Mark Steyn: The Wrong Way to Mount Rushmore

The Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal ^ | June 27, 2004 | Mark Steyn

[quidnunc]

If you must read Bill Clinton's book, skip pages 1 through 869.

Is there anything interesting in "My Life" by Bill Clinton? Oh, yes. Page 870.

The Clintons are in New Zealand and finally get to meet "Sir Edmund Hillary, who had explored the South Pole in the 1950s, was the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest and, most important, was the man Chelsea's mother had been named for."

Hmm. Edmund Hillary reached the top of Everest in 1953. Hillary Rodham was born in 1947, when Sir Edmund was an obscure New Zealand beekeeper and an unlikely inspiration for two young parents in the Chicago suburbs. I mentioned this in Britain's Sunday Telegraph eight years ago this very week, after this little story was trotted out the first time, but like so many curious anomalies in the Clinton record, it somehow cruises on indestructibly. By the time Sir Edmund shuffles off this mortal coil, the New York Times headline will read: "Man for Whom President Rodham Named Dies; Climbed Everest in 1947."

"My Life" (Knopf, 957 pages, $35) is a harder slog. The foothills of the vast tome are deceptively easy, when Mr. Clinton is merely telling a heartwarming personal anecdote about every single person listed in the Arkansas telephone directory between 1946 and 1992. But in the higher elevations after page 700, it's heavier going: Up in the clouds, way above the out-of-his-tree line, the president advances the theory that he was obliged to submit to random sexual advances in order to uphold the important constitutional principle that Republicans are uptight about oral sex. I think I've got that right, but by then I was finding it hard to breathe and beginning to see double.

-snip-

[Brian Allen]

<< If geopolitics is the Super Bowl ... Clinton is Janet Jackson, complete with wardrobe malfunctions.

Bless you, again. >>

I can handle that!

0<:^)~<

[Angel]

Blessings -- Brian

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[daviddennis]

Of course not. I'm the master at reading as much of books like this as I need in the bookstore, without buying. As it happens, I was on page 2 when I decided the book was hopeless, and I'd say I only read about ten pages in total to confirm that decision.

This book was even worse than Living History - I think I read about 15 pages of that. Hillary was smart to use a ghostwriter (which Bill didn't).

A great book has to be, well, interesting, and by that definition neither one comes even close to making the cut. I hope Mark Steyn got combat pay for that review; if so, it was richly deserved.

D

[185JHP]

Mr. Steyn is a wordsmith. And he borders on being an erudito.

[GOPJ]

bump

[Gritty]

But for 10 mil do us a favor and lay off the 'I had an inappropriate encounter' stuff. Shoot for more of 'The shaft of light from the dying sun through the Oval Office window caught the swell of her bosom as she slid the extra-large pepperoni across the desk. I knew it was wrong. I'd penciled in that evening for bringing peace to Northern Ireland, but what the hell, the two sides of that troubled island's sectarian conflict were separated by as deep a divide as the plunging cleavage now beckoning from her low-cut angora sweater. Ulster could wait.'/b>

Hmmm. Where have I seen that passage before?

Ah, yes. Post #12, September 25th, two days ago!

Either Mark Steyn is a lurker and gets some of his finest material here at FReeRepublic, or somebody forgot to cite a source...

[Lyford]

Steyn bump

[Libertina]

But in the higher elevations after page 700, it's heavier going: Up in the clouds, way above the out-of-his-tree line, the president advances the theory that he was obliged to submit to random sexual advances in order to uphold the important constitutional principle that Republicans are uptight about oral sex
I dearly love Mark Styen. BTTT! What a wit!

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

I think, when I get married one day, I'll ask my wife to name our first child after an obscure New Zealand beekeeper.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

I hope Mark Steyn got combat pay for that review; if so, it was richly deserved.

Not necessary; he views it as boring research for rich source material for his hilarious column.

If you read the book with the view of looking for humor, it's probably fairly interesting.

I'll never know; my life is too valuable to waste it reading tripe.