Hillary's "Bestseller:--Letter I Sent Andrew Sullivan

I sent this letter to Andew Sullivan a while ago. If anyone out there has any (strong)anecdotal evidence, or actual evidence, about Living History book sales (or lack thereof), please get the word in here. I'm convinced these numbers are cooked, that someone is trying to manipulate the public, and if we can figure it out and get it revealed...well, that would be a good thing, wouldn't it?

I have my doubts. I really, really do. Maybe it's the venues I'm surveying (suburban Pittsburgh), but my fast check of the Barnes and Noble I frequent on Wednesday (the assistant manager was evasive...I pressed a few times: Well, roughly how many Living Historys did you sell? Just round it off...she wouldn't say, couldn't say--she stopped just short of saying the equivalent of "We can't reveal that information," realizing of course how absurd that is, but still: She would not give me even a rough answer); and checks on two different Costco warehouses (one Wednesday, one today, Friday) revealed something rather telling. At the first one (Wednesday), a perplexed employee said they had sold one, all day--and couldn't figure it out, because she heard on the news that 200,000 copies had sold on Monday. Further, since Monday, she was sure they hadn't sold more than ten or so. You must know this, of course: that warehousers like Sam's Club, Costco and Price Club move tons of books, and are courted by publishers nearly as hard as the book chains; the difference is, they only stock bestsellers, hot books and glitzy remainders. Anyway. Today's Costco check: A few, I dunno, maybe a couple dozen, the clerk told me...all week. I strolled to the book tables: a mountain of Living History awaited me, barely traversed.

Anyway, something smells. If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but it wouldn't be the first time the media whipped itself into a frenzy in an effort to whip the public into one (I'm thinking of one of Oprah's books, which just sat there and sat there and sat there, no matter how many times we were told to buy it). If--I know I'm making a leap here--someone is cooking sales numbers to hyperwhip that frenzy (quick, they moved 200,000, let's race out and get ours while there's only 800,000 left and they're printing another 300,000!), well, it's interesting. It could be more than interesting. There are all sorts of ways to manipulate these numbers, as of course you know.

Anyway...anyway, what's going on? I'm writing you because I know you will just drop everything and get to the bottom of this. But for geography (suburban Pittsburgh, remember?), I'd do it myself.

Seriously, I'm a fan. If you're intrigued, kick some ass. Thanks for all your work.

Actual sales figures on the novel shouldn't be THAT hard to come by. Amazon, for example, keeps such records and uses them in their top 100 (etc.) list.

FWIW, down here in Jacksonville (very conservative/patriotic/pro-military area) they apparently can't give the things away. Those that HAVE sold, I'm told, are being propped up on boards at 100 yards and used to calibrate scopes and iron sights on rifles.

Apparently, Shrillary's mug is a popular target. The pages also allow for some examination of a round's post-impact performance.

It is known that Scientologists buy out Hubbard books to keep it on the bestseller lists. I don't know how it is with Hillary's book, but it does seem like she gets a lot of free publicity.

Living History is #2 on Amazon.com's bestseller list. What's hilarious is that out of 100 readers' comments, they rated it an average of 2 out of 5 stars. Why in the world would people who do not like her buy the darn book and help make her rich?

It is also #2 on Barnes & Nobles' online bestseller list, but here 13 readers gave it a rating of 5 out of 5 stars.

Interestingly, it is not on the L.A. Times bestseller list.

This is purely anecdotal so take from it what you will, but I was in our local Sam's Club today and there was a huge endcap of Hillary's book that didn't have a single book missing from any of the stacks nor was a single person even browsing through a book.

Now I concede that it's possible that the end-cap had just been built right before I got there but I made it a point to go by it again after shopping for about an hour and there still wasn't one book out of place or missing.

Maybe the store manager made it a point to keep Hillary's end-cap fully stocked every minute of the day while letting the other stacks of books go un-restocked. I don't know.

BTW, I live in a relatively small town about 40 miles north of Sacramento so it's not like this particular Sam's is in the heart of Bleeding Heart Liberal country but that's my report.

Check out Ann Coulter's latest column and you'll see she has her doubts too...

If you credit news reports, the public can't get enough of Hillary. The crush of ordinary people buying Hillary's book seems baffling in light of recent polls. According to an ABC poll, 48 percent of Americans have an unfavorable impression of Hillary, 53 percent of Americans don't want Hillary to ever run for president, and 7 percent of Americans have been date-raped by Bill Clinton.

First in line for Hillary's book at Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center on Sunday night was Charles Greinsky, who told the New York Daily News he rushed out at midnight to get one of the first books because he supported Hillary's health-care plan. A few years ago, the Associated Press identified Greinsky more fully. It turns out he is "a longtime Clinton campaigner" from Staten Island, who has been the Clintons' guest several times both at the White House and at their home in Chappaqua, N.Y.

Lining up at midnight to buy Hillary's book is street theater for liberals. I suppose shelling out $30 to support the concept of Hillary is less dangerous than the pernicious nonsense liberals usually fund. Hillary has already gotten a record $8 million advance from Simon & Schuster for the book – the most anyone has ever received for rewriting history. Hillary's acolytes could buy enough copies of her book to rebuild the World Trade Center, and she's not going to pocket more than that.

Another average individual eager to get Hillary's book was Greg Packer, who was the centerpiece of the New York Times' "man on the street" interview about Hillary-mania. After being first in line for an autographed book at the Fifth Avenue Barnes & Noble, Packer gushed to the Times: "I'm a big fan of Hillary and Bill's. I want to change her mind about running for president. I want to be part of her campaign."

It was easy for the Times to spell Packer's name right because he is apparently the entire media's designated "man on the street" for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans' Day Parade. He was quoted at not one – but two – New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new "Star Wars" movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games – even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwin's house in the Hamptons and the pope's visit to Giants stadium.

Are all reporters writing their stories from Jayson Blair's house? Whether or not it will help her presidential ambitions, "Living History" definitely positions Hillary nicely for a job as a reporter.

A conservative woman with a Lexis-Nexis can be a dangerous thing.

28 bucks ? ! ? ! What the hell? I thought Hillary's constituency was the working poor, the walking wounded, the unemployed, the elderly eating dog food, etc.

How can she be selling so many books if things are so bad? And just how can so many people afford to spend 28 dollars on a book when they can't even afford to make their kids peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

And besides, I thought Hillary said President Bush's economy was in the toilet. How can she be selling so many books if things are so bad?

She wouldn't lie would she?

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