Posted on 06/26/2005 9:06:57 AM PDT by CHARLITE
Ed Klein's new book "The Truth About Hillary" has provoked a veritable tsunami of media outrage over its lurid insinuations about the nation's most popular elected female and her husband, with even some conservatives upset over details he has unearthed.
The Hillary book brouhaha, however, isn't the first time inside revelations about the former first couple have sent reporters into cardiac arrest.
Former FBI agent Gary Aldrich's 1996 expose about the Clinton White House, "Unlimited Access," was greeted with the same kind of hysterical denunciations. And yes, even a few conservatives joined in.
On ABC's "This Week," noted conservative columnist George Will grilled Aldrich about salacious details in "Access," such as the claim that President Clinton regularly sneaked off to a Washington, D.C., hotel to carry on affairs.
"You have gone into print with the kind of evidence that no prosecutor would ever go into court with," Will complained. "Did you put the stuff in there promiscuously just to be sure it got read?"
Under pressure from the Clinton White House, damage controller George Stephanopoulos was invited to follow Aldrich with a rebuttal. The future "This Week" host launched into an angry tirade against the FBI agent-turned-author.
"Well, I think that someone should have to pass a bare threshold of credibility before they're put on the air to millions of viewers," he fumed. "You know, his story couldn't get past the fact checker at The National Enquirer."
The Clinton communications director then let loose with some wild-eyed conspiracy mongering:
"Here's what I think. I mean, it's no accident. In the studio today with Gary Aldrich is an advisor to the Dole campaign, a paid agent of the tobacco lobby, a paid agent of the gun lobby, and a representative of an associate of a group that is closely tied to Speaker Gingrich, and operatives from the Buchanan presidential campaign. So you have a smear campaign being conducted by Republican Party operatives."
Like Klein, Aldrich was bumped from one TV booking after another under pressure from the White House, including "Larry King Live" and "Meet the Press."
Within a few short days, Stephanopoulos was boasting that he'd succeeded in "killing" the bombshell book.
But he'd spoken too soon. Driven in part by the burgeoning Filegate scandal, "Unlimited Access" became the runaway non-fiction best seller of the year.
After the Chinagate scandal erupted in late 1996, doubts about Aldrich's security revelations at the White House evaporated.
Fifteen months later, a young White House intern named Monica Lewinsky confirmed in spades Aldrich's claim that Mr. Clinton was carrying on affairs while president - in a manner that easily undermined national security.
It's too early to tell whether "The Truth About Hillary" will be similarly vindicated in the not too distant future.
But for now it's worth noting that the same folks currently trashing Ed Klein were arrayed against Gary Aldrich in an attempt to suppress his story.
I'm hoping it's so she doesn't get to exploit her "victim thing" over this book. Let's wait for the next one. Too bad we lost Barbara Olson, she wrote the defining book.
IMHO this book is part of Hillary's strategy. Now she can say anytime any question is asked of here that the topic was already dealt with before. This isn't a hit book, this is a vaccination.
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