Posted on 09/04/2004 9:33:49 AM PDT by harrycarey
A Kitty Surprise? ROGER SIMON COLUMN SEPTEMBER 1, 2004
NEW YORK - - Republican insiders have been huddling in small groups at the Republican Convention this week and talking about what worries them most. It is not John Kerry. It is not the unemployment numbers. It is not Iraq.
It is Kitty Kelley.
Kelley has a new book coming out in a few weeks titled "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty” and it is rumored to be explosive.
One source tells me there are “at least five bombshells” contained in it and another source says there is allegedly new material on President Bush’s service in the Air National Guard.
Democrats have long been worried about a Republican “October Surprise” such as the capture of Osama bin Laden. But now some Republicans are worried that Kelley’s book will be the equivalent of an October surprise and harmful to President Bush’s re-election hopes.
Why are GOP operatives taking such a book seriously? After all, some critics have dismissed Kelley’s previous books as the equivalent of tabloid journalism. But in November 2000, the Bush campaign’s internal polling showed that revelations about Bush’s 1976 arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol damaged him badly with religious conservatives and some analysts believe it cost him a popular vote victory.
So this time, Bush operatives don’t want any more big surprises, revelations, rumors or gossip to make a media splash just weeks before the election.
Which is why they are so nervous. According to the Associated Press, the Kelley opus - - it is supposed to be around 700 pages long - - is being billed as "the book the Bushes don't want you to read,” it has a first printing of 600,000 and “a virtual guarantee to annoy, if not embarrass, Bush supporters.”
In the past, Kelley has written books about Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra and the British Royal Family among others and her books have often contained explosive material. Kelley’s facts are sometimes challenged, but her books tend to make a big splash nonetheless.
Kelley’s 1991 book on Nancy Reagan, for example, which contained scandalous accusations, was the subject of a front page story in the New York Times by Maureen Dowd.
“Ms. Kelley has developed a reputation as a giant killer for her sensational books about the rich and famous,” Dowd wrote. “She wrote that Jacqueline Kennedy had shock treatments; that President John F. Kennedy's retarded sister, Rosemary, had a lobotomy, and that Frank Sinatra's mother was a New Jersey abortionist.”
Dowd went on: “Ms. Kelley asserts that Mrs. Reagan will go down in history as the cold and glittering icon for a morally vacuous era. The author says the former First Lady reinvented herself with a tissue of fabrications about her background, age and family, just as her free-spirited mother did before her; that she had her nose fixed and her eyes lifted; that both the Reagans had extramarital affairs, and that Mrs. Reagan had a long-term affair with Frank Sinatra.”
The article quoted Sheila Tate, Nancy Reagan's former press secretary, as saying that "no friend of Nancy Reagan's is going to read that scummy book."
Perhaps, but plenty of other people did read it and many more read about it. And this, remember, was in an era before 24-hour cable TV and media with an insatiable appetite for news, gossip, rumor, innuendo or whatever they can get.
It may turn out, of course, that Kelley’s new book contains nothing damaging to President Bush.
But with their convention going so well, Republicans have to find something to worry about this week.
History has already proven Miss Kitty wrong about Nancy Reagan.
William Kennedy Smith has just been accused of rape and sexual assault...again.
BUMP!
[quote]The antiwar movement often boasted that MoveOn.org and the radical website Indymedia provided them “alternate media coverage.” Indymedia, an enormous news and events bulletin board with local pages in most of the world’s major cities, provided a vital link for radical activists often with violent agendas to coordinate their protests. Indymedia received $376,000 from the Tides Foundation[/quote] http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12187
"William Kennedy Smith has just been accused of rape and sexual assault...again."
Really? Why am I not surprised?
OMG. The only danger of this book is that the MSM will of course go 24/7on it giving it credibility that it otherwise would not get were it just a usual Kitty Kelly tabloid type book. They usually pan her and call her a liar. We will see the biased press do the opposite this time I would bet.
Buchanan was trashing GW on Bill Maher's show last night. What a disgusting, sour graped, piece of crap he is.
If Kitty claims GW is gay, he'll get Andrew Sullivan's vote back.
Bill Maher and pat buchanan...now there is a real dynamic pair.
Add ZsaZsa Huffington, Andrew Sullivan and Jason Alexander. It was like a black hole of reason.
One reason it was helpful for the Swifties to get out their accusations first. When the left starts with its (new) smears, whatever those may be, they'll be less effective because people will see it as a desperate response to the Swifties. It's also helpful that Bush improved his standing with his convention and his speech. The stuff in Kelley's book would have been more damaging earlier in the campaign.
Whatever this vile woman has written, we can be reasonably sure that Bush and his family will react in a dignified and appropriate manner, unlike Kerry. It may well help him more than it hurts.
LOL! I wish I had seen that. Any idea if there are transcripts anywhere?
This list is crazy. Not one of these accusations has any intuitive credibility.
Either Kelley has crossed into real insanity, or the list is a joke, or some leftist has some really bad info about the book.
It'll be re-run all week on HBO. "Check your local listings."
I bet McGreevy is calling the Oval Office even as we read this article!
I do hope Maher shilled pat's book for him...sales aren't doing to well. I've e-mailed pat about that before. If he would simply print his books on two-ply and charge the same as Charmin more folks might buy his books.
Other posts have said that will be raised in the kitty kelly book.
I imagine the homosexual accusation is because defending marriage is so effective.
(what ever happened to what that homosexual judge said in that guards suit against madona? Being called a homosexual is not a slur anymore. Seems that being a "homo" is still a negative after all for the left to use it as a negative.)
I believe this time we are innoculated against such last minute efforts. Besides with FR and the one hour news cycle, such a storry would be vetted and old news before the day is done.
I think team Rove knows more about this and has a rapid response team lined up based on their past actions.
Sinatra wanted to punch her lights out.
Too bad he's dead.
If ever a woman deserves to have some punches landed on her face, Ms. Kelley qualifies. Well, actually, she does deserve it. I'd go farther and say I hope someone does it,
after the election.
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