Why did Hillary write the book?

The Hill ^ | 6/11/03 | Dick Morris

[LdSentinal]

Having survived and gotten elected to the Senate without talking about her stormy relationship with her husband, why on earth would Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) do so now?

She must know that few people, if any, believe that she didn't know that her husband was dallying with Monica Lewinsky. She has to realize how parading the phony explanation that she only "found out" on Aug. 15, 1998, wears down her credibility.

Is there anyone who really believes that she didn’t know despite:

• His admitting, under oath, to an affair with Gennifer Flowers;

• The stain on Monica's dress;

• The FBI request for a DNA sample from her husband, the president;

• Secretary Betty Currie's circumlocutions to get Monica into the Oval Office;

• Dozens of middle-of-the-night phone calls from the president to Monica;

• Learning that Monica had entered into a plea bargain deal with Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel.

  For Hillary not to know, given all this, she would have to be deaf and blind.

  So why would Hillary expose herself to this kind of public ridicule? With a dismal credibility rating in the USA Today poll of before the book came out, why would she have her own finger-wagging moment of lying in public, her sequel to his "I did not have sex with that woman"?

  The answer is obvious: Money.

  In the lexicon of Clinton scandalography, sex has been Bill's problem and money has been Hillary's.

  He had Gennifer Flowers, she had Whitewater. He had Paula Jones, she had the Rose Law Firm. He had Juanita Broaddrick, she had the futures market. He had Monica Lewinsky, she had the billing records. He had the pardons, she had the gift registry. He had the state troopers, she brought Webster Hubbell to the table.

  So Hillary had a choice: handle the Lewinsky scandal with dignity and studied aloofness, or plunge right in with an explanation nobody credits.

  For an $8 million advance, Hillary decided to take the risk. For a memoir with distinction and credibility, she would only have gotten $2 million or so. But for a tawdry tell-all, she made four times as much.

  Let's get a few basic facts straight:

  Hillary lied about not believing that Bill was involved with Monica on Jan. 21, 1998. She lied because she had to defend her husband to keep him -- and her -- in office. She couldn't lead his defense and admit to believing the charges at the same time.

  Then, when proof came in the form of an unexpected stain on a blue dress, Hillary had to backfill with a story about being deceived, so she invented the Aug. 15, 1998 denouement that supposedly happened right before Bill testified before the grand jury.

  Now, to make $8 million, she must keep up the story and lead the book with a lie.

  Why did she choose to stay with Bill? The answer: because he was, and he remains, pivotal to her political life, to her fundraising, and to her strategizing efforts. He is her consultant, her fundraiser, and her chief adviser rolled into one. He may not be faithful, but he sure is loyal.

  All this begs another question: Why did she publish now? Why does she do this in the middle of the presidential race when the candidates of her own party are struggling to gain traction? And why is Bill planning to publish his own memoir in September, 2004, just 60 days before the election?

  Neither of the Clintons wants a Democrat to do well in '04. It is vital to their plans that President Bush wins reelection so Hillary can have a shot at an open White House in 2008. If she had to wait until 2012, she would be 65 and the bloom from her husband's presidency might have faded from view.

  By constantly talking about the 22nd Amendment, Hillary's possible '08 candidacy, the achievements of the Clinton administration, etc., etc., the Clinton duo keeps other Democratic hopefuls at bay. Unable to gain attention during the Iraq War and the war on terrorism, Hillary now pushes them off stage. Then comes the summer doldrums. By September, none of them will have any real traction.

  One needs a codebook to unravel the Clintons and their motives, plans, and purposes. A very, very weird one.

[halfdome]

Doesn't every first lady write a book upon leaving the White House? Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush all did. I would bet Laura Bush will write a book within two years of her husband leaving the White House as well. Why is it so shocking that Hillary Clinton wrote a book?

[halfdome]

Also, Dick Morris' allegation about the stain on the dress is misleading. He says Bill told Hillary on 8/15 that he lied to her about Monica Lewinsky, but Hillary should have already known it was true because of the stained dress. However, the stained dress wasn't brought out until 8/20. His timing is off. There are enough legitimate issues to dispute regarding the Clintons and it seems like Morris should stick with those. He loses credibility when he starts spinning like this, but I guess people are more interested in a semen stained dress than what almost happened to our health care system.

[Deb]

Get off it. The books written by other first ladies (Barbara Bush's was with Millie the dog) weren't political manifestos like Hillary's. Designed to take all the bad questions off the table for '08. It should have been titled "Old News" with a foreword by Lanny Davis.

