Hitchens on Blumenthal, Clinton Wars

The Christopher Hitchens Web ^ | 5/13/02 | Christopher Hitchens

[risk]

hitchens ping; need to read later

[N. Theknow]

Clinton Wars = Covering Up Infidelities and Explaining Lies and the Definition of "IS."

Bush Wars = Kicking Ass and Taking Names

[Taliesan]

I can't believe that Blumenthal anticipated the fury and precision his book will be subjected to.

[JmyBryan]

I'd imagine you could email him, but I'd also imagine that Drudge lurks (at least).

[friendly]

Chris castrates Sid the Snake Blumenthal with a razor, clearly documenting the lies upon lies embedded within the dreadful Blumenthal log of deceit.

[CobaltBlue]

Hitchen's beef with Kissinger long predates the Clintons. He wrote a long book about Kissinger, "The Trial of Henry Kissinger." I never read it but understand that it's mostly about his actions as Secretary of State under Nixon.

[Mustang]

Bump for later reading. Awaiting for Chris to bring over some additional "Black & White"...(scotch, that is.. :-))

Mustang sends from "Malpaso News"

[theFIRMbss]

>Hitchen's beef with Kissinger long predates the Clintons. He wrote a long book about Kissinger, "The Trial of Henry Kissinger." I never read it ...

Thanks. I knew LaRouche
hated Kissenger. Hitchen's
hatred sounds as bad.

I'll have to see if
my local library has
a copy around:

"The book is best understood as a prosecutorial document--both because Hitchens limits his critique to what he believes might stand up in an international court of law following precedents set at Nuremberg and elsewhere, and also because his treatment of Kissinger is far from evenhanded. The charges themselves are astonishing, as they link Kissinger to war casualties in Vietnam, massacres in Bangladesh and Timor, and assassinations in Chile, Cyprus, and Washington, D.C. [!?] After reading this book, one wants very badly to hear a full response from the defendant. Hitchens, a writer for Vanity Fair and The Nation, is a man of the Left, though he has a history of skewering both Democrats..."

[annyokie]

me, too. Him and David Horowitz.

[Tunehead54]

In an article written shortly afterwards for Vanity Fair (and uncited by Blumenthal) I gave all my reasons for not keeping quiet when I was eventually called. I possess letters and emails from three of Clinton’s truth-telling female victims, thanking me in different ways for opening either their eyes or the eyes of others.

---

More info please?

[Dolphy]

God, I love Christopher Hitchens

I do too. He is one writer whose work I always go out of my way to read even though he often stands on the opposite side.

[CyberAnt]

I'm having a problem with that statement about Kissinger too. Hitchens may be right ... but it's way off the scale for me.

[Mustang]

Forgot to mention. Hitch was one of the few, if any, of the journalists who crossed the street, hung around with us and took some questions during our DC 1999 White House Correspondents Dinner FReep against the Toon..(the Hotel's name, I don't recall...up a few blocks from Dupont Circle/Square?..anyway). We know his political stance. He says what he means, and means what he says. In my book, that's a big up-check. Beside, he's a real deal guy, funny and smart as hell. Those of us who were there can relate.

Mustang sends from "Malpaso News"...

[Allan]

ping

[thegreatbeast]

The July issue of Atlantic Monthly should be a good read. Blumenthal is drawing a lot of fire and not a soul has suggested that his tome is anything but The World According to Sidney... That's a lot of crap to shovel there in 822 pages!

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"...a protracted mood-swing between the grand and the trivial."

Sounds like a good definition of liberalism.

[x]

Check out Andrew Sullivan's review in the New York Observer (temporary link). Blumenthal is a power worshipper. Having started on the leftist fringe, he was bowled over by the possiblity of achieving political power that Clinton offered. He has a manichean view of political life: he believes the enemy is evil and every tactic is justified if it helps him win. The vein of feline sarcasm that's so noticeable in Sidney's work helped to armor him for combat. Sullivan dissects him well, but seems to backslide a little on the Clinton impeachment.

[Mustang]

Allan...you've been around this site for "several many moons"... Were you there w/us in '99 when we chatted with Hitch? (please see my above for details).

[Allan]

No I regret to say I wasn't.
However I have been reading Hitchens since 1975
(as I recall)
when he was a callow youth writing for the New Statesman.
He was a rock-solid Marxist in those days.
Seems to have grown up a little.

[OldFriend]

The strangest thing of all is that this book will generate more buzz than the fiction being released by Mr. & Mrs. Grifter.