Kennedy, Kerry, Gore, Dean and"The Truth About Hillary"
Who is really happy about Edward Klein's new book "The Truth About Hillary"?
If you believe the big media, it's the "right wing" and websites like NewsMax.com.
But we hear the book may also be well received among some Democrats, a high-ranking party insider in Washington tells NewsMax.
Could these ranking Democrats include Teddy Kennedy, John Kerry, Al Gore and Howard Dean?
As NewsMax's Insider Report has revealed before, these four liberal Democrats - the so-called "Gang of Four" -- detest Hillary Clinton and have pledged to stop her no matter what from getting the Democratic nomination.
Each member of the Gang has his own motive. Kennedy is disgusted by the Clintons' moderate politics and he has already endorsed Kerry for 2008. Kerry has his own presidential ambitions. Gore blames his 2000 loss on Hillary, who he says siphoned off key resources to her Senate race. And Dean blames the Clintons for his 2004 campaign woes.
Some insiders are noting that Klein's book is an interesting anomaly: He is not a conservative author bashing Hillary. Indeed, Klein has very liberal media credentials - having served in editor jobs at the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek and Vanity Fair.
Yet, he is bashing Hillary. And many arguments Klein uses against Hillary are from a decidedly liberal point of view.
Even conservative Washington Times editor Tony Blankley noted the effect of Klein's liberal critique.
"Principled liberals, I suspect, will be deeply disconcerted by what they will find out about her mind in this book," Blankley wrote.
The book also, at times, seems protective of Kennedy and Kerry. (Klein has written extensively on the Kennedys.)
Blankley writes about a passage in the book recounting a meeting between Sen. Clinton and a group of liberal women campaigning for a childcare bill:
"When they asked her why she was not supporting it, Sen. Clinton explained: ‘It's not going to fly. I'm not going to spend my political capital on something that is doomed before it starts.'
"The women responded: ‘If it was Ted Kennedy, he'd stand on what he believes.'
"Hillary bristled at the invidious comparison," Blankley writes, and "strode out of the room in a huff.
"The women understood quite well: She will do anything to get to the White House, including dropping child care."
And that lack of principle is not only vexing to conservatives but to liberals like Kerry and Kennedy.
In another section, Klein details how Hillary stabbed John Kerry in the back, promising publicly to go all out to support his 2004 campaign, but then doing as little as possible.
Clearly, when a major attack book like this comes out, we have to ask, like the Romans, cui bono?
Clearly, conservatives and Hillary critics will enjoy the book - but it won't change their firm opinion of her.
But what about moderate to liberal women voters - who pick up those tabloids every time Hillary's on the cover?
Klein has spent his career appealing to such readers. His books on JFK Jr. and Jackie Onassis were runaway best sellers.
And how could the Gang of Four benefit from such a salacious book coming out on Hillary?
Easy. The party insiders know that for them to win in 2008 it's absolutely critical for the Democrats to nominate a candidate who is not considered "too liberal" or "too polarizing." Hillary's camp knows this as well, and that's why she is so worried about the book.
If the Klein book is any indication, the civil war among the Democrats in the run-up to 2008 may be nasty.
We remember the rumors that Democrats were behind the Miami Herald's 1988 story about Gary Hart's affairs, and in 1992 it was Democrats who pushed the Gennifer Flowers story about the Clintons.
From that episode the Clintons learned their worst enemies are often on their side of the aisle.