[ladyinred]

You are correct, they all with the exception of Jackie Kennedy wrote books. That Hillary followed suit is not unusual. What is different however, is that all of the other former First Ladies did not spend most of the book attacking the opposing political party, Hillary does. I have read them all, and trust me, this is no typical memoir of the White House years, this is a hit piece, and a campaign kick off.
I don't agree with the idea that she did this strictly for money, although she is money mad as stated above. I think she wanted revenge and most of all, power. This is her way of energizing her base, by her unfounded lies and attacks against everything and everyone conservative.

[SevenDaysInMay]

This book was created so Hillary's campaign can always refer to any real question - to this book - same as "No comment". The $8 million front loaded contract only created work for ghostwriters and justified the mortgage and conspicuous consumption of the chappasquaw.

William Safire was right, "Hillary Clinton is a congenital liar."

[the lone wolf]

The purpose of the book is to deflect questions regarding the (Bill) Clinton Presidency. She can simply say, "That was in my book, I don't care to discuss it anymore, let's move on."

I said it before and I'll say it again--that book is probably a gold mine of lies and half-truths. Many people on this site should read it and subject it to the closest possible analysis. Use her book against her, show all of America what a liar she is. Just don't buy it now, wait until it goes on remainder, or find it in a secondhand store.

[Utah Girl]

The point is that Hillary! thinks that she can hoodwink us once again by crying against the VRWC. We've all moved on from the horrible Clinton years, and she's digging up the dirt. She's trying to get higher poll numbers, and the last time she played the wronged wife, her numbers went sky high, and she won a Senate seat. Sorry, I don't relish giving the White House to a wronged wife, and this book is the opening salvo in her campaign for president.

[LdSentinal]

This book was created so Hillary's campaign can always refer to any real question - to this book - same as "No comment".

That didn't happen to Richard Nixon when he wrote his memoirs.

[Ruth A.]

That is a good catch. Just this possibility: when was Betty Currie trying to collect things from Monica? Weren't the rumors coming out before the 20th? I am just wondering.

This is a very good piece, otherwise, by Morris. Flesh and money: his juxtaposition is very compelling. If anything, it leads me to believe that money will ultimately be her downfall--just as Bill was finally unable to resist perjuring about his flaw.

[nutmeg]

.

[Consort]

She wrote it, in part, to get the Republicans to attack what's in the book as a ploy to rally the Democrat base for the next election and probably to get herself drafted to run in '04.

[halfdome]

So do you think she shouldn't have written about her husband's affairs? Before the book came out, there was a big hoopla about whether or not she would write about Monica Lewinsky, etal, in her book. Everyone was outraged that she wouldn't write about that stuff and earn her $8 million.

[AGreatPer]

"It should have been titled "Old News" with a foreword by Lanny Davis."

And, Dick Morris and James Carville.

Good to see you, direct to the point and no BS Deb.

[Utah Girl]

What ever happened to move on? Why didn't she write more about her politics and her stance on issues? For years, all we heard was moooove on, now she is excavating all that dirt. Whatever, I'm not going to argue with you. I just find it unseemly that her allegedly greatest humiliation is being rehashed in public. I'm not interested, what I am interested in is how security went to h*** in a handbasket while she was co-president. Her whining about everything that went wrong during her co-presidency is tiring, her tendency to blame everything that goes wrong on the vast right wing is tiring. She takes no responsibility for her actions, everything is always everyone else's fault. It is just tiring and old schtick.

[halfdome]

I hadn't realized you'd read the book. I had heard that most of it was about her politics and her stance on issues, but I haven't read the book, so I didn't know that it was mostly about Monica Lewinsky and her husband's affairs.

[Utah Girl]

Did I claim I read her book? Nooooo. I've read several reviews of the book, most of the reviewers have said it is a blatant attempt to rewrite history and how Hillary wants to view history. She does blame the 1994 election wins on the fact that people didn't have good health care, and blamed her, and voted for the Republicans. I do plan on reading the book, unfortunately, it is good to know where the opposition stands, and what they are thinking. Do you plan to read the book?

[halfdome]

Noooo, you didn't claim you'd read the book, but your reply implied to me that you had, since you referenced that she didn't write about her politics, etc. I probably won't read it, as I am a single, working mother and I don't have time for luxuries like reading right now. If I try to read when I have some quiet time, I just fall right asleep. So I have exchanged playing on the computer and watching HGTV for reading for the time being.

[Utah Girl]

Well, when I've finished it, I'll make sure to ping you and tell you my impressions. Sorry to leave you the impression I'd read the book. BTW, I don't plan on putting one red cent in Hillary's pocket, I will borrow it from the library.

[tm61]

Hildebeast prints her book in order to put her self in the position of a victim. the favorite role of a liberal.