Posted on 06/07/2005 2:21:05 PM PDT by wagglebee
This is the week that the publicity begins for Ed Klein's new blockbuster book, "The Truth About Hillary."
Vanity Fair publishes an excerpt on Wednesday – and the New York Post has written about it today.
Of course NewsMax had the book first – over the weekend.
Yesterday in New York City, Hillary slammed the GOP for being "messianic." We have to wonder if perhaps it is getting too hot for her in the 'political kitchen'?
Because Ed Klein and I are friends, we have been talking about this book for almost two years.
Over frequent lunches with our mutual friend, famed TV reporter Liz Trotta, a Columbia Journalism School classmate of Klein's from 40 years ago, we have been discussing the Hillary project from its conception, through the hiring of his research assistants to the actual interview process whereby Klein talked to almost 100 people close to Hillary, going back to the 1960s.
It is safe to say that none of the dozens of biographies of Hillary Clinton have ever been as well-researched as this one. Nor have any of them been written by a professional journalist with such impeccable credentials. Team Clinton undoubtedly plans a fierce counter-attack on Klein as soon as the book is published – that is always their MO – but with this author they are going to have a tough time.
Today they are already trying to discredit the book by calling it a "work of fiction."
That is a weak attack, by Clinton standards. Clearly, ed Klein's background and credentials are stumping Team Clinton.
Ed Klein comes from the bastion of the liberal, so-called mainstream media. Besides the aforementioned Ivy League background – he also received his BA from Columbia – Klein has worked for the most liberal publications in the United States.
After a stint working for United Press International overseas, Klein joined Newsweek, where he became Foreign Editor and then Assistant Managing Editor with jurisdiction over foreign and military affairs.
As editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine for eleven years, 1977 to 1988, Mr. Klein led that flagship publication of the Sunday Times to new heights of public interest and editorial excellence. During his editorship, The New York Times Magazine won the first Pulitzer Prize in its history.
In 1989, Mr. Klein became a Contributing Editor of Vanity Fair. Among his many articles were stories on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and on Aristotle Onassis' granddaughter, Athina Onassis Roussel.
In addition, Klein has written a number of cover stories for Parade, the Sunday magazine with a readership of 83 million, on such important figures as Jesse Jackson, Barbara Bush, and former President Ronald Reagan. For the past several years, he has written a weekly column for Parade called "Walter Scott's Personality Parade."
But it is as an author of non-fiction books that Ed Klein has made the most news. His two most recent books – "The Kennedy Curse" and "Farewll, Jackie" – have caused the most controversy.
In "The Kennedy Curse," Klein traced the Kennedy and Fitzgerald families back to their Irish roots, detailing the 'tragic flaw' that seems to have caused so much heartache and pain to America's once-premier political family.
His most recent book, "Farewll, Jackie," details Jackie Kennedy Onassis' final six months and was a kind, sympathetic look at a friend of his.
Despite stories of unhappiness from the Kennedy family about Klein's books, these were not 'slam pieces' by a Kennedy hater. Indeed, they were well-researched books based on interviews with people who knew the principles involved.
It is this exact same technique that forms the basis for "The Truth About Hillary."
The Clinton Attack Machine will undoubtedly follow the lead of the Kennedys in trying to paint Klein as some sort of rabid, right-wing, Hillary-hating fanatic.
But it won't work. Ed Klein is a professional journalist who follows the story, not an ideologue who shapes 'facts' to fit his spin.
The book's subtitle – "What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President" – is a clever play on Senator Howard Baker's infamous Watergate question about President Nixon: "What did the President know, when did he know it?"
Klein says, "I never realized how much Hillary was influenced by her year as a staffer on the House Judiciary's Impeachment Committee in 1973 and 1974." It was Hillary's first Washington experience and she was, according to fellow staffers, the "driving force" on the committee in crafting the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.
