on the already-known fact that Clinton failed the District of Columbia bar exam. Against Hillary says Bernstein's book will hit some raw nerves, and that he had better watch his back.

Clinton has her supporters as well. Earlier this month "Left Turn" writing at Jo Swift denounced the book by Bernstein (or, as she calls him, "the guy played by Dustin Hoffman") as a slur on Clinton, "refracting her through the prism of the men around her to a nexus of feminine roles: daughter, wife, blah." The Carpetbagger Report says the two new Clinton books have no new facts and asks if they'll be in book stores' remainder bins by July or August.

(Tom's Update: Here is a Saturday morning piece from Politico that details what it says is the Clinton campaign to "kill" the books, including ensuring "that it emerges into the public eye on the Friday of a holiday weekend.")

3:28 PM ET | 05-25-2007 | permalink

Comments

A piece of Her Way's depiction of Hillary Clinton was partially debunked today by the Washington Post. Specifically, a Post historian was quoted as saying Gerth and Van Natta's claim that the Clintons formed a White House pact is "preposterous." Gerth, as it turns out, was the reporter who wrote long-discredited Whitewater stories for the New York Times, his former employer.

Sent by Alexander Bryan | 10:12 PM ET | 05-25-2007

God we love it. Gerth ends up shooting himself in the face.

Don't mess with Hillary. This woman has our full, undiluted support. Anyone who runs a campaign the way she does needs to be our Commander-in-Chief.

Stef Berger
Maddi Dialo
Paul Speers

Sent by Berger, Dialo, Speers | 10:36 PM ET | 05-26-2007

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