While her future husband was running a failing campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives down in Arkansas, it was Hillary Rodham who was up on the Hill leading the charge against Richard Nixon.
How ironic that thirty years later – after his final trip to Russia in 1993 – Richard Nixon would be invited to the White House to brief President Bill Clinton on the situation in the newly created Russian Federation.
Not wanting to be photographed with their bete noir, the Clintons had the former resident brought up to the White House Residence. There he was greeted alone by Bill Clinton.
The two sat on sofas across from each other and discussed not only the situation in Russia but also how Bill Clinton structured his daily routine as president. He asked Nixon's advice. They discussed Nixon's favorite topic – foreign policy – and Nixon would later confide in a confidential memo to close associates that he "genuinely liked" Clinton.
At some point during this conversation Chelsea came in, was introduced to President Nixon, and then sat down next to her father. Nixon commented in his memo that he could see right away the affection father and daughter had for each other. They talked and laughed easily.
But it was when Hillary entered the room that things changed. A "noticeable chill" came over the room when Hillary came in. Nixon's most startling observation was how "cold" Hillary was toward Chelsea and how Chelsea moved closer to her father on the sofa – and away from her mother.
Nixon, not the warmest man who ever occupied the White House, was taken aback by Hillary's cold mien. He commented that 12-year-old Chelsea seemed to be in absolute "fear" of her mother.
Ed Klein's "The Truth About Hillary" is going to break new ground on the 'real' Hillary Clinton. It is going to detail the dysfunction of one president and perhaps another one. But it is not by itself going to derail the return of the Clinton co-presidency.
Instead it is going to polarize the electorate even more. Those who despise Hillary will have new ammo to use against her; those who adore her will rally to her side and blast Ed Klein as part of the Great Right-Wing Conspiracy.
In the end, whether the Clintons return to the White House at noon on January 20, 2009 is a bigger question than the contents of any one book.
But this particular book serves an invaluable purpose: cutting through the mainstream media's pro-Hillary propaganda and giving readers a look at the lying, manipulating, dishonest - and extremely dyfunctional - former first lady, who has been on an inexorable march to the Oval Office for over thirty years.
Whether the American electorate has grown so lackadaisical and been so dumbed-down as to accept Hillary is the topic for another book.
But it was when Hillary entered the room that things changed. A "noticeable chill" came over the room when Hillary came in. Nixon's most startling observation was how "cold" Hillary was toward Chelsea and how Chelsea moved closer to her father on the sofa – and away from her mother.
I'm pretty sure that BJ is scared to death of her too.
That is not their ONLY MO. I hope Klein's life insurance is up to date.
I was thinking the same thing.
No matter how hard she tries, Hillary will not be able to escape her misdeeds.
That is not their ONLY MO. I hope Klein's life insurance is up to date.
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Arkancide anyone? I would bet the Clintoni mob has more goons than Al Capone did. But Hitlery can run, but her ugly, evil past cannot be hidden. I hope FOX will be all over this expose of her...and it is probably just a drop in the bucket. She epitomizes the slimey, hideous side of the far-left to the hilt.
Mr. Klein....welcome to the VRWC.....
They'll say he's doing it for the money... he has unexpected bills, he's unable to keep a position long enough, blkah blah blah. They're always able to assign motives if they cannot assassinate effectively.
And I like the part about Senator Moynihan - he despised Hillary but still served as cheerful stepping stone. Yet another confirmation of the simple truth that even the best of Dims would sell his/her soul to Satan for political gain.
Have a great day!
I doubt they will do Arkancide on this one. The book would still be out anyway. Discredit him is the way they will go.
Great article. Klein better watch his back, his house, his car, and his family. Anybody want to take bets on which of the four will be damaged first?
BTTT
Thanks! Its always better to make them grumble in anger rather than the other way around.
I read something by a poster at FreeRepublic when all this was going on that he/she thought Hillary had some serious dirt on Moynihan and that is why he behaved the way he did.
Not to mention his pets.
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